Robie Creek Love Affair

Last year's lucky ladies who actually got a number and the coveted shirt to wear with pride...

Will the Race to Robie be run this year? That is the burning question of the day - for the past 6 days more like. Robie Creek is an insane race that takes you uphill on the backside of Boise for 8 straight miles, then drops you off the edge of the mountain for the remaining 5.1. It's not a race that you run with the intention of keeping all 10 of your precious toenails. It takes your breath, gives you side stitches, makes you feel weak, tempts you to walk, and beckons you each year to try, try again.

So why would anyone want to do this year after year? Oh, ask the 2,000+ people that sign up online feverishly each President's Day. It's a gamble to get in to the race. Due to logisitics and narrow mountain roads, there are only approximately 2,300 spots for this brutal race. And, believe it or not, there are way over 2,300 people who want a number.

Alyssa and I were part of those crazies who wanted a number. I've run this blasted thing 6 times, and I consider it a "rite of spring" each year. Well, after 51 minutes on the computer trying desperately to claim our fame for this year, we were turned away due to "category full" postings on the sign in page. Blast. Double Blast. And even more swearing to follow...

What to do? Do we train anyway? Do we try for another number in the second chance lottery? Do we buy another's number on ebay due to the fact that another has realized how HARD this race actually is and is now too chicken to run it? Do we go to packet pickup and beg for someone to let us buy his or her number then run the race as a runner with another number?
Decisions, decisions...

Until those decisions are made, yes, WE WILL TRAIN! Each day WE WILL RUN! Each Saturday WE WILL FIND HILLS TO CLIMB! Each Sunday OUR LEGS WILL SCREAM AT US!

Because, WE LOVE ROBIE CREEK! Sigh...

Ten year old heartthrob

Recently I had this conversation with a girl in my class:

Student: Mrs. Ball, you know your son Payton?
Me: Yes, I do know him.
Student: Well, I think he's really cute!
Me: Me, too!
Student: Well, you know those candy grams we can buy here at school?
Me: Yes.
Student: Well, I'm going to buy him one and I was wondering if you'd give it to him, but don't tell him who it's from.
Me: Okaaaay. Sure.
Student: Thanks! He's sooo cute!
Me: (Thinking to myself) Yes, he is cute and you need to mind your p's and q's, turn your homework in on time, develop some better manners, and quit being so boy crazy before I give you my permission to think he's cute.

On the day before the day before Valentine's day:
Me: Hey, Payton, I have some things for you.
Payton: What are they?
Me: Oh, just a few candy grams and a valentine from some girls in my class.
Payton: Making a face: I don't want any of that stuff. It's weird. They're weird.
Me: Ok, you can give the candy to your sisters, they'll like it.
Payton: Rethinking the situation: No, no, I'll eat it.
Me: Thinking to myself: Weird or not, you like the candy, huh, little man? Just keep remembering how good candy is and how you don't like it when girls are boy crazy around you. Just keep remembering!!!

Tagged

Wow. For the first time I've been tagged! Cool, huh?

Thanks, Terrie!

I went to my fourth folder and opened my fourth picture.

We took the family to Yellowstone about 4 years ago and amazed the kids with hot mud, hot water, lots of trees, lots of elk, no bears, pretty scenery (at least it was to Billy and me!), lots of farty sulphur smells, oodles of Chinese tourists, plenty of driving, and Bill's fanny pack holding all of our essentials! heehee... Let's just say that Yellowstone was not a favorite destination for the children... Next time, it will just be Mom and Dad!

It's funny that I opened this particular picture of a "vacation" when Bill and I were just talking about how we NEED to go on another trip. Soon. Somewhere tropical, warm, and tan inducing.

OK, guys, I tag Ashlee, Amy, Tracy, and Aly.

Chapstick Addict (When I can find it...)

Do you lose chapstick like I lose chapstick?

Pretty much the entire day I'm either:
a: licking my lips because the Chapstick has worn off.
b: wondering where I left that last tube of goodness.
c: cussing at myself since I can't find one of the 5 or 6 I've stuck someplace I can't remember.
d: shouting a "hallelujah" when I finally find my Burt's Bees or Chapstick shimmer.
e: groaning when I take the laundry from the dryer and find a stray tube by the dryer vent.
f: explaining to Bill why his newest Chapstick contents are in the lid.
g: rummaging through each jacket and coat trying desperately to find my lip salvation.
Today I did letters a through g.

President Obama!

Click here for America's song. I think you'll like it.

Didn't you just love the inauguration yesterday?

Loved it, myself.

I took all my fifth graders into my teaching partner's room and together all 45 of us witnessed history being made after it had already been made several months before. There was no talking, no whispering, just quiet watching as we stared at our next president. We talked about how history had been made on many levels. Some of the people in the vast audience experienced not being able to eat at the same lunch counter with others when they were younger, and now. Now, there has come a total change of thought, mind, and heart, and that same person who might not have been able to eat his lunch at the same place as another, has been sworn in as

commander-in-chief.

Wow. What a cool thing for young people to see. Even if you didn't vote for Obama and don't like his politics, you still have to admit that this event was pretty awesome. From the millions of people on the mall to those cute daughters of his, to the accidental missed words from his mouth, to Michelle Obama's beautiful "lemongrass" colored (but probably freezing) outfit and awesome gloves.

This event was momentous and monumental. I'm glad I got to witness it.

And I'm hoping for the best in the next 4 years ahead. You, hear that, President Obama? My family and I are putting our trust in you. Please do your best to not let us down!

14 years as a Ball

Date: January 11, 1995

Time: 12:34 PM
Place: St. Luke's Hospital, Boise, ID
Occasion: The birth of the second Ball child
Weight: 9 lbs. 13 oz.
Name: Kourtni Rae Ball

Flash forward 14 years

heehee - what excellent taste in attire you have!
She'll be so mad at her mom for posting this pic here! heehee

Date: January 10, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM
Place: The Nike Outlet store, Old Navy, Hollister, Abercrombie, Champ's, Quizno's, Finish Line
Occasion: To find the perfect pair of jeans and basketball shoes for an-about-to-turn-fourteen-year-old-daughter
Weight: Now that wouldn't be polite and she'd be upset at her mother
Name: Kourtni Rae Ball


Sister to 3 siblings - yeah, they're pretty much like this all the time - NEVER serious when Mom gets the camera out...

Chocolate cake - per request
It.was.delicious.

Presents this year:
jeans from Hollister - hated them once we got home...
basketball shoes from Finish Line - hated them once we got home...
i-pod case - didn't hate it, but realized she had 5 of them already. yep.5.
Ross gift cart - didn't hate it!!!

Presents from years past:
a loaf of white bread - Mom doesn't buy it usually
a big, long bath towel that was for her use only
toaster strudel - junk food junkies that we are
underwear for a potty-trained 2 year old!!!
Christmas clearance stuff... you gotta love January b-days!

Cakes from years past:
Dairy Queen ice cream cake
Chocolate shakes
Oreo cake
Homemade cakes with all the typical designs: bunnies, barns, m&m confections with enough sugar to make you go blind!

We love our Kourtni Rae!
She is a joy to have around and has blessed this home and family with her sweet, pleasing personality. She still calls her mom "mommy" or "mama" and she still calls her dad "daddy". She is obedient and knows that when she doesn't do her laundry like Mom says, she doesn't get to go to her friend's house...hehehe

Happy Birthday!

One Word Wednesday...

CORRECTING...

Technically deficient...

OK, so I wanted to update in '09 (yeah, it doesn't rhyme) and I decided to change my background and colors and stuff, and I shouldn't have done it because I screwed up my layout and I can't figure out how to fix it and I'm obssessing over it and I have too many other things to do and so I'm getting it off my chest and hopefully when Alyssa comes home tomorrow,

All
Will
Be
Corrected
And
Wonderful

(After a lecture from her about what am I going to do when she goes to college?)
I know, I know, I need to figure this stuff out on my own, but I have 7 1/2 more months until I ACTUALLY have to do it!!!

Resolutions, smesolutions...

I've never been very good at New Year's Resolutions. I'm just not the "resolutiony" type. Oh, I set goals, alright, but I just don't think that because it's a new year I should resolve to do anything more than I'm already doing!

EXAMPLES:

• I'm already eating oatmeal, almonds, and beans in an attempt to lower that dreaded cholesterol. Hope it's working, guess I need another blood test to determine that.

• I'm already getting up at the crack of the crack of dawn 5 days a week in hopes of staying sane throughout the day.

• I'm already setting goals each day, like, for example, to get to 12:00 and refrain from crying about last year's Kindergarten bliss. (I've accomplished that goal each school day - well - almost each school day.)

• I'm already trying out new recipes to give my family's eating a boost - or to at least make it interesting.

• I'm already contributing to our family's well being by helping out financially, emotionally, chauffeuringly, nurturingly, etc. (can't think of anymore words that end in "ly")

I guess you could say that I have resolutions all through the year and don't feel I need to announce them at the beginning of a new year, but, just so you don't think I think I'm perfect in any way, shape, or form, (heehee) I'll do something that I read about in a magazine:

simply state one word that will help me remember what I should be doing.

Here goes:

1. patience - with my kids, my class, my friends, my neighbors, that stupid driver in front of me, etc.

2. communicate - with my mom, my sisters, my far away friends way more often.

3. read - books that aren't written by Stephanie Meyer, the scriptures, the stack I have by my bed that normally don't get looked at very much until summer.

4. learn - from others, from experiences (both good and bad), from classes that I should be
taking.

5. clean - my house, my car, the baseboards, the home office way more often.

6. blog - whenever I feel like it and not feel bad for sitting at the computer when I should be doing 2, 3, 4, and 5...

7. pictures - take more, take Becky Higgins' challenge of a photo a day for project 365 even though I don't scrapbook anymore - at least on paper...

8. enjoy - my husband, my kids, my home, my life, all the little things way more often.

9. cherish - what it's like to have all 4 of my children under one roof - 'cuz in August it's all gonna change when baby #1 goes away to college *sigh* - wasn't she just born?

10. dance - learn Beyonce's single ladies dance...Oh, yeah - my kids will totally dig it when their mother dances like Beyonce!!! well, maybe that will have to wait until 2010...

Happy 2009!

Here's to doing what we normally do each day in order to make ourselves better human beings!

I Miss Her...

Come home, Alyssa!

I know you are having a blast with your posse in IF, but your posse in Boise miss you a lot. We are having a taste of what life will be like when you are at college next fall and we are not ready for it to happen.

So...

come home already!

Oh, and by the way, your dad is going to be in IF on Saturday so have a blast of unsupervised fun for the next few days when it comes to a screeching halt. Sorry.

Love, Mom