So I must prepare you to see my tree, it's quite funny.

Our first year of marriage we were in the apartment 
and we got a little Charlie Brown tree 
that sat on a table so it would look taller.

This year we got something a little bigger, 
but not too big...the car still had to be able to get it home.

We got it all set up and the trunk was straight 
and we were so excited!

And then we looked up...

It leans a little....maybe a lot.

Poor little thing, it doesn't have enough lights to go around it 
and the cat has made it her mission in life to get every glass ball 
so this poor tree is barely even a quarter of the way decorated...

And crooked.

When I suggested we undo the screws 
and cut off a bit of the trunk at an angle 
so the tree would stand upright 
(probably another hours worth of work), 
Robbie gave me the dirtiest look. 

Sorry tree...we live and we learn.

 But it's ours, and our house (and my cat) smells like Christmas. 

This year it's the best we can do.

And isn't that all God asks of us anyways? 
That we do our best?

Merry Christmas!

White Picket Fence

We finally got around to painting one of our fences!
But of course Elphaba was super curious, 
curious enough to take a swipe at the paint brush 
and leave little kitty paw prints all over the garage.

And now she's got some white tipped ears and whiskers...

Funny kitty cat.

He's so handsome.

 Can you see the paint spots all over his face?

 I pride myself in the fact that my hands were much cleaner.

 

The one on the left is the one we haven't done. 
It's up against a white freezer, so the super whiteness 
is the freezer and the dirty white is the fence. 
Optical illusion much? 
The fence on the right is the one we sanded and 
painted with weather proof, wood stain sealer
 all in one awesome paint. 

I'm getting a white picket fence for my garden. 
It's going to be magical!

Coaching Cross Country

I have really enjoyed being a volunteer coach.

Our girls got THIRD PLACE in the championships! 
I was so proud of them. 
And three of them got medals for being in the top ten!!! 

Here's how it kind of went.

Are you nervous for us?

Yes, I'm very nervous for you. But I know you can do it.

How hard are you going to run?

hard

How hard are you going to run!

Hard

HOW HARD ARE YOU GOING TO RUN!

HARD!!!

Titans on three, one two three TITANS!

I feel like I need to fart.

Just fart as soon as the guy says go, 
no one will know and you'll be running so fast 
you'll leave it behind. No one will ever know...

Opening my arms out a little when I run 
really helped me breathe better, thank you.

She thought the lungs were where the kidneys are... oie.

Can you hold my bracelet? 

Sure.

Can you hold my glasses?

Sure.

Can you hold my retainer?

(as she takes it out of her mouth and wipes it on her shirt)

........

Sure.

Hey Coach, can you run from here, to here, to here 
to meet them and cheer them on?

Sure, I can run sprint for like a total of two miles. 

The pain was worth it.

When you get to the finish line I want you 
to tell me how many people you passed, okay? 

As soon as I said it he kicked it into gear and passed one person, 
then another, then another, and kept the pace.

You can do it, this is the last race, 
PUSH YOURSELF!

I'm looking around for our last boy, whose mom made him join 
to lose weight, and he came in 108 out of 108 boys. 
As I'm running the race backwards on the sidelines 
looking for him, I finally see him a little less than a 
quarter mile to being done. He's still jogging. 
Running with him, you can do it, finish strong. 
As soon as I said finish strong he just left. 
Sprinted to the finish line.

It was amazing to see these kids accomplish this. 
To work so hard this season, and come this far, 
and get something out of it. 

This is why I want to continue to do this, 
to see the pain on their faces as they've still got a mile to go,
 and then to see the smiles as they cross the finish line.

The school saying is Simply be the Best. 
As I've thought more and more about that, 
I've realized there's nothing simple about being the best. 
To be the best takes hard work, good work, endurance, 
training, pushing yourself, learning... 

You can't just "simply" be the best, 
you have to work for it. 

Even though we didn't get first, 
even though the boys didn't place, 
they did the work. 
In my eyes they were the best.