The Soup

Yes it's me and Joel McHale! If you watch the E channel you will know who he is, if you don't he is hilarious and he hosts a reality clip show. My friend Nicole has a friend who knows a guy that works for E and got us tickets to a taping of The Soup last night. It was hilarious as always and Joel is a super cool guy. At the end of taping he thanks everyone for coming and shakes their hand, I asked for a pic cuz I love the show and I had to have some visuals to go with my bragging! Bruno, the judge from Dancing with the Stars made a cameo but I don't watch that show so I didn't really care. We went out to dinner and had a fabulous girls nite out! A shout out to Rebecca for watching the boys until Steve got home from work! Lucas will not stop talking about Matthew and all the fun they had!

Agoura Great Race: Half Marathon

Shawna and I before. It was soooo cold! I couldn't feel my toes until mile 3, they were so numb from the cold. We did the Pacific Half instead of the Chesebro this year which was all street. We thought it would be easier and didn't really train at all. We were wrong! It was all up hill on Kanan rd. and around Malibu Lake down and around and back up hill to the finish at Agoura High School. The scenery was beautiful but you couldn't really enjoy it because there was one hill after another!

Me crossing the finish line, I know I am a dork! My goal was to finish under 2 hours and my time was 1:59:06, I barely made it but I felt fine after I wasn't sore the next day except for my shins from the downhill on the pavement. So I'm pleased to announce this was the beginning of my training for the L.A. Marathon on May 25! It is on Monday this year, it's usually on Sunday as most marathons are and I want to be obedient to the Sabbath so I know this is meant to be!

Shawna and I after. I talked Shawna into doing the L.A. Marathon with me. She is my most hardcore friend and she likes to push herself as hard as I do! Wish us luck!

This year the race had extra special meaning. Last year my friend Ginger Clinton that passed away ran the 5K and she was very proud of her accomplishment. To honor her memory a big group of us, her whole family included, all participated in various races. We all wore red shirts, her favorite color, with the word "Happiness" on the front and her initials on the back. It was very cool to see all the red shirts and remember Ginger. Honestly a couple of times throughout my 13 miles I called on Ginger to help me, I felt her spirit and presence there. She was such an awesome person! I miss her so much!

Disneyland again

They were even stressed about "Small World".ME: "It's not scary. It's just a bunch of dolls singing." Boys: "Are the dolls scary?" it's finally open with some new additions and the boys loved it like I knew they would

It was a little chilly but sunshine all day, even Jasmine and Alladin have their coats on.

They changed Tom Sawyer's island to the pirate's hideout...this was new for us.

It's "Captain Underpants"!

I was up on the computer and Ben calls me and says "look mom I'm Captain Underpants!"

I had to grab my camera and blog it, I can't wait till he's 17 and show these pics to his friends!

If you've read the books you know what I'm talking about!

Lucas, the drama boy

This kid is all drama! He's definately a Leo, just like his mama.

Bonding with Sara

We made a cool club house out of a big box. Ben adores Sara and tries to do all he can to make her happy. Lucas on the other hand not so sweet but he loves her just the same he just has an annoying way of showing it, she's a tough cookie never once has she cried because he did something to her.

My little niece who is growing way too fast has a bad case of seperation anxiety from her mother.

She screams and is inconsolable whenever her mother leaves the room. Not even her father can calm her down. So when Maryann asked for some help with this problem I was all to happy to help....it's hard to bond with a child when she only wants her mommy and this is my daughter that I'll never have so we need to bond! Anyways Maryann has been bringing her over tuesdays and thursdays and sneaking out for a bit. Yes she cried but she did let me hold, console, and read to her which was nice and last thursday she didn't cry at all! She whimpered when she noticed MA was gone but didn't cry!

Student of the Month!

Fifth grade has been a challenge for Jacob. He doesn't pay attention in class therefore he misses instructions and it's been affecting his grades. His teacher is awesome and really cares about Jacob. He got him into the afterschool homework/tutoring program which was a huge blessing for me because Mon thru Thur. I dreaded homework time. Jacob and I now have nice conversations after school instead of annoying fights over homework. I got a call from Mr. Keatts and my first reaction was now what...he's had behavior problems. I was pleasantly surprised to find out he choose Jacob as the student of the month because of his improvements and he was calling to invite me to the award assembly. This is when I am grateful I don't have a job and of coarse I would be there. I was so proud. I cried of coarse. I love my little "doots". I am so proud of his hard work and efforts to improve! I of all people know how hard it is to pay attention and not talk when it's not the appropriate time. I also know how important school is and this is the point in his life when he is either going to fall further and further behind and eventually give up and hate school or work a little harder, be successful and hopefully excell like I know he is capable of doing.

I am also very proud of Ben and Lucas who sat through the assembly, it wasn't short and Jacob was the last person to go up, they were very well behaved and they cheered real loud for their big brother which was cute.