Is January Almost Over?

I need to post some recent events in the lives of this family, and unfortunately, tonight my mind is tired and my foot is wrapped in an ice pack, so I'm gonna post a few different things tonight for the sake of time. (I'll explain the ice pack in a minute.) :-)

Let me take this back to the START of this lovely month we call January...New Year's Eve was spent with some of our dear friends, the Whites and the Cranfords. We kept it simple, but fun, and I think the kids enjoyed every minute of ringing in the New Year! They LOVED the hats and noisemakers!!
Here's some pictures from our New Year's Eve "party".

As you can see, Jan is quite the "bearded one" these days. He says it's gonna stay until the grass is green. :-)We'll see about that.

Ah, yes! Upward Basketball is in full swing. Our family in spending every Sat. morning from now until the end of Feb. "camped out" at Oak Grove. I can say I have seen some improvements in the boys' "game" since last year. Especially, Jonah...People are no longer coming up to me and suggesting he try out for football since last year he thought the objective of the game was to "tuck and run" with the ball down the court. hehe I love this child!

I managed to get a still picture of Jonah in his uniform, but not John Owen. (I have lots of video, I promise.) Not sure what the "L" is for...I certainly hope he's not implying anything about the photographer.

 And who celebrates Christmas in January?! We do, that's who! We gathered at Aunt Dinah's house in Somerville on January 8th for our last Christmas celebration. My grandmother, who is 92 years old, is seen here telling the great-grandchildren seated on the floor about her favorite things in the Bible. She is the BEST storyteller, and even still, she captivates her audience. (She told them all she was going to ask questions at the end to see if they were listening, and they all did a wonderful job.) Christmas with these folks is one of the things I look forward to the most.

Here the great-grandchildren showered Jenny with her Christmas gifts!

One last shot...everybody smile!

O.K., so here's some other things that have happened in January. John Owen and Jonah both did wonderful on their recent report cards...2nd time to make principal's list (all A's) for John Owen and all +'s for my man, Jonah! Way to go, boys! Mary Claire has started back into dance and is loving it! We have decided to wait until summer to continue with music lessons. Mama's daily planner screams "busy", and something had to "give" for the sake of some family time. But, the boys do want to try some gymnastics right after school, so we are going to give that a shot this week. It's close, it's convenient...
Jan is seriously improving in his running! I don't know if I mentioned this, but he decided to take up running after I did, and I think he is bound and determined to beat me! Well, honestly, he did beat me on our first Winter Cross Country Series race. It was 1.8 miles through the woods, and I made the mistake of trying to run TOO FAST at the start. Stupid strategy, I know. He passed me towards the end, and I just didn't have the "gas" to catch him. Last Saturday, he put in 11 miles in a single run, thus marking the farthest distance he has run and I am SUPER proud of him! He has signed up to do a half-marathon with me, maybe even 2 half-marathons this spring.
With that being said, let me explain the ice pack on my foot (which I have now removed as I finish this post). Last week, I ran 6.35 miles on Sunday afternoon, then turned around and ran 6.0 more miles the next morning. After the second run, I felt a pain in my right foot that I had never felt before. I kind of ignored it, and kept going. That night, I took Ibuprofen and when the pain didn't let up the next day, or the next, I decided maybe I should ask the professional opinion of someone. :) I made a last minute appt. with a foot specialist who did an xray and informed me that I have arthritis in my BIG TOE JOINT! The first question he asked me was if I had played sports most of my life. Well, yes, I'd say that's true. This, according to the doc, is fairly normal for someone who has spent years playing sports. But, not to worry. I have researched some exercises for my hallus limitus and I will try to "ice down" after my runs (which, oh my goodness, is probably more painful than the arthritis itself) and take my prescribed medicine so that I may continue to run. Heck, I've got a race this weekend and 2 half-marathons to train for. I can't let this big toe slow me down:) There's always hope that this might only be aggravated by colder months, right? Can you believe January almost over? :)

They Need Our Words

It's sad to admit, but the new book I mentioned that I was reading in my last NYC trip post hasn't been picked up and read since the first part of December. Not that 52 Things Kids Need From A Mom isn't a good read, because it most certainly is, but the new book took a back seat to Christmas presents, cooking, multiple functions to attend, and somewhere in between all of that, an occasional sleep session. I picked up with my book this past week and thumbed my way through to where I left off.
I read the #22 thing kids need and the #23, and both offered wonderful insights to this mom of three, but I found the #24 thing kids need from a mom to be quite interesting. And all of you "blogging moms" out there will be happy to know that the author says that moms need to have a family blog. :) I laughed out loud when I read this, and I immediately told Jan what I had just read because he sometimes gets frustrated if I am on the computer blogging late at night. The author went on to say that she started a family blog because she believes our kids need our words.
I completely agreed with her that kids need to hear (or later read) about their family...the good and the bad, too. This is OUR STORY! And it's too quickly becoming our history with the days flying by as they do. They need to hear our story, even if they don't grow to appreciate it or truly understand it until later. (That's where the printing of your blog in a "family yearbook" is such a great idea. We pull ours out every now and then and look at the pictures and read the posts.) I want my children to read what I have written about the events in our lives and know how I felt about them and the times we have spent together. I want them to see how I dealt with joy, fear, and struggles when I pour out my heart in a post.
So, even if I have to stay up a little later at night to try to fit it in to my "schedule", I will do it. For the sake of my children and our family's story.

Our heavenly Father, I thank You for the gift of motherhood.
Help me as a mother to seek Your guidance for my children.
Grant me wisdom, strength, patience, faith and love.
Create in me the willingness to dedicate myself and my children to You..