I swear, this is not a Runner's Weekly blog... (*Updated with pictures*)

...although considering that in my last nine posts, there is some mention of running in eight of them, and five of them are written solely about it. Kyle threatented to reclaim his blog and post a picture of a burger and remind our readers that there was more to our lives than my meager attempts to re-live the glory high school days, but the poor guy has been so busy he hasn't even had time to read this blog, let alone reclaim it.

So besides running a half-marathon and then spending the last 3 weeks blogging about it, what have we been up to?

Kyle's happenings can be summed up pretty easily: Working and telling mission stories. Six days a week he spends laboring for the business and the seventh he goes to church and shares his experiences about when he lived in the Phillippines as a missionary for the church. He was recently asked to help out in the mission prep class, and jumped at the chance to have the opportunity to speak of the fond days of yore. He has been past the point for quite a few years now when it's cool to share mission stories. Mission prep has provided Kyle with a nice exception to the socially unacceptable.

Here's what else has been happening...

It was proven despite vast physical dissimilarities, Cade and Savannah are indeed blood siblings. My ward (church congregation) and friends gathers annually and we all venture 11 miles through the country on bicycles to a most wonderful ice cream stop. We eat ice cream, take pictures to document the good times, and then head back 11 miles for a fantastic Memorial Day bar-b-que. As it is every summer, Kyle is working and can't join us for the bike riding fun. Last summer I had my bike (rather, a borrowed bike) hooked up to a Burley (trailer for the kids to sit in) and when I wasn't looking, a very kind man took pity on me and hooked the Burley to his bike and pulled my kids the entire 22 miles without breaking a sweat. I take that back. Savannah was infuriated I put a helmet on her head and would not stand for it. She screamed so long it was decided she could ride in the van following the bikes. So, he pulled both of them for about 3 miles, and then Cade for the remaining 18. I could not keep up with him! He was an Ox.

Unfortunately my ox-friend and his family decided to go out of town for Memorial Day this year and it was up to me to pull the kids. I was feeling bold and brave, and fortunately was in considerably better shape this year than last, so I took on the challenge. This year Savannah did not mind the helmet (perhaps it had something to do with Cade wearing his all the time. He received a Spiderman helmet for his birthday and wears it everywhere now, even in the car) and we were off. After about 2 miles, the excitment of being towed in a yellow capsule on wheels passing corn fields wore off, and the kids couldn't resist the uncontrollable urge to poke and scream and bicker. In addition, Cade continuously let me know he was particularly agitated that we were going way too slow because we were not in front, and were "getting passed by everybody." Perhaps one day he'll appreciate my efforts.

I kept chugging and a kindly young man in the ward stayed with me to make sure I was okay (or maybe to make sure I wouldn't unhook my fighting children and abandon them in the nearby corn fields). The bickering stopped about 200 yards from the ice cream store. We each ordered a delicious cup of ice cream, and Savvy also managed to score herself a free chocolate cake because she smashed it with her greedy little fingers when her negligent mother was doing something else besides preventing her from demolishing beautiful slices of cake lovingly placed on the counter for hungry cake addicts to purchase. Thank you Purple Store cashier for taking pity on me, but really, I would have been absolutely fine paying for the cake. Honestly. I have strong feelings about chocolate cake.

About 1/2 a mile into the ride back, my darlings went back to their bickering, but this time it was much more bearable because of the nasty headwind. It did wonders to drown out the sounds of sibling rivalry. I guess I can't blame Cade and Savvy as they had very little personal space, but I was expecting better behavior than what I got. Despite the screaming, kicking, poking and biting (yes, the biter was our precious Savannah) it was still a pleasant bike ride for me. At about mile 18 by some miracle I looked behind me to check on the kids (very hard to do, by the way, while driving a bike pulling a trailer when you lack coordination like I) to find Savannah unzipping the rain cover and climbing out of "her chariot" at that very moment. That girl! She had had enough. So, in the following van she went to sit on Shayla's lap and Cade and I enjoyed the last 3 miles in peace and quiet.

Part of me wondered if I should have let Savvy sit in the following van for the entire bike ride, but I was so set on us making the trip as a family. Maybe it was me paying homage to the pioneers, or perhaps I just had to prove to myself that I could pull them the entire way. Afterwards, I really wondered if I had done my two children a disservice by forcing them to sit by eachother with no more than a hair's width between them for so many miles.

My worries were disspelled when I asked Cade the next day what he though about the bike ride. "Oh it was so fun, Mom!" he squealed. His favorite part? The ice cream of course. He'd forgotten about everything else.

Remember DEAR Day? As my good friend has so wisely put it,

A book is never more enjoyed than when there is laundry waiting to be folded.

I've allowed laundry to pile up on many occasions, grocery shopping to be put off yet another day, and have re-lived my single favorite day in elementary school when we all were commanded to "Drop Everything And Read" for 30 minutes.

When in Utah for the event which shall now and heretoforward go unmentioned, I had a chance to peruse Deseret Book with my Dad and Sister. To aimlessly wander that store without children was such a delight. The bargain shelf housed some favorites I've wanted to add to my own library: The Adventures of Huck Finn , Tom Sawyer and Princess Academy. Huck Finn was intended to be read to Cade, and Princess Academy, of course to be read to Savvy. However, for some reason (probably the same reason Cade prefers the pink Hotwheels bike over the blue one), Cade found the "princess book" cover (and dare I say title) a lot more enticing. I agreed to set aside Huck for the time being and began reading the princess book to him.

I quickly fell in love and began sneaking my own personal reading sessions with it until I finished. I am harboring lots of guilt over it now though. But it is good for me to have read it so I can better paraphrase when some of the paragraphs are full of complicated words and Cade needs clarification...right? In my personal quiet hours I've also indulged in the Book Thief and the Shadow Children series, which are both juvenile fiction, and really, really fantastic. Who would have thought juvenile fiction could be so inveigling?

Cade graduated from Pre-School. It was a tender and quaint little gathering his teachers put together and was just perfect. Cade adores his teachers and I am sad that Savannah won't get to have them. Well, then again, never say never as far as our ever-changing lives are concerned. The way we roll around here it wouldn't be altogether surprising if Savvy found herself there in a year or two. Okay, at first that was kind of meant to be funny, but it's not really. As much as I love it here, I do hope we stay somewhere for more than a year.

I was touched how emotional Cade's teacher got when talking about the students. It is so wonderful knowing my son has so many great people in his life to help him grow and learn. I really regretted not wearing sunglasses to the affair. In my moment of realization that my precious firstborn was crossing yet another milestone, tears began to trickle down my cheeks.

Had I been wearing shades, it would have gone unnoticed. My lame "those darn allergies" indictments didn't really work and I was a nostalgic mess. Most or all of the other parents were seasoned Preschool graduation attendees and just smiled and were probably thrilled at the thought that now ALL of their children will be enrolled in school full-time.

Cade and his classmates, eagerly awaiting their diplomas. It surprised me Cade chose the front row. Didn't know he was the front-row type.

Lucky he was sitting up front, because he was the first student called up to receive his little diploma.

I love this grin he has as all the parents and teachers are clapping for their new graduates.

Cade with each of his teachers. Funny that he gave the same confused/pensive/disinterested look for both shots.

I went to my first Yoga class. Not what I expected. I guess I just had in my head that I'd lay down in a dark, dark room in a very comfortable position while soothing music aided the instructor in melting my worries away. Honestly, I was expecting a 45 minute quasi-nap. Instead I found myself stretching in odd positions with funny names and trying so very hard not to giggle at them. I'll have to give it another shot when I've matured a few more years I think.

We've welcomed summer. After a waterfight with the neighbor kids and a trip to our town's little ice cream joint, I now feel like summer has officially begun. Savannah has even broken her early rising habit and has now realized that sleep, especially in the morning, is a good thing. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is still deciding whether or not summer is here. Hopefully in a week or so the kids and I can become pool rats for the remainder of the summer!

She's really good at saving some for later...on her face.

Our neighbor friend Carter having fun with the hose.

Thanks, Carter.

Oh how we love this yard!

We've upgraded our hospitality status. The home we are renting is fabulous. It has incredible guest quarters (doesn't the word "quarters" sound so fancy?) so I was ecstatic to learn our friends Liz and Joel were stopping through on their move from Philly to Minneapolis. They did this last year, and let's just say, I was really thrilled to have a second chance at proving I knew something of southern hospitality. Or at least knew hospitality. Last year it resembled something along the lines of the warm, fuzzy New Jerseyian-type hospitality (Melody, you can appreciate this, can't you?). It was a bummer their movers were ahead of schedule (when does that ever happen, right!?) and they had to leave a night early, but so fun to see Liz and her little pregnant bump and catch up on the last several months.

I always feel so tall standing next to Liz. Especially when I am wearing heels and she flip-flops.

Flap Your Wings saved a life. There is a bird nest housed on the upper deck of our back porch. The kids and I have been watching it for days. I've been grumbling about all the bird poo on the deck and waiting to get pooped on myself. I have been tempted on many occasions to move the nest to another more desireable (for me) location, but reminded myself what a great teaching tool it is for the kids and how un-green, non-tree-hugging, and non-wildlife-friendly that would be. And should any green, tree-hugging wild-life lover find out what I did.....well, I'd just rather not experience the wrath.

Today while we were outside playing Cade called to me in his usual you've-gotta-come-now-I-just-discovered-a-spaceship type holler, "Mom! Mom! Come here, I have to show you something!" I was expecting the usual odd-shaped rock or piece of glass Cade had un-earthed, thinking it was lost treasure. When he guided me to the little bird struggling on the ground just below his nest, I was shocked. We all watched it for a few minutes pondering what to do. I then posed the question to Cade. His face became pensive and then a grin crossed his face."I know what we should do! It's like in that book we read, Mom. 'Member when the boy found the egg and he put it back in the nest? We need put it back in the nest! Yes, those are the right directions!" I then asked how we would do it. "Get a really, really tall stool," he declared.

We went to Barb's garage and Cade spotted a ladder. I put on my handy dandy dishwashing gloves (that for some reason I never wear whilst washing dishes) and picked up the poor little bird. I climbed the ladder and was shocked to find 4 other sleeping baby birds in the nest. No wonder the poor guy fell out. There wasn't any room for him! After some gentle rearranging I manage to tuck him back in his nest safely. I worried if we did the right thing because his mother didn't return all day, but after reading this, I guess we did. Thank you, P.D. Eastman for Flap Your Wings.

And there you have it. Enough updates to fill up six blogs worth and not a word about running. I hope this brings balance back into our blog.