January 11, 2011

Today seems like a good day for a fresh start ....

Eleven days into the New Year and I am already seeing some of my New Year's Resolutions testing me. This is not anything new, but I was secretly hoping for a quick fix on some of them. You know what I mean. The ones that take a lot of work and disciple!!! In reality, the quick fix doesn't really "fix" anything. It is the process that we go through that builds our character and molds us into the people that we desire to be. I need to be reminded of that. No matter how many times I fall flat on my face, I will get up and try again. So today, I will look forward to this new year and get excited for the adventure to come. Here are just a few of the things that I am looking forward to this year .... in no particular order of importance :)

* Spring - sunny, light breeze, perfect weather for a run or a day at the park
* Soccer - watching the kids play soccer. It gets so crazy, but so fun to watch
* The last day of school, and the first day of school ... moms everywhere know what I mean
* The day when my hair finally grows out to the length I want ... I might not make it to see this one
* Vacation - always a highlight of the year
* March 20. 2011 - Second 1/2 marathon ... if I make it through training
* Mexico this spring with mom and dad, counting down the days ... so excited!!
* Meeting my new body, after I reach my goal ... I hear she looks amazing!
* Watching my kids grow a year older and all the wonderful lessons they are going to learn and teach me in the process.
* Spending another year with the man of my dreams ... so blessed!
* Building deeper friendships
* Watching what God is going to do this year with Gilead ... always amazing to watch
* Getting to know Him a little better, and becoming a better women because of Him!

What are you looking forward to this year?

Updates ... it is about time!

As you can imagine a lot has happened since my last blog. Since my last entry was so depressing, I will give you the highlights of the last few months.
(BTW - the baggage is still lost, but "they are trying to locate it" How nice of them!)

SCHOOL STARTED!!!!! Yeah!! Maybe now I can keep my house clean for more than 5 minutes!

Here are my kids on the first day of school. They look so happy. I love it! Hayden (oldest) is in 5th grade this year. His first year in middle school. He was pretty nervous, but is doing well. He did tell me last night that he didn't want to go to school anymore. I told him, "Ok, just stay home with mommy and have summer all year round, and live with mom and dad forever." He said, "Yes, I want to do that!" I love him, but my sarcasm is completely lost on that boy. Kallie is in 3rd grade and loving it. She loves school and excels in whatever she puts her mind to. She is playing B-ball and soccer this season and dad is her coach in both. Fun times! Ry is in first grade. She also loves school and is my social butterfly. It is a wonder that she gets anything done at school, but she is doing great. Smart girl! Emma and Tanner are both going to preschool 3 times a week in the morning. Yes, you heard that right. Three mornings a week, I am free for a few hours. Of course, I love it! My only problem is that I never get everything done that I want to. Oh well, something to work on, I guess.

Rylee turns seven and gets new glasses! Here is her photo shoot from JcPenny's. Wow! It is so hard to decide what to buy. Too cute!!

Emma is five!! Mom had a hard time with this b-day. She is getting much too old. Her photo shoot was great! So sweet! Love her eyes!

Cabrini Soccer is underway~ This year we have 4 kids playing and 3 teams to juggle! It is a little crazy, but I do ok with crazy. I have 5 kids. I am getting good at it!

Dad coaches Kal and Ry's team~ Blue Streak

They are doing great. Ry is a tough little player and Kal is scary good. I love watching them play!

Tanner is on a team by himself this year. I think he likes it, but he gets easily distracted! See what I mean. It is comical to watch!

Emma is going to be like her sister Kallie. Nothing gets in her way. Once she understands the game a little better, she is going to be a superstar! How cute does she look! I love it!

That is the highlights of our life right now. Now you can see why my blog has been abandoned. I will do better, or at least, I will try! Steve is busy as ever with school, athletics, church, coaching, etc. I am helping coach the Cross Country team this year. It has been a lot of fun. It keeps me busy, but I have enjoyed getting to know the kids better. So off to do some chores. Talk to you soon!

Some Days You Just Need to Cry ...

The last few days have been a whirlwind of emotions. Ups and downs, highs and lows. Let's get you caught up with the craziness of the last 48 hours.

Monday - July 26th 12:30 pm.

Me and the kids are pulling into our driveway after visiting dad at school, talking all about what our favorite part of vacation is. Tomorrow at 4:30am we will be getting up and heading to Idaho to visit my family. The kids love to travel and the excitement is building. As I am helping Tanner out of the car, I hear a scream erupt from my backyard. "What are the kids doing now!" As I am getting ready to give a great mom speech about getting along with each other and being kind, I am cut off by the cries of my 2 younger daughters, a back door pane with shattered glass, and Kallie standing wide-eyed hands out and blood pouring down her arm. I drop everything, grab a beach towel off the clothesline,wrap her bleeding wrist, yell at the kids to run to the car. As you can imagine the car ride to the ER was a nightmare. Everyone is talking at once, the girls are crying, "is Kal going to die? what are we doing? what is ER?" I am trying to keep it together and Kal is doing pretty good and telling me that it doesn't hurt that bad. I tell the kids no more talking, mom has to concentrate and drive. I am telling myself, "keep it together Steph, don't crash the car, stop shaking and don't cry." At the ER, Steve meets us, I am trying to sign Kal in and comfort Ry and Emma who are so scared. Steve decides to take the other kids and I stay with Kallie. They tell us that she will need stitches, but she would be fine. Once, my heart rate gets back down to normal I find out that Kal was racing Hayden to the back door and put her hands up to brace herself from hitting the door and the glass shattered. She was so upset about breaking the door, she keep saying she was so sorry. I told her that we did not care about the stupid door, we only cared about her. Three hours later, and with 15 stitches in her left wrist, we left the ER and headed home. Now mom has to finish packing for our trip tomorrow. A little behind schedule ... oh well :)

Tuesday - July 27th 4:00 am Vacation Begins ....

Three hours of sleep is not enough, but I have 2 plane rides today. Maybe I will sleep on the plane. Get in the shower. Finish packing. Wake up 5 sleepy kids and 1 sleepy husband and head to the van. By 5:45 am all 7 McElroy members are in the plane, buckled in an ready for our trip. In a few hours, I will be home and visiting with my family. Yes!!!! NOT!!!!! The adventure was just beginning.

7:30am Arrive in Denver. Find food. Shove food down. Get in line for the next flight that leaves at 8:10am. We would be arriving in Spokane at 9:30am. Steve went to get our seat assignments and I watched the kids. He comes back and says that the flight is overbooked and they are waiting to get our seats arranged so that we can sit together. Oh, how sweet!!!

7:50am (Over the loud speaker) "This flight is full, we are offering $400.00 vouchers and meal vouchers for anyone that would be willing to give up their seat and leave on the next flight leaving at 9:35pm." I laughed and looked at Steve, who, by the way was looking at me like -Wow! That would be a lot of money for future tickets. After giving him the stink eye, I said, " Who in their right mind would hang out at the Denver airport for 12 hours for only $400.00. Crazy!!" Meantime, the plane is boarding, and boarding, and boarding. By now, I am starting to panic. "Go check again." Finally, they tell us that they have enough seats. Great!! We walk down the walkway get on the plane and the stewardess says, "who can sit alone?" Steve takes Tanner and sits in a row. Hayden is taken to some random seat, then Kal. By now, I am getting ready to lose it. I did not pay a lot of money for my family to be scattered around this plane by themselves. Everyone is giving us dirty looks because we are delaying takeoff. It turns out that they only have 4 seats. "Four of you can go, but 3 need to get off or you all need to get off." I told her to call my husband and get him off the plane. So we get pull 5 crying kids off the plane and walk back. In the walkway, we hear this lovely news, "McElroy family... McElroy family, because you did not take the 4 seats that were available to you, we will only give you 3 vouchers." That just about put me over the edge. Good thing Steve was there to calm me down.

8:15am I am looking at the 5 crying faces of my children and hearing them say, "we don't get to go see Grandma and Grandpa with the boat! Why? What is happening? We have to wait how long?" I wanted to throw something or cry or both.

9:30am We had been at customer service getting help. Praise God we had a wonderful women that did everything she could to make this not as painful. We got travel and food vouchers and a flight at 11:30am to Seattle, a 3 hour layover and then a flight to Spokane that arrived at 6:00pm. instead of 11:00pm. Thank you. Not perfect, but manageable. Kal was hurting a little from her stitches and we needed to keep her antibiotics cold, but that we could manage. Better than being stuck in an airport for 13 hours.

6:00pm Arrived, finally in Spokane. It is now 9:00pm our time and we have been traveling for 15 hours. Wow!!! Just a 45 min. drive home to Idaho and the worse is behind us. Well, not quite. Three bags are waiting for us, but we had 4. Hayden and Tanner have no clothes, but they assured us that we would have the bag by the next morning.

Wed. July 28th - No bag. Not yet!

Thursday July 29th - No bag. No phone call. No one calling us back. But Tanner did wake us up throwing up. Lovely, the kid that has no clothes, now will be throwing up all over the only set of clothes he has. And the rain keeps falling. Then the call we had been waiting for. No bag. Start saving your receipts. You will be reimbursed. Great!! I do like shopping, though. And with someone else's money. OK Let's do this ...

Things that I have learned in the last few days ....

* Thankful to God for protecting my Kallie girl. It could of been so much worse.

* Thankful that Kal and I got to talk for 2 hours, just the 2 of us in the ER. She is an amazing girl. So brave, so smart, so funny. I love you sweet girl.

* No one is perfect, especially the airlines.

* God gives us gifts in interesting ways.

* My family is wonderful. I am so happy that I got to come and visit. I look forward to all the special memories that we are going to make in the next 13 days.

* Tanner is a great kid, even when he is sick.

* I love my husband so much. Thank you for fighting for our family and keeping me from losing my mind. You are the best!

* Things can always get worse.

Tanner ... The Days are just Packed ... why Stop to Sleep?

A few evenings ago, I was in the kitchen trying to get a meal together for my hungry family, when my youngest, Tanner, was pulling on me complaining that he was so hungry!! I grabbed a box of goldfish and set him at the table to eat a quick snack while I got dinner going. A few moments later I look over and see him half asleep eating goldfish. He couldn't even open his eyes, but he managed to search for the goldfish at the table and get them to his mouth, chew a few times and swallow. I started to laugh and did what any mom would do ... run to get my camera. Poor Tanner, summer is lots of fun, staying up late, playing outside, swimming in the pool. His days are just packed! We don't get naps in like we should. Shocker, I know! Some days you just crash wherever you are. For those of you that think that I am a terrible mom, yes, I did move him to the couch so that he could rest. He woke up about 1 hour later. The kids had already eaten and were headed to the pool. Mom thought she was off the hook for swimming, but Tanner woke up, ate, and headed to the pool. Rest time over, let's play!!!

Emma Turns 5

Our Emma is officially 5 years old and loving it!! Mommy had a hard time with this B-day. I can't believe how fast time flies by. She is in a big hurry to grow up and is ready to take on any challenge that life throws at her. Her sweet spirit is a blessing to all of us. Mom and Dad were a big hit this year with her presents. We got her a couple of ZU-ZU pets and some accessories to go along with them. Apparently, they were quite the rage at Christmas. We are a little behind the "trends". Oh, well!! We celebrated with the family and had cake and ice cream. It was a special day with great memories! We love you, Emma girl! You are a joy and a blessing in our lives. Happy 5th Birthday!! Love, Mom and Dad

Rylee Gets a Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Rylee has been informing us every few days that her front tooth is loose. She messes with that poor tooth all the time. Waiting for it to fall out has been torture!!! Yesterday, as she was checking out its progress, tells me that it is really, really loose and now it is bleeding a little bit. I smiled and told her that this is normal and that her tooth would be coming out soon. A few minutes later, she comes charging outside screaming that she lost her tooth. Yes, there was screaming, laughing, jumping, etc. Part of having a girl, I guess. I never seen anyone so excited about a tooth. She makes me smile. Rylee has such a sweet spirit. Everything is done with enthusiasm and passion. You can't help but me sucked in. It is wonderful. As we congratulated her as a family we learned that Kallie was the one that convinced Rylee to let her pull it out. Brave girl!! I would not let Kallie anywhere near my mouth. They were so sweet, though. Hugging, laughing and telling the story over and over to the other kids. It was a big event in our home. After dinner, as the kids were getting ready for bed, Rylee comes tearing into our room to inform us that Kallie pulled out another tooth. Two teeth lost in a matter of hours!!! Wow!! Rylee was thrilled. We got a baggie and put the tooth under her pillow so that she would get a visit from the tooth fairy. I tried to tell her that the Tooth Fairy goes on vacation in June so she was out of luck, but she didn't buy it. Hayden made sure to tell me that the Tooth Fairy never goes on vacation. Ok, busted!!! It was a memoral night, for sure. Never a dull moment around here!

A Much Needed Update ...

How has it been over a month since I have written on my blog!! My life was suppose to get easier when school got out. What was I thinking? Entertaining 5 kids all day long is impossible! I am already running out of ideas, my house is always a wreck (can't keep up with them), and I am still crazy busy! Why am I surprised... Well, here is a quick update on our lives ...

As I mentioned earlier, school is out for the summer!!! Yes! I was hoping to have all this time on my hands to do the things I don't get around to, but it has not happened yet. I have been doing some reading, which I love and never have time for... that has been nice!

Soccer is finished for this season, but the fall season is right around the corner. Games start the end of August. I am looking forward to it. I love watching my kids play. Tanner loved his first season and is ready to go again. Kallie's team made it to the semi-final game and lost. She was pretty bummed, but she played so good this season. We are so proud of you, girl!!! She is becoming quite the soccer player. It is so fun to watch her play.

Our days are filled with play dates, sports camps, and going to open houses for those friends that just graduated. It is lots of fun, but busy. We have enjoyed beautiful weather, so we have been outside a lot. I don't like leaving the kids outside by themselves so I have been involved in all the summer fun: slip-n-slide, pool, trampoline, swings, water fights. It is never ending fun at our house, or never ending craziness, depending on how you look at it.

I am in training for the next few months of races. I have one in July in Taylor and Kal is going to join me. She is very excited about running in her first 5K. Training is slow going ... our first training session was not good. She is having a hard time understanding that running too fast at the beginning is going to ruin your endurance for the end. I know she is able to run 3 miles, I just have to convince her to do it mommy's way. Easier said than done!! Pray for me. I don't know if I am a good enough trainer. I need more patience!!!

Steve and I have started P90X together. It has been fun, but hard to find the time to get it in. We have done a few workouts late at night just to get them in. I think he is enjoying it!! I have been pretty sore this time around and I am trying to tell myself it is because I am using heavier weights and running with it, but it may be that my body is just fighting me. Trying to get these last 20 pounds off is killing me. My body is holding on to them with a death grip. It is getting a little frustrating. I am pretty competitive, so bring it on!!!

There is our update... So riveting, I know. More to come. Soon. Really. I promise!!!