Not another salad! Runnin fools and the never ending quest to beat the clock.

Hello from the green booger world of Stone children. Yes, that is right, all 3 of them have a cold. And it sucks, for lack of a more appropriate adult word. I am frustrated for them, believe me. I keep thinking that I am going to wake in the morning and we won't have to spend another day wiping noses. Poor things. This too shall pass, I need to just be a little more patient.

We are welcoming July in with open arms around here. In my never ending attempt to feel organized, I got out the calendar yesterday and wrote out everything that is planned for the month. I also made grocery lists and food menus to get me through the month. Normally I am so good at this but have lately fallen by the wayside. So back on the saddle I am. I will put on my full body armour and head to "the dark side" (aka Meijer) sometime in the next 24 hrs to stock up for the 4th, Cherry Festival, and Isaac's 5th birthday. That and 2 running races coming up. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate food preparation! Ugg!

As usual I should be doing some sort of manual labor around this house but I am on the computer. Ali is still asleep (10:30am!) and the boys are out in the living room downstairs watching Scooby Doo together. I can hear Isaac telling Brodie who is who. He is so sweet! I had some great intentions of checking out some recipes for the bountiful crop of nourishment that we have been receiving every week from our Co-Op, but today I am uninspired and feel no need to dig in with my fingers to the wonderful world of creativity and food prep. We have been so wonderful in the past 6 months with what we are eating and I think that I have hit a wall. All I want to do is drink coffee and eat cereal. I am sick of salad and fish and veggies! I'm not sure what is happening. Here we get a box full of beautiful things each week from "the farm" to eat and all I can do is look at it sitting in the fridge screaming at me to eat it. I scoured the internet everyday for the first 2 weeks and made huge attempts at being creative. I even prepared and ate a burrito that wasn't prepared by the fine folks at Taco Bell. That and it had veggies in it too! Please tell me you are impressed beyond belief! I think this may be due to the fact that I haven't run in 2 days. I haven't moved my body enough for it to crave something good for it. Hopefully the 85 degree forecast and I will find some middle ground this afternoon and agree to disagree on a workout. Keep your fingers crossed.

Jeb and I were able to get out on Saturday morning and make the small trek to Glen Arbor to run a little 5K. What a beautiful morning and great company! I ran in this one last year with a friend and it was so much fun. It was the 1st one that I ran while pregnant with Brodie and to be quite honest, I missed him. My thoughts ping ponged back and forth from remembering what it felt like last year to this year. How far I have been and what has happened since 12 months ago. I would have loved to have beat my time from the last 5K in May but it didn't happen. I was off by about 30 seconds or so. Must have been while I was fiddling with my music to find some Def Leopard to listen to. :) Jeb on the other hand, had a great run and PR'ed the thing. His final time was 17:20; 1st in age class; 2nd overall. His personal expectations were not met, but he certainly got a feel for the road and the new hot orange treads got their 1st taste of the morning sun under them. Cherry Festival 5K and 15K is in 12 days! I can't wait, or I can, I'm not sure yet! Yikes!

We finished off our morning with a big yummy coffee and a stop off for breakfast at one of the finest little places around. Back to reality by noon. Its so nice to get out every once in a while.

Here are some pics:

Jeb is on the right

17 vs 30... :)

Didn't I say I was going to find another shirt to run in? Yikes!

Jaida little smokin feet Bell Jasmine tough stuff Bell

The Bell sisters were a part of this 5K too. What fun it is for me to watch the both of them run. My only hope is that as their new found fondness is nurtured and fertilized with proper accomplishments, they are able to see that what they are doing for themselves is priceless. I am so crazy proud of them. And once again, their mother amazes me with her ability to make sure that all 3 of her babies are happy and doing what they want to do. The Taxi Driver prevails; hopefully she knows that she deserves mother of the year. You are an exceptional example Mrs. Bell.

I am out of time for today. Here are a few more random pictures from the last week or so. I have a list of about 5 other things that I would love to share but those will have to wait as #1 is fixing himself some toast and #2 is outside in her PJ's yelling at the dog. Wonder what #3 is doing? Got to go.

My love, all my love,

Cassy

Could the eyelashes get any longer?
Look... it's Jeb holding Jeb!

The Big 10!

Sweet face Big Man :) :) Bouncy Bounce Man Could the smile get any bigger?! Will I ever have a great picture of all 3 smiling? Barker Beauty! Playing Indiana Jones together...what does this mean Isaac? Brodie and his other sisters