COUCH TO 5K, ROUND THREE

Last week Tyler finished Couch to 5K, a nine week program that takes people from not running at all to running three miles (or thirty minutes, if your pace is slower than ten minutes). He'd tried the program a couple years ago, but only made it partway through week six. It was just a lot for short, five year old legs in the hottest month of summer. 

This time, though, he rocked it! A few runs were challenging at the end, others he cruised at top speed, and most of them he steadily ran the distance marked out for him. Here we are as we got home from the final run.

Tyler's mostly dairy-free, so the traditional reward of going to Cold Stone when you finish the program wouldn't work for him. He asked for $5.00 worth of candy and gum instead. Done! Cracks me up how he struck a running pose with his feet as I snapped the picture. Funny kid.

Super proud of him for seeing this program through to completion! He's running for thirty minutes now, but hasn't quite hit three miles. That's our next goal, to run a full three miles no matter how long it takes him. I bet he'll reach that goal pretty quickly!

RANDOM PICTURES: MARCH - JUNE

Last week I posted a bunch of random pictures from January through March that I'd never shared on the blog before. Today I'm doing all the ones from April through June.

APRIL

4/6 - Natie and Silas hung out at Wooden Shoe's Tulip Fest.

I was feeling overwhelmed by all I had to do that day and Tim asked how he could help. Most things had to be done by me, so I delegated dinner. I came home that evening to a huge mound of chopped and sliced veggies on the counter, beef marinating in the fridge, the rice cooker steaming away, and him standing at the stove with sesame seeds toasting in one skillet and a garlic onion combo browning in another. It smelled amazing!

It also looked and tasted amazing!

I'm pretty sure Tyler thinks Natie's primary reason for coming to our home is to hang out with him.

4/16 - Silas, just strummin'.

Proof I love Tim and was grateful for a ton of extra work he'd done around the house? I spent grocery money and precious time on making a giant bowl of his favorite dessert, which I happen to find repulsive, for him to have all to himself.

4/20 - After a presentation about Egypt at with our local homeschool group, Naomi dried out an apple for mummifying.

Photo credit: Sara Coffey

4/23 - We're not the homeschool family who's always doing creative play that syncs up with our school work. Not at all. But Naomi joined Tyler playing Legos while I finished reading Follow My Leader. She handed me this as I closed the book - Jimmy, wearing his backpack on the Scout camping trip, with Leader at his side. I love it!

4/29 - Enjoying the beautiful weather by taking school work outside. Sometimes it takes a couple shots before Tyler will give me a non-goofy smile.

MAY

5/1 - The little Ws had work to do before they could come to church, so Gabi and I left without them and took a picture of ourselves just for kicks.

5/3 - I hopped on Facebook in the morning and discovered a high school classmate was in town for the morning. I'm so glad Tiffany and I were able to squeeze in a quick visit before she headed home!

Evidently it was brother night for Family Fun Friday.

 5/5 - Tyler spent some time hanging out with Isaac. I love their laughter!

Photo credit: Mindy Strauss

5/6 - Silas decided to soak up some sunshine on our recently acquired firewood stash while he did his schoolwork for the day.

The back of Naomi's head.

And the front.

5/7 - Threw on my floral rainboots and spent the morning working outside. Bliss.

Hanging out with Gabi.

5/14 - Yeast breads and I have come a long way over the years! These loaves of cracked wheat & honey bread were delicious.

5/19 - Devon found a perfect spot for eating lunch at Fields Bridge Park.

5/21 - Using Devon's hair to show the difference between apparent length and actual length of curly hair.

5/23 - Tyler asked to do Couch to 5K again, so we started. Doing it at 7, like Naomi did, is proving to be easier than doing it at 5. Starting earlier in the year, before it gets absurdly hot, is also helping.

We'd recently seen ice cream rolls for the first time and Devon wanted to try making them. Nailed the first one!

 5/25 - The oldest and youngest Ws.

Natie and Silas headed to the beach with some friends for the day.

5/28 - I got to spend an evening walking the trails of Mary S. Young Park with my bonus mother-in-law, Linda. She's been part of my life for 22 years, but I think that's the first time we'd spent time alone. It was great!

5/30 - What a treat it was to spend time with Pam and Becky! Great food, perfect weather, laughter, tears, and hours of conversation. I love these ladies!

5/31 - I stepped outside to take a phone call after my run, then forgot to go back inside. Yard work for the win!

Everyone has fun when two oldest siblings take their Tylers to the park.

JUNE

6/3 - I accidentally started a habit of working in the yard after most morning runs. Good for my head, health, and yard!

Tyler and Devon opted for an outdoor lunch on all the chairs we'd cleaned off earlier in the day.

6/4 - Some mornings include a whole lot of me barking at the kids about various things, but those same mornings also include things like sprawling out in the spring sun to read a school book to Tyler while Naomi learns to French braid. Balanced life, right?

6/6 - I headed out to the yard for some quiet time alone while everyone else slept in. Tyler eventually wandered out to join me and we ended up snuggling our way through the last three chapters of Wheel on the School while the sibs kept snoozing.

Kit and I have birthdays ten days apart, so we've enjoyed a birthday meal together four of the last five years. I'm so thankful for our friendship!

These four were playing frisbee in our yard, but the wind kept sending it to the window. The solution? Head to the library! We all took care of returning old books, picking up holds, and finding new stuff on the shelves, then went out to the big lawn of Library Square so they could run and throw to their hearts' content.

Naomi and Tyler collided about 30 seconds before I was going to take a picture and head home. He was sobbing and I gave up on the idea of a picture, but Devon managed to get him laughing. Thank the good Lord for big brothers! Silly, then smiling. As usual.

6/9 - Tim and I went to Fazoli's for lunch. He's a great guy and all, but the food was my favorite part of our time together. No doubt about it. It was like heaven for this dairy-deprived girl!

A little role reversal with Devon, answers in hand, quizzing Tim.

 6/10 - Just a mom and her teenage boys.

6/11 - Naomi's a bore to take grocery shopping. A total bore.

Silas and Natie dressed up for a 50's carnival fun at youth group.

6/12 - Sometimes you let your kids run around on the hill after church on a Wednesday night while you sit in the grass, watch a gorgeous sunset all by yourself, and eat the birthday treat a friend brought you from Nothing Bundt Cakes.

6/14 - It was time for a new Facebook profile picture, so I had one of the little Ws snap one while I was making a point to get outside for part of the day.

Devon, Naomi, and I decided to play with sunglasses. Aren't we stylish?

6/17 - Gabi and Silas joined the rest of us for a morning run.

Silas recruited the little boys to help wash his car, then they surprised me by washing the van when they were done. Awesome!

6/18 - Just running errands with my favorite daughter.

6/19 - Down time is an essential part of our day.

6/22 - The other half of our family was hiking Saddle Mountain, fishing the Willamette or Columbia, and exploring Montana. Meanwhile, I led the charge on eating cold pizza and leftover oatmeal butterscotch for breakfast and staying at home in jammies all day for the other half of our family.

See? Devon was in Montana.

Photo credit: ACCF High School

Maria came over in the evening to make marinara with me. Tasty dinner for both of our families! 

6/26 - Wrapping another run together.

The little boys got summer cuts, then got the giggles when it was time for pictures. Gabi started off with a normal smile, but Tyler was cracking up the whole time and eventually pulled Gabi into laughter with him. I love this series of pictures!!

Three little Ws and one of our bonus Ws playing a game at church before the service started.

6/27 - All three kids who got their hair cut. Cuties.

6/28 - I made a Facebook promise that I'd take a picture with Tim the next time we went to Fazoli's. We call this one "Fun at Fazoli's".

That shot was so hard because we couldn't stop laughing! All our other attempts looked like the next shot. We're mature like that.

 And with that gigantic picture dump I'm all caught up!!

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