Super Mom!

At the beginning of the year, I admitted that I have been really struggling for awhile.  I just haven't felt like myself and realized I needed to focus on "me" so I could be the best version of myself for my family, friends and co-workers.  I am so excited to share that I have noticed in the last few weeks that I am feeling more like myself lately.  I know there are daily struggles with work and raising two energetic young boys, but overall I have felt like things are going great!  I have felt like I am exactly where I am supposed to be and doing exactly what God has called me to do.  With all that said, I am not saying things are perfect.  I am not saying that I don't lose my patience on a daily basis.  I'm not saying that I still struggling with the expectations I set for myself and others (especially when we fall short of these expectations).  I am just saying that I am loving where I am and who I am with!  So why did I title this blog post "super mom"?  Its because this past week and weekend, I felt like just that!! I bounced back from my strep throat and decided to take on the past week with a lot more energy than the week before.  We had something scheduled every night last week, and we have something scheduled every night this week, but I'm embracing the busy schedule and choosing to enjoy this busy time of life.  Here are some of the fun things we've been up to.....

Zander celebrated his friend, Mia's, birthday.  He picked out a present all by himself and was so excited to give it to her.  They spent the afternoon playing with it while I was leading a meeting.

Zander still loves selfies!  I have decided to embrace the "up the nose" photo shoot he has us do weekly!

We had skate night last Tuesday.  The boys loved it!  Mommy loved it!! Both boys are starting to be more confident skaters which makes it fun for mommy to watch from the sidelines.  Maddox told me he didn't need me to walk around with him anymore.... which kind of broke my heart but also made me so proud at his independence and confidence.

We took Mom to celebrate her birthday a couple days early at Create and Decorate, a local painting studio.  We had a lot of mother-daughter fun and I think it was the perfect way to celebrate one of our favorite people!  Everyone really should have a mom like ours!  She truly is the best!

On Saturday, I ran in my 11th half marathon!  When you add the two full marathons that Lindsey and I completed within the past decade, that makes for a lot of long distance running in the last 10 years!  I am in shock that Linds and I have been running together for a decade now!! Ironically, my most recent five half marathons have been my fastest (all under the two hour mark).  This past Saturday, I had a personal record (1:55:34) with an overall pace of 8:50!  This hilly course felt like my strongest run to date, and I was so excited at the finish line.  I had no idea that I had placed 2nd in my age group until we could check out our placement at a kiosk after the race.  So I'm choosing to think that while I'm getting older, I'm also getting faster!  ;)  It truly does depend on the day if I'm going to have a good run or not! I'm so thankful I felt great going into this run (even with strep throat the week before!)  I continue to feel so blessed to have my sister as my running partner (our Saturday runs are some of my favorite times of the week) and to have family that comes to cheer us on and watch the boys to make these races and training runs possible!

 Grandpa loves his little boys! :)

After lunch, a shower and a quick nap for the boys, we headed to the ball field to watch our favorite baseball player in his first game of the season.  He hit all three times he was up to bat!  He is doing coach pitch this year, and we are so proud of how much he is learning.  He played the positions of pitcher, 1st base and 3rd base in his three-inning game!  We are now looking at three games/practices a week.  These fields will definitely feel like a second home until June!  Daddy is helping coach which is equally fun to watch!

 On Sunday, I continued to rock my "super mom" status.  I went grocery shopping before church, went to church and Sunday school, took Zander to get his baseball pictures and then went to the boys' derby car races.  Zack and the boys worked on cars to compete in their age groups.  Neither boy brought home a trophy but had a blast watching their cars going down the track.  They were such good sports as they encouraged the winners.  We went for ice cream to celebrate after a fun week!  I love how the boys hold hands as we are walking in parking lots.  Hence the random picture at the end :)