The Temperatures are Rising

 With the rising heat wave and the holiday weekend comes popsicles, slip and slide fun in the backyard, and trips to the neighborhood pool.  We feel like summer has officially begun!

A few of Asher's favorite things

Asher's birthday was a day full of his favorites.  I thought that listing these things would give you a good idea of who Asher is...so these are "a few of his favorite things" (Do you hear the song melody?):

The color green: we have a tradition of decorating the birthday child's door at night so it is the 1st thing they see when they wake up in the morning.  Asher's door was decorated with green streamers and green balloons.  He got up at 6am, saw them and laid in bed too excited to go back to sleep (we don't let them come out of their rooms till 7am).

Monkey bread, orange chicken, and broccoli: his favorite foods.  The birthday kid always gets to pick the food for the day so he  got to eat all his favorite meals on our "celebrate" plate.

 Miniature Golf: In place of a big birthday party this year, he got to choose a few friends to do an activity.  He chose miniature golf (not a big surprise).  Only the boys went.  He got to take 2 good buddies he knew in Ohio and 2 of his besties from the neighborhood.  Joel forgot to take pictures while they were out so this is my one group photo.  They were some happy boys when they came home!

 Carrot Cake: What other child always chooses carrot cake on their birthday?  Only Asher, my vegetable lover.  Every year, this is what he wants as his birthday cake and he devours it! I had to make a batch of brownies too because some of those boys did not want anything to do with the carrot cake! He also wanted mint chocolate chip ice cream on the side-mint he says is his favorite spice.

Friends: Asher loves being with other people and is always looking for new friends to make.  This neighborhood has been heaven for him (and the other kids).  Because of all the friends around us, they have had no trouble adjusting to our new place and life here.  While I was washing dishes I noticed our 2 neighbor girls hanging a sign over our fence...they wanted to surprise him!  It brought tears to my eyes.  They even drew a little swimmer on the corner (Asher made the swim team here and starts next week!).

I am not sure how 8 years has gone by, how the little blonde baby that slept on my shoulder turned into a long legged skinny boy.  My favorite thing about this boy is his positive outlook on life.  He is always happy, showing love to others, encouraged, and believes the best in everyone.  We can't wait to see what God is going to do with such a special boy, and the man he is going to become.

Marathon #3

 I am pretty good at finding this podunk marathons to run.  My 1st marathon was called "24 hour Around the Lake Marathon".  It started at 7pm, went into the night, and was 8 laps around a lake.  This one was the "Potomac River Run Marathon" capped at 350 entrants and was all along a gravel bike path beside the Potomac River.  It was small with an out and back loop we had to run twice, the race director was quirky, no timing chips, and the terrain not ideal, but it was a great experience with lots of comradery between the participants.  In this photo we are walking to the start line...yes through the woods!

 My family was the BEST cheering squad.  The good thing about the double out and back loop is that they were able to park in one spot, play in the woods (watch a water moccasin swimming!), and still see me 4 times.  I counted down the miles till I knew I would see their smiling faces. It lifted my spirits every time.  Joel is a saint to support all my training and take care of this kiddos the whole race (not to mention dealing with all my pre-race anxiety and post race pain)!

 I think this is me at mile 18...you might not be able to see the wall right in front of me, but this is where I hit it.  Up to this point I was running at my goal pace...even a bit faster, but couldn't keep it up after this.  I seriously slowed down and the last 5 miles were especially painful.

 The environment was beautiful though!  I enjoyed it on the first loop but I have to admit it was a blur on the second loop.

My final time 3 hours and 56 minutes....my ultimate goal was to get sub 4 hours!!  A personal record for me! 

Loopy Anna

Anna had an eventful night in the ER.  She ended up there after slipping into a wall after running through the house.  The corner/edge of the wall went in between her toes.  She ended up with a cut that needed stitches and a broken and dislocated pinkie toe.  They had to give her codeine to calm her down enough to get 2 sets of xrays, 5 local numbing shots, do the stitches, and then put her toe back in place and tape it up.  Joel captured this video...she wasn't feeling any pain at all anymore at this point!