Happy 10th Birthday!

Where did 10 years go?

John Owen's cake

Not quite in character for "Mighty Minds", but the show hadn't started yet.:)

Abby is seated behind him, and these 2 have been in the same class since Kindergarten. Sadly, Abby is moving to another local elementary school next year. We are going to miss her terribly!

AmeriKids program at church in May

The birthday cupcake magnet...The way we countdown to each person's birthday!

My new reality is that my "baby" is not a baby anymore!

He is a wonderful, smart, talented, handsome young man and it hit me like a ton of bricks last night! I cried right there in the store as I looked at birthday cards! (What a scene that must have been!)

We have officially entered into the double digits!

Here's some pictures of John Owen's 10th birthday celebration with his friends.

Sleepover with his special request for catfish to eat. Yes, catfish!!

Ice cream sundae bar!

Yummy!

Next day, a trip to Incredible Pizza with friends!

Carter cheering John Owen on as he spins the prize wheel.:)

Happy to have a card to play all those video games!

Hutch, John Owen, and Tucker getting ready for Lasertag.

I hope you had a wonderful 10th birthday celebration, John Owen!

We are so proud of you and the young man you are becoming.

May you always know our love for you and more importantly, God's love for you.

Happy birthday!

Love,

Momma

2013 Go Lucy Go 5k

This was the third year we have held the Go Lucy Go 5k in Covington in honor of our dear friend, Lucy Krull. The best news that I can share is that Lucy is cancer free! God is good!

The race was a HUGE success and I enjoyed working with Laura and Kate in making this an event that the whole community enjoyed. We had close to 600 in the 5k and about 100 kids in the Kids Fun Run. Astounding numbers for a small town race!:)

We raised over $25,000 for LeBonheur Children's Hospital!!

Go Lucy Go!

May we run with endurance the race set before us...

I want to say a special thanks to my family for being patient and cooperative as I worked on this event. It takes a lot of time and commitment and sometimes stresses a full time working mom out, but the end result is such a reward! Thanks to my parents for chipping in and helping to take care of the kids when I needed you. Especially, thank you to Jan for making sacrifices to allow me to go to meetings and be in the places I needed to be to make this happen. I love you all!

Little race tidbit:

Jonah ran in the 5k and won 3rd place in the 9 and under age group! Way to go, Jonah!

Our First Field Trip

Last week, I went with Mary Claire on her first "official" preschool field trip! We had such a great time! There were enough chaperones for her class that I only had Mary Claire to walk around with all day. I couldn't believe it! I think the last time I had only one child to look after at the zoo was when John Owen was 15 months old. And he'll be 10 yrs. old next week! Here's some favorite pictures from our day at the zoo:

Feelin' "catty" in Cat Country!

Strike a pose!

Can you guess what she said when she saw this? hehe

The prettiest panda EVER!!

She loved riding the camel named "Cotton"!

Couldn't resist this photo...

And she insisted on taking my picture! :)

 Great memories made with my little girl!

My Partner in Parenting

This was part of today's article that I received from iMOM.
http://www.susanme.com/2013/04/be-thankful-you-have-a-partner-in-parenting/

If you have time, take a second to read the article.
I am extremely thankful for my partner in parenting!!

I love you, Jan Hensley! :)

Easter 2013

Ah, yes! Here we are...all happy, happy happy!:)

Mary Claire wasn't into looking at the camera too much in the picture above.

But in this one, she is POINTIN' TO JESUS!

He is RISEN!!

(While Jan's eyes are closed and Jonah cuts his eyes at his sister.)

Oh, the anatomy of the family Easter picture!

I'll spare you the other shots taken. hehe

We had a wonderful spring break week and Easter weekend. Very relaxed, no where to be really, and did pretty much what we wanted to. We still had swim team practice and a short orthodontic appt. for Mary Claire, but overall, a FREE from school/work schedule.

Here's some pictures that tell some of the story of our 2013 Spring Break and Easter:

We made resurrection rolls and read scripture from the Bible as we made them.

This was a special gift that was given to us when we lost Jan's mother in June 2010.

I leave it out all year, but it was a focal point of our Easter decorations.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” – John 20:26-29

 

Of course, the secular part of Easter is fun, too!

In the top left hand corner of these shelves are two of my favorite Easter decorations. The cross with nails and a smaller wrought iron cross a special friend gave to me when my grandmother passed away.

My favorite bunny with his carrot sweater.:)

I think I've had him for 20 years.

Our Easter candy jars with the book I am currently reading on the counter. It's The Whole Bible Story, and so far, I am enjoying it. Truth be told, I left in on the counter so that I would not forget to read a page or two everyday. My plan hasn't worked out perfectly, but I am slowly getting it read.

And for the candy, we are finally down to the last of the Starburst jellybeans! Oh my goodness!

I really think I need intervention when Easter rolls around every year and they put these jellybeans out at Wal-Mart!!I think I haven't eaten my weight in these! They are addictive...

Dyeing Easter eggs in our pajamas!

John Owen gives this dyeing thing a "thumbs up"!

Thursday night, our friend, Hutch, came to spend the night and we had a glow in the dark egg hunt!

Loads of fun!

Bunnies in a cup! (Pudding with coconut wafers, strawberry icing and jellybeans...super easy!)

Easter Sunday at Aunt Dinah's

I love this picture!

Does it remind you of The Christmas Story?:)

Aunt Dinah has this tradition of having the youngest child wear the pink bunny suit. Mary Claire wasn't the youngest one there, but she put the suit on...for a few minutes anyway.

Jonah "hopped" around in the bunny ears. Something tells me if the pink bunny suit would have fit him, he'd have put it on, too!

My grandmother and me

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

His is Risen!

One Spring Saturday

With snow in the forecast tonight, I am choosing to pretend that it is a comfortable 65-70 degrees with beautiful sunshine. I love snow, but after this past Saturday's perfect weather, I am longing for slightly warmer temps and outside time with my kiddos. More days like this past Saturday would be just fine with me...
We took part in the Cardinal Run last Saturday as a family. I did the 5k with my mom and dad (with my dad pushing Mary Claire in the stroller), and the boys opted for the Fun Run (1/4 mile).

I neglected to get someone to take a picture of the whole group with my camera, but I did manage to get pics of the boys.:)

It was a small event, but the kids had fun. Mary Claire decided, at the last minute, that she would not run in the Fun Run.

John Owen after the run!

The first (Jonah) and second (John Owen) place Kids' Fun Run winners.:)

Jonah didn't realize he was supposed to run "down the chute" at the finish. He ran around the hurdles, but finished well ahead of everyone else.:) I made sure the race director knew he had crossed first despite some protest from his big brother about not running the right way. haha

We left the race, headed to get some lunch, and decided to take our lunch to one of the nearby parks. I laid on the bench beside where the kids played, and soaked up the sunshine. It was so nice!

It was on that bench lying in the sun, that I began to think about Spring Break and what our clan was going to do to fill our extra time next week. We are not traveling, and I'm sorta glad that we are going to be around the house with no agenda. Of course, I cannot let the week go by without some sort of fun actvity or two. I am going to take the kids to see the new Oz movie. But before they can see the new one, they had to see the wonderful original! So, Saturday afternoon, I used my resourcefulness (insert sarcasm) and sent a text to several girlfriends that live nearby to see if anyone had the Wizard of Oz. (I had already checked the local Wal-Mart and had no luck.) Thank goodness for friends!:)

Saturday night was movie night at the Hensley house!

Would you just look at these faces mesmerized by the scenes from the movie?

(Please don't judge the cups you see us using in the picture. We only use plastic when we eat in the living room while watching a movie. Laughed when I noticed our CASH EXPRESS cups were in the picture!)

Other than the Oz movie, I have some other ideas to keep us occupied next week. More than anything, we are hopeful that the forecasted snow is pretty to watch, but is out of here as quickly as possible so maybe spring can make its official debut! 

Happy Spring Break!

Time is "March"-ing On!

Is this really March?! I am posting today after a long blog hiatus. As much as I try to tell myself that I will make it my goal to post something once a week, or once every 2 weeks, it doesn't always work out. I don't stress out about it, though.
I could write on and on about this and that right now, and everything that fills this feeble mind of mine:), but I'll try use these recent pictures to guide my writing.

It's sad, but I have gotten too comfortable with taking life's pictures with my phone. It's more convenient and easier for a mom of three young ones to NOT have to carry the camera around with me. (Sorry, honey. I know you spent a lot of money on that camera for us, and I know you don't like reading those words.)

Gosh, darn it! I can't seem to grab life by the horns and slow time down. My kids are growing faster by the day, and I am again slapped with the reality that time is marching on. Could be that all of this is brought on by the fact that all 3 of mine are approaching their birthdays. I lovingly call it "Our Birthday Season".
My 1st baby, John Owen, is turning 10 next month, my Jonah will be 8 in July, and my Mary Claire will celebrate her 5th birthday in May! I have had all of their silhouettes done at the age of 5, and yesterday, we went for Mary Claire's silhouette appointment. I looked at it after the artist finished, and a lump swelled in my throat as I looked at this child that has transformed before my eyes.

One random school morning photo...my big girl!

Think she's a little bit shy?!:)

I snapped this picture of Jonah and his best friend, Bo, reading a Magic Tree House book together after school one day. They were taking turns reading the pages. These two are so funny when they come into the library after school. I will sometimes send them down to get a snack and Ms. Melanie, our "snack lady"/bookkeeper, told me that they come in and discuss which snack they will buy. She says she loves to hear their conversations! They discuss which one they could share and both still get a lot to eat. :)

And this is the same super- imaginative, playful child showing his excitement about Easter and the decorations we have laying around the house!

Do you see how big my "baby" is? (See picture below.)

Makes my eyes teary when I look at him these days...

(not the best quality photo taken with my phone)

He did awesome in basketball this year! I could really see some drastic improvements in his "B-Ball skills". Now that the weather is warming a little, he goes straight to the basketball goal outside when we get home.

Is this funny or what?!

John Owen is the one to the far left of the picture. His friend, Hunter, had a birthday party last weekend, and they all went to a local wrestling event. Oh my goodness! The boys were super-pumped! Can you tell?! 

I, on the other hand, found it a little disturbing...

Then again, I have never liked wrestling or the idea that a man in an awful looking suit would parade around throwing out threats to his opponent and then the two of them would act like they are hurting each other!

(Makes no sense to me whatsoever!!)

But, there's a lot of things that don't make sense to me sometimes.

Human suffering doesn't make sense to me or my heart. Don't get me wrong, I know that God has a reason for everything, even the things my human mind will never understand. Why my grandmother had to suffer from dementia is one of these things. What I saw happen to her over the course of 3 years was hard to watch. But on February 5th, God ended her suffering. He took her to Heaven to be with Him, and I look forward to our meeting again one day with bodies and minds made whole again.

God has blessed me with some pretty amazing friends.

These girls have been there for me through it ALL, and I cannot imagine my life without them.

They came to the funeral for my grandmother, and I was not expecting any of my friends since it was in the middle of the day on a Friday. It was so nice to have all of them there, and made me feel special that they sacrificed a work day/day at home with kids to be with me and my family.

Thanks, girls! I love you!

Crystal, me, Allison, Nora

In closing (and while completely changing the subject...haha), I look at the picture below and feel thankful for my marathon experience I had in December. I am now training for a sprint triathlon. That's right! I signed up for the one I previously posted about, and I have been working hard since January. The swimming is DIFFICULT for me! But, with hard work, determination, and maybe a little luck, I hope to be able to raise my hands in victory at the finish, just as I did when I completed my first half marathon in 2011 and marathon in 2012!

Memphis in May Sprint Triathlon, here I come!:)

If anyone reading this has not signed up for the Go Lucy Go 5k, please go HERE to get signed up. Your support helps us reach out to families affected by childhood cancer! A wonderful reason to train and run...or walk!!:)

Thank you!