Christmas is here! The reindeer came. . .

Here is what Santa left us! We are very blessed this year.

The kids woke up at 6:30am excited to see if Santa came last night. They ran outside to see if Santa's reindeer had eaten the carrots and the celery they put outside for the reindeer - low and behold the reindeer had taken bites out of the food! Santa was here! John didn't hear Santa on the roof and was a little bummed out, Josie though, thought maybe she had heard him but wasn't sure.... oh to be young again!

Look at this pile of gifts John has, it was so fun to watch him open them.

Josie got her first official Barbie Doll ~ Dancing Ballerina Barbie. She loves it!

I love this pic, Detrix was so suprised he got the laptop he wanted... Thank you to the Kovacavic (hope I spelled the correctly!) family - you helped us out tremendously getting it all ready to go!

Some of you know that Derrick and I have been very disciplined with our health lately. Derrick has lost 55 pounds and I have lost 27 pounds, today as a new Christmas tradition we went for 5k run! I actually did my fastest mile yet at 11 minutes, Derrick not to be out done - did a very fast 8 minute mile!~ I am so proud of both of us, we have been working hard and it is paying off. Am I bitter that Derrick is running faster than I am for his first run? No, not at all I am so exited we are both out there doing something to ensure a lasting healthy lifestyle! Way to go Derrick I am very proud of you!

Running, what I am learning.

I have never been a real runner, I have never gotten that "runners high". Yesterday I went out running on a trail by our home, I found out something about myself. I don't mind running. Yeah I kow I did the 1/2 marathon last year but I really hated running. Now after running two 5k races in the last two weekends, something has gotten into me. I am starting to - dare I say it? - I am starting to enjoy running. Oh my those are words I never thought I woud say. I did another 5k race on Saturday it was a small race with about 52 people, most did the 10k, but I stayed with the 5k. I was dead last, and even got a little lost on the course. You see I am not a fast runner, maybe I will speed up at some point but for now I just chug along, but my point is I am out there. I beat the winner of the 10k by 3 minutes... I know a bit pathetic the guy went almost twice as fast as I did. But for me, it was one of my best races so I will take it! The people out there are really nice, they all said they were slow runners when they started out - slow to them is slowing down to a 8 minute mile. Wow I think if I could run an 8 minute mile, how cool would that be? as they all took off down the trail, I had some great alone time - thinking of why I am running in the first place. I run to get healthy but it is also a big challenge for me. I love to challenge myself so this is my next thing to conquer. I will be running another 1/2 marathon in California in October. So my goal now is to actually run the entire race with out stopping and walking. To some that is not a lofty goal, to me it is. So as I take each day to go run a 5k and then build up from there I will slowly accomplish my goal. Maybe I will get that "runners high" someday! It is the same in life, you set out to do something big and huge in your life, and it doesn't happen over night, it takes small steady steps. Do you have a goal for this next year? Make it a big goal, make it huge! Now start by doing little steps to have your goal come to pass!

Here I am before the race sponsored by Fitness For Vitality 5k/10k Run/Walk Shoes For Foster Kids it was in West Seattle at Lincoln park, very cool run - the wind picked up right at the end and blew my hat off... so I got to chase down my hat! ofcourse I ran in my Team Toyota shirt, had to represent the team!

Santa came a little early!

After church on Sunday the kids found out that Santa came a little early this year. Santa was making sure that he knew where our new house was, and if he could fit down the chimney.

You never know how long the Seahawks will play for - so we thought to get the most use out of these gifts we better have Santa come early! John does some great tackling and Josie (despite my childhood hangups with cheerleaders! ) loves being a cheerleader. I am going to be ok with it (really, I am) if Josie wants to be a cheerleader. OK, So I will make my self be ok with it! After all I want all my kids to lead their own lives and go after their own dreams, so if she wants to be a cheerleader then well I just might have to be "that" cheerleading mom! Kidding. Just kidding!

You should see them both they are adorable in the outfits... John seriously is a great tackler, and Josie does look too cute for words.

Christmas Rush

Since I had to do a race report for Team Toyota I thought I would do a blog too. I ran in the Christmas Rush 5K today. I hadn't ran in a while so I was happy that I ran all the way - I kept pace with Angela my friend who keeps talking me into races! She keeps me going and motivated (so thank you to her) I saw lots of people there so it was a great event! Jodi did the 10K - you go girl! Congrats to her and her husband.. and also to Cory Angela's husband and Nathan her son... they did awesome!

I know it might not be the fastest time - but as Angela likes to say " we weren't at home sitting on the couch!" A big thanks to Derrick for bringing the kids out to watch their mom race! It is really great to see them at the finish line.

Oh Christmas Tree!

So I told two of my friends the following story - both were laughing so hard they couldn't speak, so I thought it "blog worthy!"

Last week I came into the living room to find the 11' Christmas tree down on the ground... The whole thing had fallen over. Ornaments everywhere and some broken glass from the ornaments. After interrogating John our 4 year old... I think what happened is the dogs somehow knocked over the tree. We are watching a friends dog and I am not saying their dog knocked the tree down, I am just saying two dogs playing - well you get the picture!

So my immediate reaction is to get the kids out of the way - then grab the Christmas tree and put it up right. After a bit of a struggle to get the tree up (it is huge!) I am standing there holding the tree thinking now what ? I am literally holding the tree - I can't get it set back in the stand right by myself.... what was I thinking. But me - not thinking this all the way through - I never think to put the tree back down (well I think to put it down but I am afraid I will break more ornaments.) So I stand in the front room, just holding the tree. I laugh as I am writing this if only - a neighbor was watching they would be thinking - what the heck is this lady doing? So I stand and just wait. Holding the tree. Luckily it was about 5:00 when I put the tree upright. Derrick was home at about 5:20. He just looked at me when he came home, like "what possessed you to do this?" I don't know, sometimes I amaze myself with silliness!

Snow fun!

Riding the sled!

My little snow angels

The look it snowed pic! no we didn't get a ton of snow - but hey snow that is alright, you don't need a lot of it to have in it!

**Thought I would add a little bit of info about the photo - John's hat is authentic Russian combat hat, and it really came all the way from Russia! Grandma Mary brought it back for little John after she went to Russia this summer - so thank you Grandma Mary! ( You can read about her experience on her blog - look under family) John has a little mark on his face too - well let's say he had a run in with the cutting board and the cutting board won! Two trips to the ER and he is ok. First trip was to get the super glue stuff to heal the cut, second trip was to remove the bandaid the ER doc glued to his face! Got to love it. The second Dr. asked who had done the glue in the first place, I just smiled and said your ER doc. "oh" is all the doc said. We all have off days right? **

Do you know who you are?

I have been undergoing a process that started about a year ago of really finding out who I am. Sounds "new agey" I know but I assure you it has been the hardest and most gratifying thing that I have done. I didn't set out to do it. It is something that just evolved. With out going into much detail I had some things from my past that came back to haunt me - no not a person or anything like that, that showed up, rather something inside me I had never dealt with. I had something traumatic happen to me when I was young and I just pushed it down all these years. Well at some point you have to look at your past in order to know who you are now and find out who you want to be in the future. So I did just that. I took the past sort of head on and am dealing with it. That threw me into a bit of a depression. You see for me, I have never been a depressed kind of a person I might get into funks, but nothing I called a depression. Well this time I found myself fighting to keep my head above water so to speak. Depression for me was simply "depressing my life" meaning I was not pressing into life. I let the circumstances get me down instead of fighting like I normally do, I found myself being swept away. It took me a while to realize what was happening. When I made the choice to start digging in again, I could feel the depression lift. Now I am not saying that would work for everyone but for me getting a goal again, starting to look at the hope that was all around me but I chose not to see, well that started me on the upswing. Today many many months have passed and I am know standing on solid ground knowing where I came from and why I had certain actions and reactions to life. Now that I understand that, I am taking the good qualities I have found in myself and I look forward to the future. I am a survivor, I am a fighter, I am a child of God, I know that the impossible is possible, I know that tomorrow brings new hope and joy. I am excited and look forward to new things happening in my life and in the life of my familys'. I am taking on new rolls and I am on fire and refreshed again. The process was long and is on going. I have often heard woman say you come into your own in your late 30's to early 40's it has been said to be some of the best times in your life because you truly know who you are. I can honestly say I agree. I feel renewed. My dreams are bigger than ever, and I am so excited about that. After all what is life with out dreams? My life has always been an open book, so I share this with you from the bottom of my heart. To know who you are is a powerful thing. To know that power you hold with your words is simply amazing. Life and death is in the power of words. I have learned over the past year to speak words of life over my own life. Now I will look to helping others to speak words of life over their lives. I am worth it! You are worth it!