First 5K!!!

I did it! 

I completed my first 5K!  Yay!

My goals were to run the entire race without stopping and to NOT pass out.  Both accomplished!  It was such a great feeling!  Eric was such a great coach and has been working with me for the past few weeks to get me ready.  I am certainly not a natural runner.  No, no, no!  If you had told me this time last year that I would have ran in a 5K today, then I would have laughed.  Big time. But back in November I very gradually began adding a little running to my walking.  With Eric's encouragement (and much help with getting my breathing under control), I built up my endurance and actually started enjoying running. 

Prior to the today, the most I had ever run without stopping was two miles.  Eric was sure that the racing environment and energy would be enough motivation to propel me across that finish line.  That, along with much praying during the race, did the trick.

After mile number three, we rounded the corner and saw the finish line.  Eric grabbed my hand, which was a good thing, because my legs were almost finished working.  It felt like he was carrying me to the finish line.  We crossed it in 30:34, running a 9.78 mile pace.

Not too shabby for my first 5K!

And it was really sweet that Eric hung with me at my pace the entire race to encourage me, when he could have run it much faster on his own. 

See, Awesome coach!

Hatcher Dairy

Seth's kindergarten registration day fittingly coincided with his last preschool field trip, which made for a very busy morning. We made it all work, though.  After our kindergarten tour, we met up with the Cox's in the school parking lot, zoomed down to Hatcher Dairy together, and made it just in time to meet up with Seth and John's classes for our tours of the farm. Whew!  After this year of being in different classes, Martha and I were so happy that for our final field trip, the boys' teachers chose the same day and same location.  Yay!

In all of our years of field tripping, this was our first time at the Dairy.  Hatcher Dairy has been in operation for nearly 180 years by the Hatcher family. It is a pretty popular tour in the area, and we were excited to finally check it out.  And get samples of their yummy products, which are sold in their Dairy store and in select stores in the area. 

Our tour guide was great!  We got to pet the cows and learned all about the inner workings of a dairy, the difference between cow breeds, how to milk a cow, how to feed a calf, the process of pasteurizing and packaging milk for sell, and just how far a stream of milk would shoot from a cow udder.  All pretty interesting stuff.

After our tour, we were given samples of Hatcher Dairy milk and cheese, which were really good, and then given the opportunity to visit their dairy store.  The class then dispersed and Martha and I decided to hang out for a bit and let the boys play in the activity area and then picnic together. 

We tried MULTIPLE times to get a shot of the boys together with the cows in the background.  This was the best we got.

Another Spring Highlight

I couldn't leave out this Spring Break highlight for the boys...a double sleepover with the Masters' boys!

Finally, the boys' Spring breaks coincided!  It is hard for the boys to get together with their buddies, Jack and Simon, as much as we would like.  Especially since they are thirty minutes away, involved in different sports that make our weekend schedules tricky, and it seems like their school breaks are always on different weeks.  This year, however, Spring Break worked out! And the boys were so excited! 

Swimming, Legos, and pizza made for a very fun sleepover!

We are looking forward to, hopefully, having more time with them now that summer is here!

Better Late than Never

Happy Easter from the Workmans!

Yes, I realize that Easter was nearly two months ago.  This seems to be my timeline, as of late.

The Spring was pretty much a blur around here with soccer season, Seth's 5th birthday, March Madness (Woo Hoo #1 Cats), Spring break, Easter, family visits, field trips, and end of school festivities.  Whew!  I am just now getting a chance to catch my breath and catch up on events and activities that I did not put up on the blog earlier.  So bear with me as posts continue to be a bit out of order and random at times.  My thoughts are that if they don't make the blog, my pictures run the risk of spending a lifetime on a photo CD, possibly to never be heard from again.

So, now I present Workman Easter 2012.

It was such a blessed day.  I mean, how can it not be when you are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Praise Him! His precious blood, that was shed on the cross, bought our salvation, which is our eternal inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-5).  For it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and it is not from ourselves, it is a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) And what a precious gift Christ is to us, a broken world.  And what a VICTORY that was obtained through Christ's death and resurrection and realized when the women went to the tomb on the third day after Jesus' cruxifiction and death and found the tomb was empty.  (Mark 16: 1-6) Our Savior is alive!  And we have life through Him!

Granny came down to visit and spend Easter weekend with us.  We started the celebration off by meeting up with friends on Good Friday at the Resurrection Trail, hosted each year by Christ Community Church.  This was our fourth year in attendance and each year it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the events of Jesus' last days and the events that led up to his death and resurrection.  The more the boys learn about the bible and Christ, the more they appreciate this event. It is very interactive and keeps the kiddos engaged.  It is definitely something we look forward to each year.  I forgot my camera this year, but here is a link to a post from Resurrection Trail two years ago.

On Saturday, we did multiple egg hunts with the boys.  I laugh because when Becky and I were little, I remember us hiding eggs year round, just for the fun of it.  Our boys love to seek, so that kept them quite occupied for at least ten rounds.  Candy and prizes for the first round only.

On Sunday, Eric and I, along with Mom who offered to help out, too, taught the first graders at church during the first service and then we went to the second worship service as a family.  We came home for a little rest and then headed over to the Rapps for our community group cook out/pot luck Easter fellowship.  It was a lot of fun!  We have a wonderful community group and love doing life with them.  Each year we do an egg hunt, with resurrection eggs mixed in.  After the hunt, we come together and retell the resurrection story by using the eggs.  Each kiddo gets to participate and with over a dozen kiddos (mostly boys)  that is not always an easy task.  But it always works out and is a great time.

I'll say it again...It was a blessed day!

Since this is the Easter post, I am adding some pictures below of Seth's class Easter egg hunt and party at Jim Warren Park.  That was a lot of fun, too. And since Caleb was already on Spring break, Seth was very excited that his big brother got to come along.

I'm Keeping My Eye on You

Scooter Season

Passing of the Torch (or Mat)

Okay, this is one of the sweetest things...

 

Right after Seth's kindergarten registration, he was all about being a kindergartener. And still is. We found Caleb's kindergarten mat and told Seth that it is now HIS. I didn't expect such enthusiasm from Seth, but for about a week, Seth carried that mat all over the house. He would lay on the floor with it and watch his shows, he would put it on the floor with him while playing, and one night, I walked into his room to check on him and found this:

Of course, to me, the sweetest thing about this scene is that he is all wrapped up in the quilt that Tante made for him when he was a baby, while he is sleeping on his big boy kindergarten mat. 

Be strong, my Momma's heart.

First Geocaching

Can you see it?

It is there, hidden among all of those leaves and rocks.

And guess who located it first?

Near the end of April, Eric and Josh took Wilson, Seth, and Caleb on a geocaching excursion.  It was our boys introduction to this new world that we had being hearing so much about.  And it was no surprise, that the boys were HOOKED!  They loved it!

Using GPS coordinates, tracking, and clues, most easily obtained via a I phone (which we do not have, but are grateful for friends who do, for such an adventure as this.), the geocache is located.  Each time a geocache is found, the name of the finder is recorded on a log within the casing.  Sometimes, the geocache contain little treasures.  If this is case, the finder takes a treasure out and replaces it with a treasure of their own.  Honor system rules.  The boys especially liked this part. 
There you go, a little bit of Geocaching 101 for those who are unfamilar.

Below are the guys with some of the things their finds. 

The boys were able to use their super detective skills to decipher clues, follow directions, dig around, and then claim their prize. It was a great opportunity for the boys to work as a team and build confidence.

Hooray for adventures and guy time!