Half Marathon

Okee Dokee, it's late and I'm tired. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. I had a really busy week because I gave myself the table and chairs project for my friend Karen and I also gave myself the deadline of next weekend to get it done. So I've been busy doing all the things AND trying to paint like mad when I get the chance. I ended up canceling a sub job on Friday so I could have more time. I painted most of the day today. I made huge progress. I have a very busy week ahead but I think I can make my goal and get it done. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

Cross country ends this week. Yay! I'm very excited to be done with after school practices. Basketball starts October 14th but we will have practices in the morning. I'm relieved about that although I hope it doesn't effect my VIPKID job too much. Hopefully my students will find their way back to me when I open more morning classes again. 

I ran a half marathon yesterday. I haven't trained for a half since Gabby was a baby. I "ran" Robie Creek a few years ago but I didn't train and mostly speed walked the whole time. A few people from my book club brought up the Fit One race in September. They wanted to run the 10K but I decided I wanted to do the half. I told my brother Hart about it and he said he wanted to do it and he also got my brother Gabe on board as well. I've been training for it all summer. Running is hard on my body so I found that if I only ran once or twice a week my body seemed to be able to handle that. I just did other workouts on other days, Well it paid off. My goal was to run it under 2 hours. I think I ran the Mesa Fall marathon just under 2 hours or right at 2 hours. Yesterday my time was 1:53:14. I crushed it! Cutting off 7 minutes is big time. I was running a fast pace for me but I was able to maintain it throughout. It felt good throughout the race to feel like I was going to make my goal. The weather was cold and I was breathing really hard and my lungs still hurt today. I'm a little sore but not too bad. I'm feeling really good. Oh and also I beat Gabe AND Hart. I've never beat them before so I was happy. They didn't really train but even without training they've still beat me in the past. I was happy as a clam to beat them.

Okay this is already longer than I planned peace! 

Hat day at school.

Scott doing homework with Ry Guy. 

We finally moved Ryan into Corbin's room. We had to do some rearranging today. 

Ryan finally has a big bed. He is sooo happy! 

The girls doing a drawing challenge together.

Outdoor movie night. It was super cold and Corbin really wanted to go. Scott and I were tired so we bailed. I dropped off Corbin and a friend brought him home. Pretty sweet set up though! 

Literally chilling out before the race. It was so cold. I was really glad I brought a blanket and sweatshirt.

Book club ladies.

Me basking in my glory having beaten my brothers! 

I ran into another friend at the race.

Update

I survived my week just fine. I was very tired on Wednesday and decided to skip book club but my sub days on Thursday and Friday were easy peasy. I subbed for the head of the PE department and he's also the athletic director plus a teacher so he has 3 prep periods plus lunch! I had to teach 4 classes. His last two periods were prep periods and I asked the lady at the front if I was needed anywhere else and she told me no and to go home! It was AWESOME! I had to come back on Thursday for cross country practice but I had time to go home and make dinner, do my lesson plans, and take a quick power nap. Best sub job ever!

Scott is making progress with the shed. All of the insulation is almost in. Woot!

On Friday night I had to go to a special cross country meet for our top runners. Over 700 runners ran and they had runners from 15 states. I'm not sure if those numbers include the high school or just middle school. Regardless it was a big race. Our top boy got 6th which is really good AND our boys team got 2nd place overall out of 39 schools. Super awesome! That was exciting. 

I've decided I want to paint a kitchen table set for my friend. I've been on the hunt all weekend for tables and chairs. I couldn't find 4 chairs I liked so I'm doing different styles. I'm hoping it will be a cute eclectic look. I want it done by October 5th so I need to get my butt in gear.  

I got this email from Piper's teacher: 

Good morning, 

I just wanted to touch base with you about sweet Ms. Piper. Last week a student destroyed some of our erasers for our whiteboards. Yesterday Piper came up to me and gave me a dollar and told me she wanted to help pay for those erasers. I just wanted to let you know how much that touched my heart. It was the kindest thing a student has ever done for me. 

I have the dollar safe in my room is there a way I can give it to you and it can somehow find its way back to Ms. Piper without her thinking I do not want it? Her act of kindness was worth so much more to me then those erasers.  

Please let me know if you have an idea on how I can get it back to you. 

Also thank you for raising such kind, hardworking, children. 

Miss Newhouse 

That was really sweet to hear about cute Pipes. Alright that's about it.

Scott working...

Gabby and me watching him work.

Lana and me at the race. 

Our 2nd place boys team.

Gabby helped me sand my project table.

Update

There's not much of an update from last week. On Monday I subbed a half day at Summerwind for the PE teacher. I got to sub for Gabby's class so that was fun. I also got to see Piper and Ryan at lunchtime. I subbed for 7th grade math on Tuesday. That was a stretch! I don't think I'll do that again. Math is not my strong suit. I was able to fake my way through it. I was pretty burned out and tired and decided not to sub for the rest of the week. That's the beauty of subbing, I can work or not.

We had two cross country meets last week. Our boys team won both meets, they are a strong team. It's pretty fun to have a team that does well.

Corbin went to his first middle school dance. It as for an hour after school. I think he ran around and talked with his friends. Sounds about right!

The weekend was pretty chill. Scott and I went to a late night movie Friday night with friends. He worked on Saturday.

Not much progress has been happening on the shed. Slowly but surely! Hopefully. Ha.

The kids are doing well in school. Nothing much else. No pics from last week. This week I'm subbing full days Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm a little nervous. Those will be 12 hour working days. Wish me luck!

It Begins

Monday (Labor Day) was Piper's actual birthday. As per tradition we went to Pojos and Five Guys before the Cannons headed back to Utah. We always have a good time when the Cannons come to town.

I have officially began the crazy town schedule. I originally was only going to sub on Fridays because I don't coach on Fridays, but it's so hard to turn away jobs if I can do it. I worked at Lowell Scott everyday last week half day. It was a decent sub job and they are looking for someone to fill the position (para). I thought about taking it for a bit but I decided that at this point I just enjoy the flexibility of subbing. I don't want to be locked into a 5 days a week schedule. I only ran into Corbin one time all week! It was still pretty fun though even if it was just once. He's adjusting to Middle School just fine.

The three littles had to get themselves off to school each day. Scott and I both had to leave before they did. They did fine except when I came home one day to see the sliding door open and our cute bunny perched outside with her little paws in the door frame. She's a good little bunny. I was curious to see what outfits Ryan picked for himself each day. He did pretty good!

I'm so excited the weather is cooling down! Cross country practice has been hot! It was so hot at the meet last week. I had to record scores and sweat was just rolling down the back of my knees. Gross!

We just hung around this weekend. I got a lot of house and yard work done. I also menu planned and did the grocery shopping, Such a relief to have that done, I really have to have it planned out well to figure out how to get dinner on the table when I'm juggling all of these part time jobs. So far so good. It's only been a week but still! Ha.

Well that's about it!

Piper's Pojos spoils

I won the grand prize 200 tickets on Deal or no Deal. It was down to 20 tickets or 200 tickets, the bank offered me 110 tickets...NO DEAL! I won! Woot! 

Cute bunny staying outside when the kids left the door open. 

Birthday Celebrations

This last week was crazy! The kids were gone all day. The house was so quiet and clean...I didn't hate that! I even deep cleaned the oven. I really hope I can have time to do some deep cleaning that has been neglected for a long time around here. I'm not sure that I will have time though. I'm subbing everyday next week. I'm only doing half-days but with early morning classes and afternoon cross country practice it's a lot. I am excited to be available to sub more this year. 

The kids didn't seem to really have any homework. I think all of that stuff will hit next week. So far so good with the kids and school. 

On Thursday night I went out with my girlfriends to dinner. The restaurant was expensive! I hate that. Oh well! Suck it up I guess. 

The Cannons came up for Labor Day weekend and for birthday celebrations! Nana's birthday was on Saturday and Piper's birthday is tomorrow. We did cake and presents on Saturday night. We also went swimming at the hotel on Saturday. The pool water was freezing and the hot tub was boiling. Pick your poison! Today we went to Camelback park and later had dinner at Delsa's. There's been lots of movie watching and lounging. Tomorrow we will hit Pojos for Piper's birthday. It's been fun! 

The kids playing after school.

Dinner with friends.

Scott had to crawl under the house to put an Ethernet cord out in the shed.

Dinner at Delsas! 

Continental breakfast at the hotel.

Swimming

Yum!

Paddle boats

Playing at the park.

Lemon cake

Chocolate Cupcakes

Birthday breakfast waffles with fresh peaches and whip cream.

Presents!

I redecorated my classroom. 

Balloon pit!