a special day for margaret...

My sweet baby turned 2 today. I have WAY too many pictures in this post, but I just can't help myself. She's my baby and she's cute. :)


We were "dadless" for most of the day. Church duty for Dave. I hate these Sundays. I take that back. I don't hate them. I'm actually getting pretty good at getting it all done by myself, I just wish he were around for mornings like this. Margaret woke up to balloons. Before she left her room though, she needed her shoes and her jacket (jack).

After church, we went directly to the backyard to try and grab some pictures before naptime. Let me just tell you, Margaret and pictures don't mix. She makes me crazy. She won't look at me. She runs away. She knows exactly what I want her to do, but she's showing me, like I LOVE to be shown, that I am not the boss.

So, she wasn't having the whole balloon/fence business, so I tied them to a chair and she went to swing. While she was swinging, we turned and saw this...

NOOOOOOOO! I hadn't even taken any yet. You KNOW how I love my balloon pictures every single birthday. It was totally my fault. I didn't tie them tight enough. After I calmed myself and took some really deep breaths, I realized it wasn't the end of the world. Almost, but not quite. I would just go buy more tomorrow and try again. I won't tell you how close I came to getting more right then, but knew the whole Sabbath thing could be an issue with my kids.

Oh my goodness. Seriously? This is why I take so many pictures. I don't want to miss anything so amazing.

She wanted nothing to do with her party hat either. Boo.

Oh yay! Folded paper from Molly! She actually loved it though. Or at least she acted like she did.

OK...so once I realized the balloon thing wasn't going to happen, we improvised. I sent Alex to the basement to grab the party hats and he came back up with 2 punch balloons. Hey, those just might work! You know what? They did the job. I no longer felt the anxiety of getting to the store for 6 more overpriced balloons.

I'm telling you, she won't look at me. As a matter of fact, she looks the opposite direction.

She LOOKS away, then she RUNS away. At least you can see the back of her hair here. I curled it as I was frantically trying to get 6 of us ready for church. It was pretty darn cute.

She totally came up with this pose on her own. I kid you not.

Opening her first of 2 "singamajigs". Can you tell how happy she was?

Dinner prayer.

Spaghetti (her favorite) with her box of goldfish dumped on top. Mmmm.

A phone call from her cousin Christy!

I love this. She won't touch the cake with her hands. Too messy. She wanted a spoon. What kid won't eat with their hands?

I love this baby so much. I remember when Dave and I were first discussing having a 5th baby. He was worried about it. Mostly worried for ME. He knows I stress. He knows I get anxious. He worried it just might kill me. Some days it almost does. But other days...oh man, on those other days...I wonder how we ever lived without this beautiful girl in our lives.

Love you Margaret! Happy birthday!!!

moving on...

Alex graduated from the 6th grade today. It's a big deal around here. They have a pretty lengthy ceremony, awards, musical numbers. I am really proud of him. As they were awarding the Kiwanis club awards, President's club, etc., I started to get a little anxious. Alex does really well in school, but definitely not as good as he could if he really applied himself. I listened as the parents of the top 4 children gushed about their kids, the same 4 children that seemed to win everything. They should gush, they really should. And they should be proud. I realized though, that unless you are at the VERY top, you are just average. Thrown into one big lump. I saw a little girl waiting for her name to be announced as they were calling down kids in the President's club. Her name was never called. She and about 6 others were left sitting there. Education is hugely important, I KNOW it is. Excellence needs to be applauded. But, isn't there some way to recognize everyone? For athleticism, respect, kindness, whatever they seem to excel at? Anyhow, those are my thoughts today. There needs to be some way that they can all feel validated and important.

Can you sense the excitement?

Alex and his sweet teacher, Mr. Jeppesen.

Alex and his pal Matthew. He has such nice friends. There are so many good kids at this school. I hope they can find a way to continue that goodness as they head to junior high.

Way to go Alexander Joel Schofield! We love you! We are proud of you. You are a wonderful boy. Really, really wonderful.

squeezing one in before midnight...

Aren't we cute? I realized a few minutes ago that I hadn't blogged anything today. I'm trying to recommit to the whole blogging/journaling thing. I used to be so good years ago. I recorded everyday stuff. I love the everyday stuff. I went back through some of it yesterday and decided I needed to post even when I feel like I have nothing to talk about. This is our relay team just a few seconds after crossing the finish line. I know...we're tough as nails.

the end of my fraying rope...

Another battle of wills today. It's been brewing for a few weeks. Could be the rainy weather. Sure...it's the rainy weather. Molly is really, REALLY strong willed. That's a loving mother's way of saying she has been a snot for the month of May. Not every second, but almost. She will not accept "no" as an option. She asks very unreasonable things, too, lest you think I am always turning her down. She's never satisfied. If you give her a piece of gum, she's mad you didn't give her 2. If you take her Wendy's for a Frosty b/c you're craving some of their fries, she's mad it isn't a slushie from Sonic. She's mad when you won't let her play in the kiddie pool when it's raining and 50 degrees outside. She's mad when you play Mancala with her and don't play best of 5. It's never enough.

I realize a lot of the way she is, is because of me. I'm with her all day. I'm the one that needs to be teaching and nurturing. Sometimes we have really great conversations, like today in the car on the way to the park. We talked about being an example to others. She's very bright, and understands what we talk about. Then, when it's time to leave the park, she says NO and walks off. You're standing there sweating, holding a wiggly Margaret who also doesn't want to go, and you're blood is getting really hot. SO, you buckle Margie in her carseat against her will, unroll the windows so she won't suffocate on this beautiful, sunny day, and march back over, looking for your disobedient sass mouth. She's made her way back to the tire swing. You stop it, pull her off, and carry her angry little body to the car. Then you tell her she can't speak until we get home. Not a word. You play your church music CD to try and calm your temper.

That was our afternoon. Right now, she is being told to lay on my bed for 1 hour. She just came in after 5 minutes and told me her time was up. Nope. Anyhow, I'm trying to figure out how to cope with her. How to change her attitude before I won't have as much say any more. I'm having a really hard time. My older 3 kids are so obedient. They do what I ask, even if they are totally frustrated. It makes life pretty easy when they are that compliant. Then the Lord sends me this. I love her like crazy, but liking her is tough when she is so nasty. I want her to be a likeable kid. I want her to respect others. I want her to obey. Maybe I'll just let Mrs. Thibault take care of all that in kindergarten next year.

baby goldies...

Our friends the Yergensen's had puppies. Well, Goldie had puppies. 9 of them. We went over to hold them a few weeks ago. First off, they were the cutest, softest things I have ever seen. They all whimper, all the time. They didn't even have their eyes open when we met them. Molly jumped right in. She made sure to rotate between all the dogs, and to flash me super-cheesy happy faces. :) Margaret was timid, until Melissa walked her through it. She did great. She really did. I think she may be an animal lover. She just needs to learn to stop carrying them around by their necks. I swore she was going to break some of those poor puppies.

the good stuff...

I told you she liked pickles.

She really, really likes them. She claps while she chews.

My kids are wierd. They don't eat much. What they DO eat, is totally strange. I've done a food post before, years ago, but things have changed. I need to document what they like. No one is digging pizza right now. We go to Little C's pretty regularly, but now we just get 4 orders of breadsticks and call it dinner. Have you had those things?! Why are they so freaking delicious to me? I'm not sure about the calorie count, and I'm not going to try and find out either. We put some lettuce beside them on the plate and feel really good about it. By the way, my kids call lettuce salad. I have corrected Lizzy at least a dozen times.

They all like hot sauce. On everything. They like all things hot. Orange chicken from Panda Express (which Dave can make even better than they can). Jalapeno jelly. Radishes. My wasabi almonds. Slim Jims. Maybe the "hot" drowns out flavors they don't like, I don't know.

They love candy. REALLY love it. They are into these things we found at Macey's called HI CHEWS. They are pretty great. I love them too and now know to hide them when I buy some.

I kind of can't stop eating cinnamon raisin bread. It reminds me of my grandparents beach house in Seaside Heights NJ. I'm pretty sure we ate it there a lot. I could be wrong. Who cares. It makes me think of Grandy and Grampy. I love them and I miss them.

As much as the kids love candy, they love fruits and veggies more. Isn't that crazy?? They especially love when I roast stuff. Our thing right now is kale chips. Yeah, kale. Rinse it, tear it up into small pieces, spray some olive oil on it, and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. They come out crispy and salty and delicious. The 3 big kids devour it. And it leaves nice green chunks in your teeth. Roasted asparagus is gone before I can even THINK about saving a few for Dave. Fish...they love it. Jicama...love.

Why do they have to make chips and candy so easy?

the graduate...

Molly graduated from The Little Learner's Pre Kindergarten last night in a moving, standing room only, ceremony. :) It was absolutely perfect. Mrs. Taylor has been a dream. The most organized pre-k teacher I have ever met...and I just happen to have met a lot. She and her husband are going on a mission for 3 years so I'll have to find someone else for Margie. Sad.

Anyhow, back to Molly. She was so proud last night. You can tell by looking at her hands. Proud and a little bit nervous. She had been asking all day how many more hours. She threatened me that if I was not nice to her, I would not be invited to her graduation party. Niceness included getting off of the computer. Yup...she's still hung up on that.

She is a doll. Really spunky and feisty at home, mellow and well behaved when she's out. Can't really complain. She is a REALLY good girl when it counts. I love her so much.

Yay for Molly! She was ALL OVER a quick photoshoot, and had lots of creative ideas. :)

Could you just EAT her in that cap? I could.

lakeside runs...

The Red Rock Relay. Moab, Utah. 70 miles. 6 runners. 2 legs each. 10.5 hours. I LOVED it. Our team was oozing with speedy talent. Greg and Kris Tina Danklef, Chris and Jennie (am I right with the "ie"?) Smith, Tara James, and yours truly.

The drive down was a riot. I love the drive down to anything. You're excited, there are snacks at your fingertips, LOTS of laughing, lots of anticipation. I love my friends. I love the ones I was with and the ones who were texting me from home.

Greg started us off at 6:10 am with a gorgeous, 6-ish mile, sunrise run through the canyon along the Green River. Seriously breathtaking. The air was so crisp and clean. Relays are so fun and social. We ride along in the van stopping every mile or so to cheer on our runner and get them water, etc. We decided to take my van so we could fit the 6 of us. Greg drove for me. What a peach. Really though, I may have put people's lives at risk. I really appreciated it.

Next was Chris. He was awesome. He started training on Thursday. Didn't really matter. This is him just seconds after one of his kills. You can click it to see it larger. WOOT!

KT was next. 5 miles of hills. I am just going to say one thing here. Actually, two. This girl is tough as nails...and I love her. Way to go Kitty!

The handoff to Tara. We had a bracelet baton to pass. I ended up with the thing at home. The kids thought it was awesome until I told them it was covered in sweat from 6 people. They haven't touched it since.

Tara is a beast. She ran 5 miles straight uphill. I think she climbed 1000 feet. She just wouldn't quit. Do you know how hard hills are?

Tara to Jennie. Jennie ran our next uphill run. 2-point-something miles of steep business.

I had the next uphill leg. 3 miles. It was rough. I had only run 3 times in the last 5 weeks, so I was beyond anxious. Hills were a thing of the past. I had gotten so I actually liked them. Not Saturday. I had to walk several times for a few seconds. Still managed to kill 2 men though. Check out the smile on my face after I passed this guy. :)

Time for Kris Tina again. This time it was an insane uphill climb. Just under 3 miles. It was ridiculous! Switchbacks at who KNOWS what %incline. She's the tiny gray dot in the bottom right of the picture. I would have stopped. Tapped out. Asked for a pinch runner. Not KT. She was fabulous!

Not many people can make me laugh as much as Greg can. I never knew he could speed walk...like "olympic quality" speed walk. He only did it for a second, to catch his breath, but he was tearing it up!

Chris headed off on his second 7 mile leg. He ran more than any of us. He loved it. Every second of it...except for when he said, "This is the WORST thing I have ever done in my life." Don't worry...he's already planning the next relay.

Tara's next run was the hardest of the race. 7 miles downhill. A 2000 foot descent. Talk about screaming quads. She was a crazy person. She was seriously blazing. She never ceases to amaze me. Something like 7:30 miles. And she made a friend along the way, which, if you know her at all, is no surprise.

Jennie was next up. It should have been a nice 8 mile descent. Instead, it was 8 flat, hot, sunny miles through cow pastures. While she cranked them out, we sat in the van on the side of the road, listening to "Let's Get It On" and watching cows get fresh with each other. Pretty sweet. Jennie is amazing though. She is like a machine, with skinny little legs. She didn't stop once. Didn't drink. And got kills the whole way.

My anxiety was really starting to build by this point. I was next. 7.67 miles. Mostly down with a few little bumps in the middle. A month ago, I would have been all over it. I haven't run more than 4 miles in the last 5 weeks though. My back has been sore. My last leg was the pits. It was hot. It was late afternoon. All things I wasn't used to. I just didn't know if I could do it. KT played a song to get me pumped and I was on my way.

I prayed a lot on this leg. I talked out loud to the Lord and to myself. I ran all but the last 2 miles with no one in sight. He heard me. He blessed me with a cool breeze, a strong back, and a building confidence. I ran the first 5 faster than I ever have. Every time I would see my van pulled off to the side of the road, hear the screaming from my friends, see Tara just ahead of me with some cold water, I would tear up. Such supportive, good people. Things got rough around mile 5 when I was lead off the road, and into the woods. I ran along a path, totally secluded, on sand. Yeah, sand. It was HARD. I lost my groove for awhile. My friends couldn't get to me with water or happy yells. I was alone. I got killed by one guy about halfway through. I kept him in my sights so I wouldn't get attacked by someone hiding in the trees, and got it done. Tara met me out on the road for the last 1/2 mile. It made me so happy. I finished strong. Average pace of 8:34.

What would have made it perfect? If Dave had been there. It was such a great experience. I really, really loved it. I loved the support I felt from my friends, my family, and a loving Heavenly Father, who knew when a cloud would really make my day.