A CUT ABOVE...

the shoulders that is.  Jillian has been begging me to let her get her hair cut short ever since we chopped off Savannah's.  Well, after dealing with gum, tree sap, candy and a myriad of other things in her long golden hair for the past year, I finally said YES!!  About a week ago, I took her down to the local salon to my friend Tanda.  I feel bad because Jilli isn't a sit still kind of kid.  So Tanda's back was feeling it.  But she endured and did a great job.  I didn't agree to letting it be as short as Jillian wanted it (chin length) but I was good with just above the shoulders. 

BEFORE

AFTER

(I tried to load a pictue of the back...but for some reason it didn't work)

So here she is, in all her glory.  I must say that we (especially daddy) love it.  It does make her look older and a tad more sassy!!  Which matches her personality perfectly!!

CLARISSA the CONQUEROR 

I dub myself that today because I conquered something that has been weighing heavily on my floors for several months now, and that is no exaggeration. 5 (over flowing) baskets of clean laundry have been sitting there...haunting my dreams...crying out "just put us away!!" for 3 or so months now. It has tormented me every day, but there was always something else that was more important to do, like exercise and catch up on all the shows I am missing on hulu.  The guilt stared me in the face, every time someone had to dig through those baskets to find something to wear.  It got even worse when my husband came home and told me that he had had a conversation with a lady about laundry that day and he had told her that he and the kids practically live out of laundry baskets.  REALITY CHECK!!  Well, today was the day.  I put every single article of clothing in its proper place, and my heart and floors are singing 'Aleluha!'  I forgot that we even had some of those clothes.  It's quite pathetic, I know.  But laundry is just something that I totally stink at keeping up with.  Some people rock at it...get out every stain...have every item of clothing organized...fold and put away each load as soon as it's out of the dryer.  Oh, how I envy those with such talent.  Sometimes I keep up...wait, no.  That actually only happens when my mom is here taking care of me and the house just after I have had a baby.  It's almost magic really, when she is here.  We put a piece of clothing in the dirty laundry and then it reappears in our drawers or closets almost instantly.  It's a beautiful thing.  I just don't do that.

I will say though that I took a load out of the dryer after putting all the other clothes away and folded it and put it away right then and there.  YAY ME!!   Doing this today, I did realize something.  WE. Have. Too. Many. Clothes!! 

So, my accomplishment of the day...I conquered the baskets of laundry.  Sounds so small and silly.  But I'm proud of myself and I will take even the small victories in life.  And I do consider this a victory.

Perfect Conditions

The moment I got out of bed this morning (which took me forever to do) I was dragging.  I felt so...blah!!  My stomach has been acting up again the last week and as soon as I put something in it...it said "Hi-yah."  I was also super tired!  So, I just kind of moped around the house all morning in my pink polka-a-dot robe.  The hubs decided to work from home so he got to hear me complain.  I knew that my feeling of 'blah-ness' wouldn't go away if I didn't start doing something.  So I did a little...very little...house work.  Then ate some delicious lunch made by my personal chef Douglas.  After the food settled, it dawned on me, "My husband is home.  I can go for a run!"  It was almost like a shot of adrenaline.  Just thinking about going running, totally changed how I was feeling.  I haven't been able to do much running the last couple of weeks and was a little scared because I believe I have shin splints (ouch!).  But I was going for it.  I tried out an interesting new outfit (sorry, no pics).  I wore leggings for the first time for a run.  Which in and of itself don't make the outfit terribly interesting, but the stuff I wore with it did. (gray shorts over the brown leggings, long sleeved brown shirt, short sleeved Spider Man shirt over that, and an orange Bondi Band).  Sounds awesome, huh?

Anyway, I walked outside and OH MY GOODNESS!!  It was so beautiful out there.  I was expecting some chill in the air, but there wasn't.  It was about 65 degrees, no breeze, clear skies...perfection.  I almost skipped to the car with the excitement of my 4 year old when she hears a Michael Buble song!! 

 I just chose to do a little personal 5k (which actually ended up being 3.54 miles) around Onalaska.  I figured out a good little loop that's just shy of a mile.  I parked, did some stretching and breathed deeply.  It smelt so lovely out there, it felt so lovely out there.  I was ready to run.  And run, I did!!  I had my handy dandy rhythmic companion with me that just put even more skip in my...stride!  Last time I did this course, there were two little mangy mutts that kept running and barking and nipping at my ankles when I would run past them.  As I rounded the corner where I was expecting them to be...not a single bark.  They were no where in sight.  I sort of giggled and sighed in relief.  Having dogs chase or bark at me raises my blood pressure a little. 

I was feeling great!!

My shins weren't bothering me and I ignored the pain in my hip, I just ran!  I enjoyed every single moment.  Every hit of my size 9 1/2's to the pavement. It was pretty exhilarating. Some runs are brutal and long and painfully painful.  This was not one of them.  It was perfect.  I didn't really want it to come to an end.  I could have run further and I wanted to, but hubby was waiting for me at home getting things ready to take the older two kids riding.  So a little cool down and I was back in the car with the windows down.  I just thought about how good I felt.  So much better than I had this morning.  I do believe I smiled the whole way home.  It's amazing what a little run can do for you some days!!!

"He's gonna be a soccer player...he is...he is!!"

~Billy Madison~

You know those annoying parents that are on the side-lines yelling and screaming at their kids and how you wish they would just calm down and relax and stop making such a scene??  Yeah...that's me and Doug!!

Don't worry, we aren't yelling or screaming out of anger...it's pure excitement and encouragement.  It's hard to not do it.  People have been pretty surprised to see 'laid-back, cool guy, Doug' yell so loud.  They thinks it's pretty funny.  We have calmed down a little since the first few games.  But only a little.

This is our first year of soccer, and we are loving it.  Payton and Savannah have great schedules that have been super easy to work with.

Payton really loves this game.  In most sports and activities that he does, he hasn't been very aggressive and loosing hasn't seemed to bother him too much.  This time it's different.  He is getting more aggressive (still not aggressive enough for his crazy parents) and he really gets effected when he does something wrong in a game.  He plays goalie a lot...and when the other team scores on him, he is not a happy goalie!!  Since this is his first year, he is still has a lot to learn about dribbling and positions.  But he really is doing a fantastic job.  I love seeing him out there.

And then there's Savannah.  Ummm...yeah, she's pretty much a natural.  This girl is a little short for her age, but man, can she move those little legs of hers.  She really gets aggressive and isn't afraid to kick like mad and throw a few elbows!!  Her games are less intense than Payton's and they really are out there having a great time.  But does that keep us from being the annoyingly loud and obnoxious parents??  Nope, sure doesn't!! 

(Hair ribbons courtesy of Veronica!)

So, I'm thinkin' that I dig soccer!! I am a proud momma of Payton and Savannah.  I will absolutely be encouraging my little soccer players to sign up again next year.  And I have a feeling that we will only be louder!!

*COMMUNITY*

I think this word describes this weekend perfectly.  The first thing I think about when I hear the word 'community' is, of course the hilarious TV show, that I probably shouldn't admit to watching.  I kid.  Anyway, I think of where I live.  It's a small place with no stop lights and a lot of good people.  This Saturday was the 2nd Annual Apple Harvest Festival.  There was talk last year of a run to start off the all day festivities...but it didn't happen.  But the tides changed a bit and they had one this year.  I decided on Thursday that I would do this 8K jog through picturesque Onalaska.  So, I went for a little 3 mile run and had second thoughts about doing it.  But Saturday morning rolled around and I was up and dressed.  We got a call from our good friend, Ron Lambert (who, by the way, is training for a half marathon) saying he had also decided to do the run and was pretty insistent that Doug do it as well.  Well, there went my babysitter.  Thankfully, Ron's wonderful wife, Jill was willing to wrestle my kids while the rest of us....ummm...ran.

One of the main reasons I decided to do this run, on this day, was because it was officially LiveSTRONG Day.  With my mom having had ovarian cancer and now still undergoing after effects and testing for thyroid cancer... I wanted to do this for her.  LiveSTRONG is a 'community' of people who have been effected by Cancer in one way or another.  I wanted to share that with the people that were there and passed out some wristbands. I am wearing 6 of them along with my LiveSTRONG shirt.  No...I didn't over to it.  I probably should have been decked out head to toe in yellow!!

My friend, Kim was there to run as well.  Hi, Kim!

Always the joker, Doug had to break the incredible nervousness by being silly.

The course was...interesting and a little confusing at times.  Several people went the wrong way and ended up running further than expected.  Oops!  Doug and I were together pretty much the entire time.  Except I decided to ditch him so I could use my last bit of strength and energy to sprint to the finish.  My official time was...54:51 and Doug's was 54:56.  I felt a little bit better about that time when we found out it was 5.3 miles, instead of just 5.

Who has two thumbs and won 1st place overall???  THIS GUY!  Jesse was speedy mcspeederson and took the coveted Apple Plaque for the guys.

I think one of the reasons Ron wanted Doug to run is so that he could beat him and then tease him about it! 

 Ron did so amazing, finishing 8 minutes before us.

And what's that in our hands you ask???  Why, they are 1st place ribbons.  That's right, sister (or mister) we all got 1st place in our age divisions!!!  OK...so there wasn't that much competition, but you know we will brag about this for a while.

Yep...KIM TOO!!

After waiting around hoping to win some of the cool raffle prizes after the race (where Doug, did indeed win something...a coffee mug!  I know, you're all envious), we ran home for a hot second so Doug could shower and then hustled back for the parade. 

 The kids enjoyed all the candy that was thrown at them.

A camel???  I guess so.  His name is Curly.

After the parade, we wondered around the town a bit.  The kids insisted on going to the petting zoo.  Doug went back for the car and I took all the kids with me.  There were a few baby cows, chicks, Curly the camel, guinea pigs, alpacas, one nice goat and two mean goats that I wanted to punch.  Isabelle and her cousin Gabe were the first to reach the furry bullies.  As soon as they got there, it was like bumper cars goat style.  They started head butting them!!  I was not happy and bolted the 5 feet distance to kick me some goats.  I picked my belly up and her blood curdling squeals were intense and drew in every one's attention.  Thankfully it scared them more than anything and there was no permanent damage done.  Isabelle, however was very timid around the other animals the rest of the time.  "But they will beat me up!"  Poor thing.  After that we headed into the schools for some craft browsing and song listening.  This A' Capella group (above) was so good.  I got super excited when they started singing Rag Time Cowboy Joe...a song that my Grandmother taught to me and I now sing to my kids.  I have never heard it anywhere else.  It made me smile and of course I sang along.  It was a good morning in Ony and felt good to be a part of something like that.  I look forward to it next year.

We made it home in time for me to shower quickly and head up to Rochester.  I think another part of 'community' is supporting friends.  My fabulous friend, Traci informed me that her daughter was in the play Wizard of Oz.  I didn't think we would be able to make it, but it worked out.  We went to the 3 o'clock showing and witnessed Raquel being a cute little munchkin!!  Unfortunately, Traci had decided that her husband would go to this showing and she would go to the 5:30 one.  So, I didn't get to go be with her, but it was a cute play and my kids have been singing the songs and reciting the lines from it for the last 2 days.

After a quick bite to eat at DQ...chicken basket with gravy and Texas toast, yummy... I headed back home to drop the kids off at my sis-in-laws and change into some fresh running clothes (which included killer tube socks) and I went right back into Centralia for another run!!

I think 'community' also includes doing things for people you don't know.

Tressa and Jesse (whom I DO know) organized a 5K run (3.1 miles) to help raise awareness for Joubert Syndrome.  A fellow blogger they know has a son fighting it.  

 After driving around Borst Park for a while, trying to find everyone I was beginning to think I was in the wrong place.  Soon my friend Heidi showed up and we were lost together.  Thankfully we received a phone call and were lead to the starting line.  Apparently my vision is worse than I thought.  They had been there the entire time.

Anyway, all was well and we were happy.  Tressa had put together some fun swag bags complete with glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets so we could be seen running in the dark, a whistle...just in case you got lost (and I'm surprised no one did, cause it got pretty dark out), some FunDip and awesome hand stickers for our rear ends.

The course was sort of a loopy back and forth thing.  I was a little sore from my run that morning but soon fell into 'auto pilot' which usually happens around mile 2.  I will admit...I am afraid of the dark.  So when the light really started to fade and the path became harder to see, I got a little nervous.  I took careful strides and hoped to not trip over the speed humps!!

Heidi's son, Drake was a running machine.  He kept up with the big boys the entire time and ran the whole way.  I was super relieved to cross the finish 'light' (car headlights) and got the time of 38:something and waited for the rest of the awesome people to come in.  As Raya came in, she informed us that the course was actually 6.2K, so just shy of 4 miles.   Everyone else came in and stellar awards were handed out.  I'm glad that I decided to be a part of this great little event.  Thanks Tressa and Jesse.

Yeah...we are all awesome!

~

And last, but certainly not least...our church 'comminity'  It was General Conference weekend.  What more can make you feel like a part of something then that?  It still floors me when I am sitting there singing or listening to those amazing speakers, that millions of other people are doing the same thing...at the exact same time.  Community, indeed.