Run like the wind

Yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, I changed into my work out clothes to go for a run. I sat down in the living room to put my running shoes on and Darren asked me where I was going. I told him that I was going running and that I would be back in a little while. He he asked me if he could go running with me. I looked at Michael and gave him the "what do you think?" look and he said yeah, let him go with you. So I got Dare all ready to run. We walked out the door with a water bottle, my phone and a towel. We walked to the cotton fields behind our house to a very long straight away that looks never ending. To Darren, this was a big deal and I am sure from his perspective it seemed like there was no end. As we were walking I told Darren that we couldn't stop and that we had to make it all the way to the end of the road. We started to job and Darren kept up the entire time. We stopped 2 times so he could get a drink of water and the last 30 yards we sprinted. Of course, Dare fell behind on that and got discouraged because he wanted to win and beat me to the finish line. When I turned around he sat there pouting. So I walked to him and told him to finish the run as fast as he could. He got a huge smile on his face and took off! My bony little man ran as fast as he could with elbows swinging! He couldn't stop talking about how proud he was that he ran all that way. He said "I bet dad is going to say that he is proud of me when I tell him that I ran super far!" I told him that I bet he was right! Darren held my hand the entire way home and when we walked through the door he ran right to Michael and said "Dad, I finished with mom and we ran so so far!" Michael said "Wow, you kept up the whole time? Great job Darren!" Dare ran over and gave Michael a high five and had the sweetest smile on his face. Man that kid! He gets me right in the heart!

Soooo not funny!

So Michael and I were watching TV last night after the kids went to bed. Darren passed out right away but apparently Jaycee wasn't quite ready. So in the middle of Two and a half Men we hear a noise from down the hall where the kids rooms are. Michael presses pause and says that he will check it out. Within a minute Michael comes back into the living room and says you gotta come here. What could Jaycee possibly be doing? Well, she decided to go in the bathroom first, take out a small wooden box that I keep all her little rubber pony tails and clips in, bring them into her room, proceed to dump the entire thing onto her bed and play with them. Seriously, these mini rubber bands are just that, tiny little rubber bands that you can barely wrap even the thinnest hair twice in. So Michael and I start to clean up the mess, putting everything back into the box. We had Jaycee stand up to make sure that we got everything and when she did, I noticed that she had wrapped one of those tony rubber bands around her ankle. I could barely get the thing off it was so tight on her!!! But I did. I couldn't believe it! So I checked her other foot and her hands and thank god I did!!!! She had 3 of them wrapped so tight around her wrist that Michael had a hard time getting them off before I started to panic. Again, soooo not funny! All I could think about was what would have happened if we wouldn't have checked? I mean, really? Maybe an overreaction but she could have lost a foot or hand if she wasn't able to take them off herself! Needless to say all of those mini rubber bands are put away where she can not get to them anymore. Whewwwwww!

Memorial Day

The weekend of Memorial day was a good one! I took the Friday before off, had Monday off and took Tuesday off. We spent the weekend in Payson. My cousin Steel graduated from high school the previous Thursday so Dana threw him a party that Saturday. It was nice to be able to see all the Payson/Camp Verde gang again. Ryhin and Vance went with us to the party. It was interesting. Kirk came and picked Michael up to go fishing and I was there with all 4 of the kids. They were all really good and listened really well. The only thing that was difficult was trying to make 4 plates of food with only 2 hands lol. Everything was fine! The kids ate and had cupcakes after. Vance hung out by the ice chest so he could eat ice the whole time. Ryhin played with the baby hound dog and ate salsa from Aunt Tani. Jaycee walked around like she owned the joint and Darren played with his new friend Race, my cousin that is Darren's age. I got to see my Uncle John that I haven't seen in years! We also took the kids bowling which was a sight to see. They had a lot of fun and were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for their turn. They were loving it until Lisa brought soda and french fries to snack on.

It was good to see the family and spend some time in the awesome Payson weather. A storm just isn't a storm unless you are there! I am already missing that place!

Sand and Mud Drags

Darren asks every day to go ET when we drive by in the morning and when we drive by in the afternoon. I cant believe that Michael and have both, for the most part, lived in QC all our lives and have only been there about 2 times. Saturday night we went to watch the sand and mud drags. Darren was in hog heaven watching all the dirt bikes, quads and trucks that came to race. Jaycee wasn't so fond because all the noise scared her. When she would finally get comfortable enough for me to put her down someone would drive by on their quad or dirt bike and rev their engine. Jaycee would turn around and run like a mad women to find me so I could pick her up. Funny but sad at the same time. But Darren, now that's a different story. He was talking to anyone and everyone that cared to listed or entertain him. He went on and on about how much he liked quads, dirt bikes and monster trucks. Ali and Essat were their with their cousins racing truck. Ali sat on top of the truck with Darren and they talked and talked about how he would teach him how to ride. All Michael and I could do was watch how happy he was and give each other the "yeah right, over my dead body" look and nod and let Darren soak it all up. Then there was the mud drags. They were so close it looked like you could reach out and touch them! Jaycee liked this more and was willing to get down from my hip and play in the dirt. Darren liked it too but there wasn't enough action to keep him as entertained. The highlight of the night was when a fuel car raced. The announcer let everyone know that it was an earplug worthy race but they were all sold out of them. They said to cover your kids ears because it was going to be loud. I held Jaycee, used my shoulder to cover one ear and held my free hand over her other ear. Darren and Michael stood on top of the truck to watch. The noise? Loud. Very loud actually. But Darren was just so happy to see the flames on this car and the parachute afterwards that he couldn't stop talking about it. It was pretty neat and surprisingly Jaycee didn't even flinch from it. I think the crowd screaming afterwards scared her more than the actual noise. It was quite the memory to share with the kids.