Steps to a Healthy Heart

Here are the steps we would run each evening after dinner settled. There are only 168...I thought the sign said 368...it feels more like 400 steps that's for sure. When we all first start them at the bottom, we started strong and we were able to run, then your heart feels like it has swollen 5 times its normal size, and it's hard to get your breath back and you lose your fast pace, to say the least. Except for Robby, he runs up those stairs like a bunny rabbit!



Here is a picture taken from around the middle of the 160 steps (the last 8 are at the very top by the falls). Kinda reminds me of Heaven for people who love hiking...instead of "the light" at the end of the tunnel...it's the path at the end of a rock staircase ; ) !!!

Here's the view turned around...from the bottom to about halfway. Robby is trying to slide down the wooden side-rails...not too bright, but they are worn down and smooth from people holding on to them. You can barely see Raleigh or Shawn (Raleigh's brother) standing there in the white area (that's the parking lot).

Brandon enjoys hanging out and taking photos with me...in fact, he took most of the pictures of the stairs. On this day we didn't race (as you can tell with the flip-flops). This was the last evening we were there and we took Raleigh's brother and his wife, Janice, and their children with us. For those of you who know Shawn, he was cracking me up because he was really working hard to get up the stairs....he kept saying, "Crap! I'm getting light-headed!"

Mingo Falls....this picture does not even do this place justice. It is such a short hike (after the brutal stair climb) to this fall, but it is so pretty in real life!

Bottom of Mingo Falls near the bridge we stand on...the boys always go off the path and start climbing up the rocks.

Here is Emma being "brave." She climbed all the way to HERE on this HUGE tree. She was pretending she was riding a horse. Usually she won't climb much further than this, but since her older cousin was there, she actually CAREFULLY climbed past the tree and onto the slippery rocks...big deal for my little scaredy cat!!




See, I told you! Emma climbed ALL the way to the slippery rocks to have her photo taken! This is Raleigh and his brother, Shawn. My 4 kids and Shawn's two girls, Victoria and Aleah.

And this is my sweet son, Robby, standing at the bottom of the stairs, WAITING, like he always did, on his mother to get there....He was either at the top of the stairs, or bottom, just waiting, with this sweet, sweet smile....almost as if to say, "Ha-ha, what took you so long?"

Where do I BEGIN????

I just got back from my week in Cherokee, North Carolina and uploaded all 200 and somethin' photos to my computer. I wish I would have remembered to bring my USB cable on vacation with me so I could have blogged about the pictures I was taking while I was there. But, technically I'm still on vacation...teacher schedule...gotta LOVE it!!!

So, I will slowly be posting about our fun times, we had a lot of them...and lots of laughs. In the meantime, I'll be washing sheets, blankets, towels, darks, whites....you name it I'm washing it. Between the 6 of us, and fresh dogs laying on blankets, I've got a lot of laundry to do.

I'm not complaining though because in just a week I'll be off again, this time with my husband and friends, to Las Vegas!! Raleigh's partner at work is getting married to a sweet friend of ours and they want a Vegas style wedding. We are all really excited. We leave on Tuesday and fly back home on Saturday. Say a prayer for me because I haven't flown since I was 5 and I have NO memory of flying. I'm just a little nervous.

I look forward to writing more about the mountain trip. I hope you all are enjoying your summer break!!!

Nobody ever told me!!

I might be embarrassing myself a little when I post this, but I wanted others to know in case no one ever told them either.


DO NOT eat a breath mint before you go on a run!!!

We went to Mingo Falls to run the 300 steps for exercise yesterday evening, and I thought it would be a refreshing taste to have a breath mint in my mouth while I ran. I know, you runners are saying, "Dummy!!!" I could not catch my breath and it felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest. Not to mention I was dying laughing at the sight of my husband trying to beat his 2 young sons up the stairs. It felt like I was on top of the ALPS trying to catch my breath. The air was so cold to breathe in because of that stupid mint!!! Needless to say, I lost the race up the hill...real bad!! So, this is my attempt to let anyone else know who hasn't been told. If you want to have a fresh pallet before you run, take a swig of water before you run instead, stay away from wintergreen or spearmint!!

"This is Weird"

That is Mallory's favorite word to use, "weird". She uses it all the time to describe things. It's either "cute" or "weird". In order to enjoy this post, or understand the background, you should go back and read a post on my old blog at:

http://writetoremember.sampasite.com/zike-family-site/default.htm

scroll down and read the post titled, We only have ourselves to blame!

Then come back and read this one!!!!


THIS IS WEIRD

We were on our way to North Carolina, and we stopped to have lunch and get gas. It was one of those gas stations that has Subway inside, and this one had Steak and Shake attached to it as well. I know most of you have been in one, there is also LOTS and LOTS of "gifts". They had phone accessories, souvenirs from South Carolina, and a small section of stuffed animals.

Well, I had walked the girls to the bathroom, and on the way out they "ran into" the stuffed animals. I just wonder if they were strategically placed just outside the walkway from the bathroom...huummmm. They were the ones where there is a little horse, cheetah, puppy, or kitty inside those little cloth purses and the animal's cute little face sticks out the front of it. Of course the girls stopped and picked out their favorite one, though they had 15 others in the camper (I told them to pick a "few" to bring camping).

Now even though Emma has been "working" and has money to spend, I didn't want her to spend it at the JIFFY on a stuffed animal when we weren't even in the state we were going to be vacationing at. What kind of special meaning would this thing have from a Jiffy Store??!!! So she was fine to wait and see what she would find this week in the mountains. But behind her was Mallory who had her little heart set on this "cute" kitty, which looked a little something like this:

I SAID, "NO." Can you believe it???? I told her, no, and we went into Steak and Shake to order lunch (her Daddy was filling the truck up with gas)...you need to know he wasn't with us.

While in line for lunch, she is bawling...you know with the lips stuck out, snot and tears. She kept asking me over and over for that "cute" kitty and I finally told her I was going to "wash her mouth out with soap" if she asked again. GASP (It always worked for me when I was a kid). She dried it up and I wiped her face clean and she was sitting with me waiting for our food. Oh, I had also told her I would go out to the camper and get her white kitty and she was happy with that.

Then, DADDY WALKED IN.....

He went up to the counter to order his lunch, and she says to me, "I need to tell daddy something." I say, "What are you going to tell him?" (I knew exactly what she was going to "tell" daddy...but I think she meant to use the word, "ask") She just smiled her Cheshire grin and shrugged her shoulders. So I said, "sure, go see Daddy."

I motion to Raleigh that she is coming and mouth, "tell me what she says." Mallory taps on daddy's leg and wants him to bend down, she's got her hand next to her mouth so she can whisper....hummmm can anyone else guess what she is whispering about??

I walk over and say, "What did she just say?" He says with confusion, "something about a kitty." UUUGGGGHHHHH. I led her BACK to the chair we were sitting in and explain all over to my bawling daughter that we are NOT buying the kitten. If you could have heard her little voice say, "but that kitty is so cute" all while her face is all contorted and tears are streaming down her cheeks...it was sooooooo hard to stand my ground, after all, didn't most of us have a collection of stuffed animals??? But, I didn't get it for her, and to my surprise, neither did her knight in shining armor!!!

I got her white kitty out of the camper and off we go on the road again. She is sitting up front between Raleigh and I, eating her lunch and drinking daddy's drink. She puts the drink in the cup holder and says, "THIS IS WEIRD." And I replied, "What's weird, Mallory?"

Her response, "You guys didn't get me that kitty."

Totally out of our character not to buy her what she wanted.

P.S. I am reading a book called, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World by Jill Rigby. This was only the tip of the iceburg!! I've got a lot of work to do to erase the habits I've already created. Wish me LUCK!!

Okay, who am I kidding?

This is just a little post off of the "texting" blog I wrote Saturday.

I was laughing at myself this morning because here we are in the top of the mountains of Cherokee, North Carolina and I can't wait to get on line and blog about something funny that happened with Mallory yesterday. I guess I could revert back to the old days of writing in a journal with a feather pen, but typing an entry is so much faster and easier.

Thanks to Aunt Rhonda for mentioning the unlimited texting plan, I just might bring that up to Raleigh. If it's good for his sister (who cracks the whip!!) then it's got to be good for her brother to use with his kids!! But I did have a little bit of understanding for Brandon's new age addiction to technology when I woke up and wanted to grab my lap top!! ; )

Anybody else have something they just can't live without that was bought at Best Buy???
I'm sure most of us will find we fall victim to the Bill Gates inventors of the world!!!! : )

The new age of TEXTING

I thought I would blog about this because although it is not funny now, it will be a great story to show Brandon when he gets older and has children of his own.

Our boys both have cell phones. Believe it or not, we LET them ride their bikes and enjoy being young boys, the same way Raleigh and I grew up running around the neighborhoods we lived in. Anyway, they use their cell phones to check in with us or we call them to come home. To my surprise, (that's what mother's do...we don't expect our children to abuse their privileges), my son, Brandon has been using his phone to TEXT message his friends and receive text messages. Luckily for him, his father opened the phone bill while he was at work. Here is the breakdown:

Received text messages: 615
Sent text messages: 536
Amount added to our regular cell phone bill: $259.57

And yes, this was in 1 month!!!!!

The thing is, his friends LIVE in our town so he could have easily called them on the home phone and it would have been free and harmless!! Is that so hard in the 21st century??? What an old, old person I am. How did I survive my childhood without texting?????

Needless to say, he doesn't have a phone anymore, and he is my chore child for the rest of the summer. He can not complain not ONE bit!!! I don't think he realizes how much money that is and how long it would take him to work on his own to pay his father back (mowing lawns...etc).

What's really funny is that I told him we were going to get a print out of what he texted and what the text said that he received and read it around the campfire this week while we are in the mountains on vacation. I think he must have sent some messages to a "girl-friend" because he said he was going to put his head in the river and put a rock over it...he's laughing and embarrassed at the same time.

I love you Brandon, and this WILL NOT be the last mistake you make. Just make sure you learn from your boo-boos!!!


P.S. Robby is feeling like the golden child right now!! :-)

Emma's 1st Summer Job

Thanks to our good friend Aleshia, Emma has a chance to earn money over the summer doing something that she loves....feeding horses!!! Every day at around 5:00, we go to a barn with 6 horses and give them fresh water, food, hay, and clean out the stalls if there is a BIG mess. Emma chose her three to feed: Oreo, Trigger, and Sky, and I feed the other three: Duke, Magpie, and Bear. She could not wait to come home from Nay-Nay and PaPa's house on Monday so she could go to work. Mallory was supposed to help, but her pictures will be at the bottom. As luck would have it, she just happened to fall asleep in the car before we got there. So she stayed in the air-conditioned car while Emma and I bled sweat and tears out in the hot summer sun! Emma didn't even care. She did not want to leave and kept looking at the list to make sure there was nothing else she was supposed to do. She is excited about making some money and changes her mind every day on what she will spend it on. She gets paid 10 dollars each time she goes out there. Right now she feeds them every weekday afternoon and then on the weekends she will feed them in the morning and in the evening. So she has a chance to make 90 dollars if we are home a full week to do it! Way to go Emma! Keep up the hard work!

Here are the pictures from her first hard day at work. I took a lot because she was just soooo cute! I wish I would have thought to take the ones of her cooling off at the trough where the horses drink in the arena. She was sticking her hand down in that big tub of water and putting it all over her face and hair. She's a real cowgirl!!!

Here she is greeting Sky when she first got there.

Getting the bags full of feed makes it really easy to grab and go!!

Feeding Oreo...YUM, YUM!!

Introducing herself to the new horse, Trigger.

Shoveling POOOOOO!!!!!

Okay, so this picture was staged. Only because I missed her doing it the first time on her own. All I can say is, "PPHHHEEEWWWW!!"

Okay, here is what Mallory was doing when we got there:

And this is what she looked like when we left...over 45 minutes LATER!!!

She looks real concerned about making the big bucks!!

And FINALLY, here is how Emma felt when she got back in the car:

The End!

Job Well Done Emma!!

Father's Day 2008

I will blog more about my wonderful weekend at my mom and dad's house. This picture was taken on Father's Day, the ONLY day Raleigh has had off in 5 days!!! He is smiling at Mallory because she is giving her "pretty pose" for Nay-Nay. My dad is standing behind me. I will blog more about these two amazing men later, I've been on the computer for too long already. I just wanted to get this picture up!!

If you can't BEAT 'em, EXERCISE

You know the saying, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'...well I've just kinda put a little twist on that saying. Truth is, I have been wanting to join my friends who are jogging, but I've never felt I had the right 'runner's form' and my ortho doctor has actually advised me not to run. She did however say I could train to run 3 miles at the MOST....Okay, so there's the window I needed. Now back to the saying, "if you can't BEAT 'em, EXERCISE!!"

First of all, I need to go back in time. I meant to blog about this on Friday, but I haven't had the time to sit with time to myself and let my thoughts out. I was packing to come to my parents' house for the weekend. It was my mom's birthday on Saturday, and of course Father's Day was Sunday, so I thought I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone and spend time with both of them this weekend. Raleigh had been working since Thursday and would be until Sunday, then he was to meet me at my mom and dad's to join us for Father's day. Anyway, have you ever tried to pack for a short weekend trip for 4 kids, 2 dogs, and yourself. All the while, my two girls are loading up on what they want to bring in the car and to play with at Nay-Nay's. The car is packed down like we will be there all summer and the kids are loaded up for the trip, and my chest is so tight I can hardly breathe. Then the slight bickering starts and I'm ready to pull the car over and BEAT all of them on the side of the road. Instead, I slam on the brakes a couple of times to scare them all and I turn the radio OFF and we ride in silence while I try to calm down. I know my children must think I am a loony bird. After a few miles, I turn the radio back on and the rest of the trip was uneventful (it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get there).

I was still quite frustrated when we arrived and I asked my mom if she would serve lunch to the masses while I went for a jog down to the Publix store and back (about a 2 mile trip-there and back). This was the first time I had jogged since I got my ankle surgery and it was 1:00 in the afternoon. But I had to exercise. I needed that jolt of endorphins to elevate my serotonin level or I was going to blow up. And so, there I went, jogging, with my mom's i-pod on my ears. I LOVED IT!! It was just what I needed. I got back around my children and I was able to diffuse an argument my girls were having without even raising my voice.

You see, a few of you who know me already know that I have been on Zoloft since Mallory was about 3 or 4 months old. My OBGYN put me on it back in 2004 because I felt so frazzled and at my wits end all the time. I felt like I was falling apart and I just couldn't hold things together. I was in a new marriage of only 2 years, I had just had my 4th child, I was going to school full time still (I was even nursing Mallory while trying to take on-line tests and do on-line projects), and Raleigh was the only one working so he had to work a lot of overtime, therefore I was home with the kids by myself....very difficult time.

Fast forward to 2008...The weekend of Mother's Day, I decided I was going to quit taking my Zoloft. I had been exercising quite regularly, and I had already cut my dosage in half for over a month, in addition, the children are all older now, my marriage is much more solid, I have a job of my own and I just feel like I'm at a more stable and sturdy point in my life. So I quit taking my medication and I have stuck with exercising to lift my spirits and keep me healthy, both mentally and physically.

I know that was a LOOONNNNGGGG post, but that is the story behind, 'if you can't BEAT 'em, EXERCISE'...so now if you see me running, walking, or riding my bike, just honk and know that I am well within my soul!!! And my children are not getting spanked because I have found an outlet. I walked and jogged a total of 6 miles this weekend and feel amazing. I think being addicted to exercise won't be such a bad thing at all!!

Chonda Pierce

Last night I went to see Chonda Pierce with my great friend, Jill. Chonda is a talented Christian comedian who sings and plays the piano as well. She was very uplifting and a blessing to my soul. I love when Christians aren't afraid to open up and spill out their shortcomings for all to see and be inspired by. I appreciated Chonda's candidness about her life and I walked away a better person because of her relationship with the Lord. Her message was funny, sad, shocking, powerful, and heartfelt to say the least. If only we were all comfortable enough to bare our souls to each other the way that she did. If you don't have an accountability partner that you can talk to and hash out what is going on in your life, both happy and not so happy, you should find one. Find a person you can trust with your pain and joy. Even in a day of where everyone seems to talk behind peoples' backs and cast judgement, there is a special friend out there for each of us. Thank you to my dear friends who are that person to me. Who I can trust with my SELF and they still love me and want to be my friend :)

P.S. While you are visiting, check out the song Shackles by Mary Mary on my Playlist below. Chonda sang it last night and the first thing I wanted to do was add it to my blog music...GREAT SONG!!!!

Why doesn't everyone want the teacher schedule???

I love being a teacher. And I especially love it at summer time. I can't imagine having to worry about what to do with my 4 kids over the summer if I had to work. I'm only kidding about why everyone wouldn't want to be a teacher. I know we all have our strengths in different areas. I just can't imagine a better schedule. I hardly ever have to take a day off of work and I still get so much time off. I cleaned my classroom up today...more for the custodians than for myself. We have to move every piece of furniture, NEATLY, into the middle of the room. They will come in and clean the carpets then move our furniture back to one side of the room, then we have to go back in before school and set our room back up. I love it because I look forward to changing my room around every year. But I'm sure it can be frustrating for those who don't look forward to change and would leave their room the same year after year. Anyway, I am excited about being home with the kids this summer. Here are my pros and cons about summertime!!!

PROS:
-staying up LATE! I am a night owl and I love not having a bedtime schedule!
-sleeping IN!!! Goes hand in hand with staying up late!!
-flip flops (for everyone!!!) I hate socks...I hate washing them and matching them up!!
-shorts and t-shirts....no more worrying about dress code for the kids or myself!!
-working around the house...I can finally put my energy into spunking my house and yard up instead of my classroom!!
-blogging...hopefully I'll get to blog more and post some photos!
-time with MY kids...just like the house, I am excited about spending time with my own children and putting my energy into the 4 of them instead of the 17 who don't genetically belong to me!!

CONS:
-"MOOOMMMM, I'm bored"
-"MOOOMMM, I'm hungry"
-"MOOOOMMM, I'm hot"
-"MMOOOMMMM, I'm thirsty"

I could go on and on about just those 4 cons. Robby and Brandon will want me to take them to a friend's house or have a friend come over, EVERY DAY. Emma and Mallory will eat me out of this house because they are simply bored. Brandon will go through every carton of orange juice, cran-grape juice, grape juice, milk, or any other beverage I put in the fridge simply because he is bored. Robby will sleep and play video games until he is married and has a family to take care of...I hope one day he will get bored, especially bored of playing video games!!

In all seriousness, I do hope you all have a great summer and enjoy the time with your little ones, and bigger ones (they are growing up fast!!).

Chef Brandon

I can't help but brag on my other son today! Brandon is my second oldest child and he is just full of energy and spunk. The girls and I slept on the couch bed last night and Brandon slept on one of our living room chairs (it fits 2 grown people in it). This morning he barely put the leg rest down and stood up before he said, "I'm going to ride my bike." He hadn't eaten breakfast, brushed his teeth, or even peed yet!!! I wish I had his energy. Anyway, the end of the year for me is a stressful time and I had spent most of the day up at the school putting together those end of the year books that Kindergartner's trot home with on the last day of school. I had walked in the door at 5:00 and the first thing out of Brandon's mouth was, "What's for dinner?" UUUUGGGGHHHH...I wish I had my own personal chef like Oprah! I gave him a look of exhaustion and said, "give me a minute, you are asking too much of me." Isn't that horrible??? I can't believe I even said that to my child. My job is to cook for them and I felt he was asking too much...eventually I would have gotten up, but he was starving and wanted food NOW!! So then he says, "Mom, you sit there, I am making dinner tonight." And he went in the kitchen and made macaroni and cheese and hot dogs!!!! He fed the family (Raleigh was at work) and was cracking me up talking about drizzleing hot dog juice over the hot dogs, and adding some garlic salt to the mac and cheese. He was really taking his job seriously and said he loves to cook! Cool!!!! Maybe I am well on my way to having my own personal chef! I may not be as rich monetarily as Oprah, but I feel richly blessed!!! Thanks Brandon!