Long Time...... No Posts!

Life is really crazy, so much has been happening . We are trying desperately to get through the rest of this school year, boy are we ready for summer! We have started playing baseball, all 3 boys! We will be living at the ball fields for most Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights for the next two months!
Running has been going really well. Kelly and the boys have been running with me and they are doing great! I have been working really hard on training for the Coca-Cola 10K, but am having some issues with my knee. I did my first long run of 5 miles Monday night, and it was great. While running, my knee felt pretty good, just a nagging pain on and off. Last night I ran 3, no major pain, but tonight I was supposed to run 2 and barely finished 1! I really don't know what happened. I did a few stretches before starting and ran 1/4 of a mile before the knee started hurting. I went ahead and finished the first mile, but decided I really should stop. I have had a few people tell me not to try and run Saturday, but I want to so badly! I am very frustrated, but trying to remain calm and think logically, or at least let others think logically for me! I am going to call a doctor that Roan recommended first thing in the morning. Hopefully, I can get an appointment with him tomorrow. I will do whatever he tells me to do. I really don't want to injure myself to the point that I can't run.

The chicken coop is finished and now is home to 15 chickens (1 flew the coop, and Hunter thought it was a toy!)

Kelly has planted the garden and hopefully it will produce much fruit and veggies!

On a more serious note, I ask that you all keep us in your prayers. Jared's mother had her 6 month review last week and the state changed his plan to adoption. This was a shock to us, because we were told numerous times that the plan would stay reunification for the next 6 months. I won't go into all the details, but just please remember all involved in what could be a life changing event in your prayers.

Life is crazy, but God is good!

Mansion 5K

This morning when I woke at 5:30, I went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and a peanut butter fold-over for a boost of energy! When I opened the cabinet door to get the bread, a tea pitcher fell from the top shelf and hit me square on the bridge of my nose. It hurt soooooo bad, I thought to myself is this a sign of things to come and should I just go crawl back into bed?! I rubbed my throbbing nose, made my coffee and sandwich, and headed off to a hot shower! I had planned on being at the race by 6:15, but actually didn't get there until closer to 6:30. On the way, I witnessed a beautiful sunrise and an extra bonus, an awesome rainbow. That was my sign that all was going to be good! It was OK that I was running behind, because so were the race coordinators! I took a very slow warm-up jog and then off to the start line. As soon as the start was announced I hit start on my Garmin, and to my sheer dismay, it wasn't displaying my pace or distance! Can you say - Frustration...... I shook it off and just tried to concentrate on my pace and breathing. I ran pretty well and only took 2 maybe 3 short walk breaks. It began to rain and by the end of the race I was wet, but it felt great! At the finish, I saw my time was 34:00:04, and I was really disappointed, because I had set a personal goal of 32:00!

Nearing the finish!

After returning my chip, I went over to the sidelines with Jimmy, Olivia, and Julie to watch others come in. Jimmy informed me that the course was 2 tenths longer than it was supposed to be! That meant I did better on my time! Roan told me how to use a pace calculator to figure my actual 3.1 time and it was 31:55!! I am very happy with that!

"Are we having fun yet?"

After finishing, Roan went back and ran with Jenny, Season and Megan coaching them to the finish!


I had a great time seeing everyone and seeing them accomplish their goals! I am concerned about my knee, and hope that it will be okay. It seems like a pretty common issue, and hopefully with proper care I can manage it without a serious injury. I am looking forward to the next race in a few weeks, this time a 1oK! I do plan on taking it easy and slow and enjoying myself!

Jenny, Megan, Season, Becky, Lindsey, Roan & me

We had several men from our church who also ran and all placed!

Way to go Scott, Jackie & John!

Happy Easter

We were blessed with a beautiful day to celebrate Easter with our family!

We, of course, started our day very early with 4 little sleepy, bed heads coming downstairs to see what the Easter bunny left! Everyone headed back up after breakfast to get dressed and watch their new movie, The Velveteen Rabbit. After church, it has been tradition for my family to all come here for lunch and an egg hunt.

Avery is thrilled with her loot!

Forget the candy, show us the money!

Reese's Pieces for breakfast! Doesn't get any better than this!

All dressed and ready for church

Hunting eggs

Kelly planting his garden with lots of enthusiastic helpers!
Hope they are as excited when it is time to weed and hoe!

Even Hunter found an egg and believe it or not peeled it himself!

Mama, Christy, Carter and Lesley enjoying the beautiful weather!

Andrew Carter 2 weeks old

John Ashford loving riding the 4-wheeler with Stephen

Johnson Annual Egg Hunt

It has become a spring tradition for us to attend this fun event. Unfortunately, I had to miss this year because I had a bridal shower here. Kelly was a super trooper and took all the children, including John Ashford! The kids had a great time playing on the fort, finding eggs (I think Roan hid around 600!) and eating lots of candy! Thanks Johnson family for hosting this each year!


John Ashford & John Parker

Carson & Clay

Ashton & Jared

"All these rules are stressing me out!"

Ready, Set, Find

Avery

Easter Egg Fun!

Wow, I am so far behind blogging! How does this always happen to me? There are so many things that I want to post about, and I become overwhelmed when I start thinking how behind I am! So, I am going to take baby steps and try to make myself simply the post.
Less is better, right?! Here goes......
Last week was one of the hardest I have had in a while. I had so much to do, and so little time, but I did manage to squeeze in some fun for the children. Thursday, we dyed eggs. I had never done this with so many children, alone! Usually, I have others around to help supervise. All went pretty well with the exception of a few spills, some broken eggs, and John Ashford thinking that he could drink the dye and also bathe in it! He had bluish-green hands when he finished. I set everything up for them and let them have free reign, expressing their artistic sides! They all enjoyed it very much!

Eagerly waiting to start the dying

"OOOHHHHH...."

Jared

Everyone busy at work!

Avery taking care of the broken ones!

Old McKelly Had a Farm.......!

We received an early Easter arrival yesterday! Chickens.....16 of them! Kelly has been talking about chickens, goats and cows for months(think he's going through some mid-life crisis or ful-filling some of his missed out childhood experiences!) I kept saying I am not a farmer's wife, buying my eggs at Kroger suits me just fine, but....needless to say my children are now the proud owners and caretakers of 16 very cute, but not for long, little chicks! They are in a large Rubbermaid container in our garage with a heat lamp. Jake and Hunter are lying on the rug next to them, chicksitting, I hope and not dreaming of nuggets! Kelly and the boys, with much assistance from Stephen, are going to built a coop in the next few weeks. This should be very interesting.......

I will post better pictures later!

Spring Cleaning by Force

It is always good to have events in our home, because otherwise some things may never get tended to. It seems like we put it into a higher gear to complete unfinished tasks or things we really try to avoid, like the garage-UGGG, when we have a deadline! This weekend I am hosting a bridal shower for our niece, Nikki.
This is the only shower she is having, thus led to mailing out 7o invitations! I know from past experience that we can count on about 1/2 of those to turn out. I actually gave Kelly his "honey do" list weeks ago, and he has completed most of it. Me on the other hand, have not even put a dent in all I need to do! I am stressing out at this point! I have been doing a little each day, I mean very little in cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, etc...... I still have windows to clean, front and back porches to pressure wash and sweep, grass to mow, field to bush hog (not me) food to buy and prepare (I have my list, but am open to easy finger food ideas,any suggestions?) our entire house to clean, and trying to keep up with my running schedule! I know it will all get done, because it always does, but just thinking about it make me have heart palpitations! I am sure you are wondering why I am typing this and not up working! I was lying down to get John Ashford to sleep and now he is.... so "Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work I go!"

Week in Review

Let's see if I can recall what all has gone on with the Mims this week.........

Monday, my sweet friend, Kim was kind and brave enough to watch my kiddos, so that I could welcome a new addition to our family. My cousin, Christy, delivered the cutest, little baby boy!His name is Andrew Carter and bless his sweet heart he has 5 older sisters. Let's start praying for the little man now! Thanks Kim, the children had a wonderful time and can't wait to come again! After picking up the kids, we had piano and allergy shot. Kelly came home a little early and practiced some baseball with the boys, while I ran at the hospital track.

Tuesday, we had school and then Avery had gymnastics class. I dropped off the children with Kelly at the office and went to Kroger to grocery shop, saved $46 with coupons and plus card savings! I am trying harder to be a smarter shopper.... every penny counts! Rushed home from the grocery store, unloaded and put away groceries, changed clothes, jumped back in the van with everyone and went to the track, ran 3 miles, then straight to Carson's soccer game. Whew... can you say exhausting!

Wednesday was a little more relaxed. We had school and did some house cleaning. We didn't have to get in the van until late afternoon! It was my daddy's birthday, so we went out to eat before church to celebrate his 54th! Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Thursday, I began the day cleaning out the "catch all" closet under the stairs. This is our safe place in case of bad weather, and storms were predicted for the day..... so had to clean out to make room for 5 children and me! Thankfully, we didn't have to take refuge there! Soccer games were cancelled because of extremely wet field conditions..... Yessssssss! We were going to the track to run, but it looked like we had more rain moving in, so Kelly got on the treadmill, while I started supper. After he finished, the skies were cleared, so I decided that I would run on our little, country road. The temperature was wonderful, and I felt great. My only fear were dogs chasing, biting me and being run over by a car! I obviously needed to fear severe thunderstorms, high wind, and treacherous rainfall! The plan was for me to end my run at Christy's house, and Kelly was going to pick me up there. I made it to her house about 2 minutes before the storm came over us! Next time, I will check the radar! I came home to a clean kitchen and was able to take a quite, peaceful uninterrupted bath..... thanks to my bodyguard, I mean sweet hubbie!

Today we were on our way to co-op, and Jared started singing a tall tale song about John Henry, and I realized that I had forgotten the video of Paul Bunyan that I was showing to my group! I had made it all the way to the Trace, in Kelly's truck because I had to take 12 feet logs (cardboard carpet tubes) for our logging games and had to turn and go back home! Oh my, not a good start! All turned out okay..... I was only 14 minutes late, and there were several other mamas who came in after me! Our co-op was great! We reviewed the Pacific and Southwest regions by playing a game, kids created some beautiful sand art, talked about tall tales and wrote our own, and the best part was going outside to chalk out the diameter and height of the sequoias! Wow, I can't wait to behold that sight, Lord willing, one day on a vacation with my sweeties!

When I got home this afternoon, I had received a gift from Kelly in the mail! It is a Garmin running watch, and I am so incredibly excited about having one! After the race last weekend, I wanted one so badly! Kelly says that I am so spoiled, but I choose to think that I am so LOVED!
Thanks honey! He did use it this afternoon during his run, he ran 3.1 miles in 33 something! Yeah! I am so proud!

That's all for now! Gotta get some sleep! John Parker and Carson have baseball practice at 9:30 and 10:30 in the morning! I am going to run 3.5 miles at Ballard Park while they practice. Wish me luck, this will be the most I have ever run!

Disclaimer!
Excuse the rambling and please disregard all spelling and grammatical errors..... I am one, extremely tired mama!