I still got it....just a little bit of it....

Today I did something I haven't done in over 8 years....

I ran in a race...

I'm not sure when that Hogeye Marathon Relay was exactly, but I do remember it was prior to baby number 5, so I technically haven't done much of ANYTHING in the last 8 years- ok, minus having three babies, moving above the Mason Dixon line, and running a house-hold of nine people.... I haven't done much ATHLETICALLY in 8 years....

So I ran in a race today.   I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual.  Almost 5 weeks ago, my awesome hubster and my boy were going to do the Dunkirk Triathlon.  Unfortunately, my son decided the 6.2 running part was a tad out of his reach.

So I offered my services....  (insert a very big eyed emoji here...)

Thank you....

It was one of those moments that sometimes you wonder what the heck you were thinking when you said you'd do something?   yes.  So I was running the 6.2 mile part of the triathlon.

Each week I added a mile to the training.  First week I did 3 miles.  Second week was 4 miles.  Third week was 5 miles.  I had to lower my mileage this last week since the race was this morning so I never made it to six miles.  Which isn't good because I'm the kind of runner who needs to see what 6 miles feels like, and I never got to.  The farthest I got was 5.4 miles and it was SLOW!!!

But I set a goal of one hour to complete the race.  It was a lofty goal, but one nonetheless.  I was determined to NOT WALK.

So this morning we awoke at 4:15 and got ready to leave.  I woke up the little peanut and fed and got her ready to go and we brought two other minions with us to help out during the transitions.

Emil & Gi... 

 We got to Dunkirk at o'dark thirty and the hubs and I immediately headed to pick up our race packet.  As we walked up to the table there was a strange sign-

Ok, it didn't quite look like this- it actually said, "Swim cancelled."  Well, the look on my husband's face was priceless.  Utter disbelief.  And actually, we had a discussion in the car on the way down about Lake Erie possibly being contaminated with E Coli and would he PLEASE be careful and try not to swallow any water????   So seeing this sign was surreal because my hubs is a phe-NOM-enal swimmer.  I'm talking, the first triathlon I ever went to watch him do, he came out of the water in like second place!!!  He's a swimmer.  So this little "kink" in our race wasn't taken lightly.

Perfect, Barney!!

So the alternative plan was for the athletes to run one mile since the lake was un-swimmable.  My husband was getting worried.  He hadn't run since LONG before his knee surgery in June. At one point, he jokingly asked if I wanted to run it.  Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. That was funny, honey.  Really, truly funny.  I mean, I haven't even run over 5.4 miles, but let's make this a 7.2 mile race, shall we?   Ummmm, no.  Thank you, though.  If you want to finish in some semblance of appropriate and competitive time, you may want to just suck it up, big guy- because even IF you need to have knee surgery on your bad knee and even IF you just had surgery on your "good" knee two months ago, you still stand a better chance of performing better than I could!!

Before our race

My little triathlon partner...

My two real minions....

It actually was GREAT that he ran because he ran an EIGHT MINUTE MILE!!!   Can you believe that?  I'm serious.  Knee surgery two months ago, and a bum other knee and he still managed an eight minute mile.  I was beaming when he came in the transition area.  He jumped on his bike and took off.  I began to get nervous....

The hubs getting ready for his mile run!

Taking his bike out of transition area!

He had originally told me to expect it to take 1 1/2 hours to get back.   Well, about an hour after the first people left the transition area, bikers started coming back in!!!  I was really getting nervous because I was seeing guys who had left just a little bit prior to the hubster and that meant either they were getting some incredible mph on their bikes, or he was just going to be really slow....I was kinda hoping for the latter, because I had already taken about 5 trips to the port a potty and was fairly certain I needed to make at least two more before he got there.... (hey- I HAVE had 7 children...)

The other relay guy was in the relay transition with me when his dad got back on his bike.  Now, I was getting nervous because this biker was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY slower than my hubs and my hubs was NO WHERE in site- where WAS HE??

I was to get the answer when the relay bike guy came over.  Apparently, the hubster had a flat tire.  Oh NO!!!  This was not good, because not only did I have NO IDEA of when he would be coming back, remember I had to use the bathroom, but who KNEW if he was actually able to get the flat replaced- he had been having tire issues this past week so I was getting nervous!!!

One by one, more riders came back and FINALLY!!!!   The hubs came around the corner.  I was both thrilled and terrified at the same time.  He got his bike into the slot and came over to take the ankle chip off and pass it to me.  I was shaking and nervous and he gave me a big ole smooch and told me to do my best (hey- you wouldn't pass up a smooch from your smoofee, and you know it!!!)

So there I was....just me, and the open road.....

Ok.  Not really.  My route took me down the edge of Lake Erie (yes, ole nasty, E coli filled, Lake Erie) and through a neighborhood, to the marina, and onto a pier and back again, TWICE.

Did you catch that?

Twice.

Yea.  I knew it, too. But for some reason, my mental part of me, tends to forget IMPORTANT things, like, THIS ISN'T SIX MILES, CRAZYCATHOLICMOMMA-it's only 3.1...you gotta do this TWICE...

So in true fashion for me- I darted off like the hare.  Passing a few people along the way and feeling pretty.darn.good about myself.

Until the realization that I was actually having to run the same course TWICE hit me.  My awesome hubs said we all do it.  We get our heart rates up and we run fast until the brick wall hits- in my case, the monkey.  Monkeys jump on my back.   If you ask my 10 year old, she'll tell you she believed me that an actual monkey jumped on my back...

So the second time around and I started dragging.  I mean d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g....  I had to stop twice and walk, but it was literally just for about 3/10ths of a mile and it was definitely after I had run 5 miles because I didn't have much left to go.

It was so very hard.  It was so very, incredibly, painfully hard.  I can tell you that my knees actually behaved during the race (most days I trained, they were like 90 year old knees), but my Plantar Fasciatis was really, really, bothering me.

I try to always start out praying when I run. Not only does it helps pass the time while I chit chat with the Lord in my head, but when I exercise, it's really one of the best times for me to sort through all my crazy.   And you KNOW I have crazy.  Seven kids?   Yea, there's a little bit o crazy at times in my life.  So praying while I run is actually so productive for me.

Something I realized when I finished was that I felt a very strong connection to something when I ran today.  Almost as soon as I started, I had an overwhelming emotional moment.  I was overcome with a sense of gratitude.  Gratitude for so many things.  My amazing husband who actually looked forward to his wife participating in the race with him.  My faith in Jesus.  My love of my Mother Mary.  It was crazy powerful.  I immediately thanked Him for the blessing of being able to even do this race, to have the health and ability (despite the aches and pains) and the blessing of living in a part of the world that is really just beautiful.

The view this morning of Lake Erie.   Looks like the ocean, doesn't it?

As I ran, I began to try to focus my thoughts on several friends of mine who are struggling with so much.  Breast cancer, marriage issues, money problems, children problems, other health issues, you name it.  I prayed for them.  I really wanted to devote and dedicate this race to so much.  It's what kept me putting one foot in front of the other.   Every time I felt like I needed to just quit- I just thought of those people I know who are struggling.   I am never gonna say when you offer up your own pains, problems, and issues, it certainly doesn't take any of them away, ease them, or anything, but it does, I PROMISE, give you a sense of peace about it.  That our struggles are not in vain.  God can make good out of all things.

So I will post some pictures of me running.  Which is VERY embarrassing because I do NOT like how I look when I run- even when I'm in better shape, which I'm not, but I am proud of my running.  I finished the race in 1 hour 4 minutes.  Not a great time for 6.2 miles, but I can't complain.  It can only get better from here!!

ok, there's only going to be one... :) 

I still got just a little bit of it!!!!

Friday Musings....

I can not believe it.  I actually remembered two Friday's in a row to do my little "Freaky Friday" segment!  The stars have aligned nicely.....and speaking of stars....

Have you heard about the meteor shower that peaked Wednesday evening/Thursday early pre-dawn morning?

Well, that was a real treat to sit outside with my kiddos and observe very late (until MIDNITE PEOPLE!!!) some pretty cool observations.... I'll try to post a link if I can...


Perseid Meteor Shower pictures!!

You can click on that link to see a quick 45 second segment on some pretty amazing pictures of the meteor shower.  One of the pictures towards the end with the extremely long, white, meteor is one of MANY we saw as we just laid on the driveway that late night....

So I jumped ahead of myself a bit for my "Freaky Friday" show.

Sunday, the hubster left for a week of training at that "shhhhh-they train batman and superman there" place I can't mention.  He wasn't learning any super human tricks this week, just how locks work.  Don't know HOW that will help his job.....maybe he's hit a mid life crisis and he's going to become a home invader....    Just kiddin'  I'm just excited he's coming home because I have to tell you, I do NOT function well at home, alone with seven kids...I guess, I should probably just say I don't function well at all, period....

So he left Sunday morning.

Sunday night, oh, about 12 hours EXACTLY after he left, the fire alarms in the house, ON EVERY FLOOR, starting going off.  Of course, crazycatholicmomma- they all go off because they're all so neatly woven together in wires hidden beneath the surface of your house!!  So, I've been in bed exactly one hour and these alarms start barking at us.  I wake up, grab my phone and head out the door of my bedroom- I smell nothing, see nothing and as quick as they started beeping they stopped.  I called my superhero hubs and thankfully he answered.  It started going off again, this time, the little lady trapped in the alarms started in with "fire fire", "fire fire."   But she quickly stopped as fast as she started as well.  I was, at this point, in a state of complete panic.  What the HECK was going on?

I checked the water heater, the stove, and the fire place.  Not that she was screaming carbon monoxide, but that was the problem the last time they started beeping in the middle of the night.  The kids were all on the front porch, minus the almost 7 year old who screamed at everyone who tried to get her up, and promptly went back to sleep.  I wasn't too worried about a real fire at that point, so I let it slide.  I can assure anyone, I'll sock her in the nose and drag her out like a caveman if she does that little stunt during a real fire....

My superhero hubs calmed me down and I got everyone back in bed.  I didn't fall asleep for a while and actually slept in my clothing the next two nights after that....

One night down.  Four to go....

Monday started band camp for the boy in the family.  He loves band camp.  I love it for him.  I think he's finally found his nitch.  He enjoys it tremendously.  I am very happy for him.  He was even out this week in the backyard practicing marching and playing his mellophone.  Super sweet!

Tuesday I ordered another set of bunk beds for this crazy house of crazy seven kids.  This will be a fun transition as we switch the older two girls with the younger three girls rooms around.  The new bunk beds will go in with the three younger ones and eventually, unless we finish the basement, the younger four girls will share that room.

Tuesday was also the day the Taz decided underwear was not supposed to be worn on your rear....

I can't make this stuff up...

That's why I must take pictures constantly in my house because I don't want people to think I am making this stuff up!!  Honestly!  This is how my life rolls.  See a pair of underwear on the floor?  Put it on your head!   Who needs to pee in the potty?  Not Taz!  She's happy as a lark with Olaf panties on her sweet little head....Speaking of Taz.  She gave herself a nap today....we thought we had lost her.  Ran around the house like mad cats covering up crap and finally went in her room and found her sound asleep.  ON HER BED....

Wednesday was nice because we decided to pray the Rosary together.  It was so sweet to hear the almost 7 year old be able to say all the prayers....in a timely fashion.  See, a few years ago, she desperately wanted to pray the Rosary.  I mean, have her own decade to pray by herself. 

It was very painful....she was soooooooooooooooooooooo slow and took soooooooooooooooo long to say each prayer.....  But now, she can wiz right through it and it almost made me sad....growing up so fast.

Here are a few of my baby girls waiting to pray...I love these little people...

My tiniest peanut, the little Lui, is talking more and more now.  I tried to post a video, but I don't know if it will work.  More importantly, if it works, I don't know if you'll be able to hear her actually talking.  It's ADORABLE!!!

Not sure that video will load but I tried.  One day I shall take this technology and finally learn how to use it....when I have about 10 extra hours in the day....

Lui also has learned a new stunt this week.   Superman hubs is gonna be sad he missed it-but hopefully she'll do it again soon!!

She can sit up on her own!!!!

She's so talented!!!!

So this week was pretty busy-next week is even busier....we only have three more weeks until school starts....life is going way too quick....

I'm just glad the superman hubs in driving home as we speak....

Life will get back to some semblance of normal.....right?

No truer words have I found.....

By the way- google crazy family images.

Nothing quite makes you feel good about your crazy than to see other even crazier crazy.  Trust me...

Friday Musings with a cup of Joe...

Well, since my Throw up Thursday came and went AGAIN, I will try another version of the "seven quick takes" for Friday.

We'll call it, FREAKY FRIDAY....

Cause it's been just that.

First up on my "Freaky Friday" agenda is what I believe is the answer to where the ants are coming from under my house.  I will post  the video I think you will find both fascinating, and super incredibly disgusting...

Yep.  Did you watch it?  That's under my basement.  Maybe even beyond my backyard, heck, the whole thing could be surrounding my entire property considering I live on .9 of an acre lot....

Which explains WHY I can't seem to get rid of my nASSSty ants....

The next three "Freaky Friday" moments revolve around a certain tiny terrorist who lives in my house who we will just refer to as, Taz.

Taz has had a bit of a busy week or two in this house.  Something about the age of a 2 1/2 year old.  I'd like to say that after raising 5 babies past the age of 2, I could be considered somewhat of an expert, but I want to assure ANYONE who reads my blog that I'm nothing of the sort.

If anything?  I'm getting WORSE at this parenting thing.  (Just ask the teenagers in this house-talk about brutal honesty...)

Taz

This is Taz.  Last Saturday, my amazing SuperMan husband brought her from the older girl's room into our room.  Notice anything about her eyes?  Hair?  Chest?

Yes.  She got into some make up.  Lip gloss and lipstick actually do not come out of hair as easy as one would think....

Today- just a week from that debacle above, I got the hair brained idea that we should just bite the bullet and get the Taz potty trained.  I mean, she's 30 months for goodness sake.  At this rate, she'll be heading to UPK with a big ole Luvs Monkey on her butt....

Oh boy.  Next time I get a hair brained idea like that, someone, ANYONE, please smack me in the head.... HARD.

Like I said, after potty training five kids, getting them past the terrible 2's, I guess I got a little cocky that I could handle a little obstinate, adorable Taz....

I felt so bad when my oldest, the 15 year old, called while I was at the dermatologist, to inform me that Taz had peed on herself, twice.  And to beat all?

She was demanding M&M's.

Cause I'm a briber from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back.

That's right.  I bribe little terror two olds with M&M's so they will pee in the toilet.  Pooping is the bonus, but do you think my Taz understood that?

Why no.   After peeing all over both outfits, she demanded my oldest feed her M&Ms. 

After all, she went pee.

When I returned from the appointment, we tried it again.  This time, I showed her the toilet, I told her to put her peepee IN the toilet, and I told her she would get an M&M if she did.

Third times charm, right?

Wrong.

Third outfit for the day.  Done.  No M&M.

So guess who's back in her diaper?  

The third "Freaky Friday" moment also has taken place this week.  And also involves the two year old little terror.

For some reason, she has decided she doesn't need a nap!

Now, I don't know about anyone else out there, but I wake up with minions, and I go to bed with minions.  So nap times?   They are my glorious, quiet, let me take a sip of coffee without interruption, maybe I'll get a prayer in, time!!!! 

To say this little terror is giving up her naps is a bad thing is a TOTAL understatement.  

What am I going to do when the older minions go back to school in just a little over 4 weeks?  The baby is just now finally getting on a more predictable schedule and coincidentally napping in the afternoon at the same time Taz is supposed to!! 

This.Is.Unacceptable.  I am getting flustered just thinking about it.  Talk amongst yourselves....

Me.  Getting verclemt. 

I think I'll end my "Freaky Friday" session now.  I need a good cup of Joe.  Which I will leave you with a great picture I found at Hobby Lobby this week.  Might just buy it and put it on my front door...