Mother's Day 2015

We had a very cold and snowy Mother's Day this year.

 

My Brown Eyed Girl's amazing teacher, Mrs. Postma, prepared her class for Mother's Day by teaching them how to make their mom's breakfast in bed this year. She sent home a little note for Daddy that said she had big plans this year and needed his help.

 

So Daddy told Mommy to sleep in and wait in bed that morning. He scurried out into the kitchen and set our Brown Eyed Girl all up to make her Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed. 

 Mmmm Butter!
 

Her teacher sent each kid home with a little bag of cinnamon and sugar mix. 

She added the finishing touches.
Making sure to lick her fingers clean, I am told.

Mr Blue Eyes added his personal touches including more butter and finger licking. 

Daddy helped heat some water in the microwave and I was served cinnamon toast and tea in bed!

I felt like a princess!

My beautiful children felt very accomplished.

I grabbed my book and curled up by the fire Handy Man had made for me. 

Forget flower planting this Mother's Day. 

Instead I sent Handy Man out to save our poor trees while I sipped tea and feasted on cinnamon toast by the fire.

Run4Funds

Our first year in the elementary school system and we are finding out that a lot of fundraising happens. Wrapping paper and cheese and sausage sales. Book fairs. Collecting those little Box Tops for Education of our grocery packaging. And more book fairs.

I am great at collecting Box Tops. I keep a little sandwich bag hanging on the refrigerator and once a month I send the bag to school with my Brown Eyed Girl. She beams with joy and lets me know that every time she brings the Box Tops in she gets to put a marble in the jar. (At the end of the year, apparently the class with the most marbles for school spirit get a class party.)

This spring the school held another fundraiser called Run4Funds.

This was a whole school fundraiser. The paperwork sent home said that the school's goal was to raise $12,000 and they hoped each student would set a personal goal of raising $75 through flat donations or pledges per lap. 

I totally got this! Running... sponsorships... fun... yep let's do it!

The first step was contacting all potential sponsors (ie grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends of the family) and asking them to sponsor your child's fun run. So we got on the text message horn and facebook and the pledges started coming in!

Our Brown Eyed Girl managed to fill her entire sheet with pledges! Eleven proud sponsors excited to see just how many laps this little runner girl could go.

On the Run4Funds event day, Mr Blue Eyes, Grandma Rhonda and Mom showed up to cheer on our Brown Eyed Girl. We helped pin the Lap Cards on the kids. Grandma Rhonda noticed there were a lot of boxes to be checked on those lap cards.

She was carb'd up and ready to run!

The Howling Coyotes made their way to the field where the course was set up. 

They were announced over the crowd of cheering spectators as they made their grand entrance.

It was a lot like the Olympic Opening Ceremonies... just a little scaled back.
Just a little...

The three kindergarten classes gathered under their shade tents and took one last moment to hydrate before taking their places at the starting line. 

It was becoming quite evident that Mr Blue Eyes was not going to be content with cheering from the sidelines. He so wants to be big and do everything Sis gets to do these days. He was avoiding eye contact with me when I asked him to come over by me. Eventually he was given the okay to participate in the run.The sun was shining even brighter on his face.

All the kids made their way to the starting line and were given their instructions. They had 30 minutes to complete as many laps as they could.

Grandma Rhonda was thanking her lucky stars that she put a cap on her $10 per lap pledge. She just kept saying, "This track isn't very big. I am in so much trouble! No, everyone else is in so much trouble! Thank goodness I capped the pledge! Oh my gosh, Christi is toast!"

All lined up and ready to run! Lets get this thing going!

Do you think he was excited to get to run with the big dogs?

They were on their marks and they were ready to go!

And then they were off!

Round and round they went. The DJ kept the music pumping and the kids were moving those little legs. 

Each time they rounded the track and came back through the starting line, volunteers would mark off another box on their Lap Cards. 

Running is hard work and it was a beautiful spring day. Water breaks were a necessity!

Round and round they went. Laughing and smiling.  

Mr Blue Eyes did get plowed over at least four times by bigger kids not watching out for him. Down he would go after the drive by run over. But he never shed a tear. He would just jump back up and pick up where he left off. One of my Brown Eyed Girl's classmates switched into mother mode and started running with Mr Blue Eyes.

Miss Olivia acted as his personal coach and defensive lineman.

Round and round they went and after 30 minutes it was quite evident that we underestimated these kids and what they were capable of. Lots and lots of laps were run. Most kids fell somewhere between 12 and 40 laps!!!

After all of their hard work, the athletes were rewarded with popsicles!!

What a GREAT fundraiser for the kids! It was an awesome day for sure!

So how did my two little runners do you ask?

Well this little dude ran 27 laps. They said the track was 1/16 of a mile. So this awesome little dude ran about one and three-quarters of a mile! Not too shabby in 30 minutes considering he is only 3!!!

This little lady finished exactly 32 laps or 2 miles in 30 minutes!! (I think I found a new summer running partner!)

Eager sponsors had been texting through out the day. After 15 minutes into the run it was quite evident that they were starting to sweat a little. We messaged everyone the final results and most were very shocked she did so well! They also thanked their lucky stars that they didn't sponsor Mr. Blue Eyes too.

So what did 32 laps add up to thanks to her eleven awesome and loving sponsors? 

$749.00

Handy Man and I laughed so hard that night after I did all the math and came up with the total! He said that she would probably only be able to do that one time. Now all of our friends and family were hip to the event and he said next year he bet we saw more quarter per lap pledges or just flat-rate donations. 

He's probably right, but it sure was fun. And even if it put a little dent in a couple of pockets this year, it was for a good cause. Not just for the school, but for our little Brown Eyed Girl. She is so very loved and supported!

We thank everyone who cheered her on and pledged to support her Run4Funds. 

A Special Thank You to:

Aunt Christi

Grandma Rhonda

Grandpop

Grandma Joan

G'ma 

Uncle Mat & Aunt Lisa

Aunt Shelly

Aunt Christine

Jesse & Julie

Grandpa Matt & Grandma Debbie

and Mom & Dad

 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for participating in this fun moment in my Brown Eyed Girls life.

Field Day

When I was a kid, Field Day was a BIG deal! We secured our three-legged race partners weeks in advance. We spent the first half of every recess practicing our timing by tying our shoe laces together - the second half was spent trying to get the knots out of our laces before we had to go back inside for class. We practiced the shoe kick in our back yards on the weekends. We were competitive and we tried.  

This was the very first year that my Brown Eyed Girl got to experience Field Day. Over dinner the night before, I took a walk down memory lane and told my Brown Eyed Girl all about the Field Days I used to have as a little girl.

I told her about the free through contests, scooter obstacle course relays, water balloon tosses and relay races. I explained what a three-legged race was and told her how we used to practice for it and the shoe kick for weeks in advance. I told her we used to get ribbons for first, second or third pace and we all tried to win the class award by winning the class tug-of-war event at the end of our Field Day.

I volunteered this year for her Field Day.

It was not quite what I had expected - or remembered.

There were no ribbons. There really were only two real relay races. It was mostly just a day of fun games and activities outside.

The kids had 10 stations to go though for Field Day. Their first station was the Ski Walk.

My Brown Eyed Girl got a little frustrated with the first station. I told her the Ski Walk was the closest thing she had to a three-legged race and she had to just take a deep breath and try to work with her partner. The way back was a little more coordinated. 

They had a bean bag toss. My Brown Eyed Girl paired up with her best little buddy and they did great. 

My Brown Eyed Girl made three baskets with her bean bags.

They had a scooter relay where they had to scoot down to the end, grab a piece of chalk and draw a picture before scooting back.

We definitely did not have jumping bounce houses on our Field Day as an activity station.  

I don't know as though we played with the parachute on Filed Day either... But I am sure I would have loved it.

Half way through the day she finally rotated to a great station. It was a stick horse relay where the kids had to wear a sombrero while racing down on their stick horse. 

The kids loved the relay.

The closest team activity they did was called Bumps and Bowls. One team was Team Bumps and one team was Team Bowls. They had to try and turn over the bumps/bowls as quick as they culd and when the timer went off every one went back to their side lines and they counted if there were more bumps or bowls.

The last relay was on a jumping ball. It was actually pretty comical to watch. 

It was a long day that wrapped up with an obstacle course and duck, duck, goose.

What a day. It was a little crazy - her teacher, Mrs. Postma, is a saint.

There were no ribbons, but she had a great time. 

I was thankful to be there, watching and cheering her on!