it's baseball season. there will be a lot of games. the games are long and pretty cold right now, but i'm (we're) glad to be there to cheer him on. i know how much it means to have your parents there. i remember the feeling of hoping my parents would come to my track or cross-country meets, only to have them not show up. i'm so thankful that is not something my kids have to go through.

i love lists like this, and thought this might be of interest to some of you.
here are some books we have enjoyed this year: (some were read-alouds, and some were ones they read)

we've done quite a few reading comprehension tests this year. they are pretty easy to find online for most books.

1. little house in the big woods
2. little house chapter books (Bre read all of these - most are around 70 pages)
3. sarah, plain and tall
4. the courage of sarah noble
5. muggie maggie
6. pippy longstocking
7. george washington
8. breyer stablemates - patch
9. breyer stablemates - starlight
10. breyer stablemates - stormy
11. the seven treasure hunts
12. the littles
13. the box car children (the first 4)
14. the terrible trins
15. life in the great ice age
16. the great dinosaur mystery & the bible
17. one small square - cactus desert
18. one small square - artic tundra
19. one small square - coral reef
20. amelia bedila goes camping
21. amelia bedila, teach us!
22. noah's ark noah's flood
23. meet thomas jefferson
24. blaze books by c.w. anderson
25. ramona the brave
26. absolutely lucy
27. the littles and their amazing new friend
28. pioneer daughter's: hannah's winter of hope
29. hank the cowdog: every dog has his day
30. janette oke's animal books (there are several of these)
31. who was ronald reagan?
32. several magic treehouse books (i don't think all of these are good, but we have enjoyed the early ones and some of the research books that go with them)

we're getting ready to start on betsy tacy stories.

 wow! things have really changed...

After several woman collapsed upon completing the 800 meter dash at the 1928 Olympics, the powers that be in the world of running decided that women lack the constitution to run long distances.  Running was thought to be not only unladylike, but dangerous for ladies. Women were barred from racing distances of more than 200 meters.

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, a 20 year old college student, registered to run the Boston Marathon under the name “K. V. Switzer.”  When race officials discovered that K. V. was a woman, the race had already started.  This picture shows perfectly-named Boston Marathon official Jock Semple attempting to physically remove Switzer from the event, reportedly shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!”  Switzer’s college athlete boyfriend body-checked the race official and the pair continued running.
She successfully completed the race in 4 hours and 20 minutes, and seven years later won the New York City Marathon with a time of under 3:08.

8

week 5 of my 1/2 marathon training done.
i missed a 3 miler this week. no time.
i did my long run on sunday, since saturday was so cold and blustery here.
it was 47 and sunny. long sleeve shirt and shorts for this run. not too bad.
i've been sticking with the run a mile/walk a minute method.
it has been working pretty well.


finally ordered my picture book for 2010 (they're on sale for mother's day right now). that's my idea of scrapbooking - so easy! this is my 3rd year doing it, and i love them!

last night at bedtime, bryce saw me writing in his journal. i've written in it since he was born, and i purposed to do that at least once a month even if it was a quick note. he asked me to read a few to him. we both enjoyed looking back, and a couple made me get teary-eyed. he knows me well, and knew that would happen.
so many of the things i've written in there were moments that seem like yesterday. and so often, the moments that seemed insignificant at the time, are the ones that i treasure the most. i'm so glad i recorded them because there were a few i had forgotten about.
if there was a fire, those journals would be one of the first things i would grab.

it definitely is true what they say, "the days can be long, but the years are short."

• i think bryce ate one too many chicken nuggets today. wow. he has officially surpassed me in consumption.
• we've been playing at the creek by our house quite a bit lately. we're starting to see some green, along with some wildflowers. living here is a dream come true. 
• magnolias are in bloom here. my favorite! so beautiful!!
• running 8 this weekend. rain or shine. or wind. (please let the wind be at my back)
• starting to plan for school next year. i know we will be using the same curriculum because i really love it (i should post more about that soon), which makes planning much easier. never thought i'd be homeschooling this long, but the good has definitely out weighed the bad. God has taught me so much through it.
• one less follower on my blog. i guess it's not that exciting to read a post that says, "i ran 3 miles today."who knew?! ☺
• it's actually surprising anyone reads, considering how many bazillion blogs are out there. wow!
• oh, blogging you are so weird. but, i love you. i have met so many amazing women. so many of you have become friends. i have cried with you, prayed for you, and rejoiced over the things God has done (is doing) in your lives.
• i've stuck with my menu plan this week. i'm afraid to see what baseball will do to our meal times this summer. starting next week, the boy will have games twice a week.
• oh, and did i mention steve and i are going to play on our church softball league...
• and, i'll be training for a marathon...
• and, we'll have swimming lessons, piano lessons and gymnastics all summer?! not sure how we will fit it all in, but it will be fun.

how do you tie your running shoes? do you use any of these methods? Or, do you use something like this?
this is how i always have mine (double knotted and tucked under). they stay out of the way, and i never have a problem with them coming untied.

sometimes small things make big differences.

::friday - 3.5 miles
::saturday - planned on 7, but the loop ended up being 8. i used the run a mile/walk a minute method.
it was my longest run outside in quite awhile.
::sunday - rest day.

4 miles today. 

mile 1 - 9:04
walked 1 minute
mile 2 - 8:45
walked 1 minute
mile 3 - 9:11
walked 1 minute
mile 4 - 9:15


it felt really good to take the short walk break between running today. i think i may try to do this more often. thanks for the reminder of using this method, maia!

yesterday we went to visit my friend jenny and her kids. it was a good day, and the clouds were so beautiful on the way home.

today i ran 4.5 miles. the birds were chirping, and i saw tulips coming up and green grass! a perfect day; not as windy as it has been.
i started out too fast, but then settled into a nice pace. i ran some hills. i know there are
a couple long ones in the upcoming 1/2, so i want to be ready for those.
p.r. here i come!