Jaden Stone

Last week I wrote about Greyson.  Today is Jaden's turn...

I love your gentle spirit.  It's something I have always admired about you.  You soak in each situation and truly get to know people.  You notice things about others I don't simply because you are paying attention.  You listen to understand, not to respond.  It's an amazing gift you have little man.

I love that you ask for coffee cake for your birthday EVERY single year.  With a dairy allergy we have to be careful, but I know there are other things we could make.  It doesn't matter.  This is your favorite and you stick with it.  This year we switched it up a bit and did coffee cake cupcakes....we're wild like that, right?!  Ha!

I love that you willingly (and enthusiastically) share your family birthday party with your brother every single year.

 I love the intensity of your face when you are concentrating on something...

I loved that you practiced diligently for your Kindergarten Musical, but never shared one little tiny part of it with us before the performance.  I know you had to have been singing those songs in your SLEEP....but you never slipped and sang in front of us.  You wanted it to be a surprise and I was SO SO proud of you.

I love your love for your teacher this year....and her love for you.  If I could bottle that up and give it to you every single year I would.  

I love watching you run.  You are a good runner and a FAST runner.  I loved that after the Sunburst 5k (which you amazed all of us at) you said to me, "Mommy, I really like running.  A lot.  I want to run with you more often!"  Music to my ears.

I love that you let Greyson just hang on you.  You never get tired of it...you never push him away.  You are gentle and kind to him.  He won't forget that.

I love that you love bubble baths!

I love that your tongue sticks out when you are concentrating on writing.

It blows my mind that you seem to know more about electronics than I do....

Oh my word...I can't tell you how much I loooooove that you are missing teeth.  That toothless grin gets me every time.

I love that you and Daddy have "boys nights" where you eat wings (because that's what BOYS DO!!!) and hang out together...just the two of you.  

I love to watch you deep in thought.  Your deepest feelings and thoughts amaze and inspire me...

 I love that you enjoyed dressing up for every single event at school that you could.  Eva was always embarrassed to dress up for the silly days....not you.  You EMBRACE it!!!!

You are honestly the best big brother ever.  You guide and teach Greyson daily.  Sometimes I truly think you have more patience than I do and I often watch you with awe.

 I love that you are willing to try new things....new foods, snowboarding, inflatable bubble....you are always game.  On top of that, you usually do it with so much excitement I can't help but smile while watching you.

I love you little man.  I love the person you are ...and the person I see you becoming.  You inspire me.

Greyson Steel

Every so often do a post that simply lists what I love about each of my particular children at that exact time.  Children change so often I love to celebrate who they are NOW.  I want to remember these days.  Today is Greyson's turn.  Here are some things I love about Greyson right now...

I love that you love Mickey Mouse, or as you call is "Ma-Mouse"!!!  Turning that cartoon on for you is really one of the only times during the day that you seem to be still.  You sing along with the songs and say, "Oh Toooooodles!!!" when Toodles comes out from hiding.  The Hot Dog Dance is your very favorite!  When Eva and Jaden were in school we would see them off and then snuggle up in bed to watch Mickey Mouse.  You still will ask me to "nuggle" when watching it.....melts this mama's heart.

I love that when I rock you to sleep and sing Mommy's Little Boy to you (to the tune of Daddy's Little Girl) you sing along with me.  You know many of the words, but my favorite is when I say, "you're sugar, your spice..." and you get excited and say, "PICE!!!!!!!"

You are a BIG eater!  While a friend was babysitting you she felt bad, but she finally had to tell you that you had had enough to eat....you had ate 3 adult size pieces of pizza!!

You are NEVER at a loss for words.  Running errands with you is COMPLETELY different than running errands with Eva and Jaden when they were your age.  They would sit quietly in the cart.  You have something to say about EVERYTHING!!

If you wake up before your brother you stand up in your crib and yell across the room, "JJ!!  UP!!!!!"....I am sure he loooooves it.  Haha!

I love the way you tilt your head to once side when you are asking a question.

You looove to play with bubbles!

You are obsessed with the song, "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.  If we are in the car you sit in the backseat yelling, "ET IT GOOOOOOO!" until someone turns on the song for you.  Again, you know many of the words and can sing along!!

You love to run and race.  One of your favorite activities is for me to say, "Ready, set, GO!" and you race to a certain point and then back again.

You have been taking swimming lessons and you LOVE them.  At the end of the lesson they sit you on a big raft and sing a goodbye song to you.  You love this song and often sing, "Bye Bye Greyson" on your own.

I love the way you put your finger up to your ear and make a surprised face when you hear something that intrigues you.

You still love Elmo!

You love to see buses and contruction equipment!  If you happen to see a big tractor you get REALLY excited and say, "Biiiiiiiig Tac-tor!!!!"  When we would take Eva and Jaden to school you would about come out of your seat over the excitement of seeing school buses!

Every time we are in the remote vicinity of Taco Bell you shout out, "TACO!!"  What cracks me up is that sometimes we are a few streets away from it, but you KNOW where it is!!  You also notice Taco Bells as we are driving, even if it's in an area we have never been before.

We recently gave you your first popsicle.  You loooved it.  Now if you notice the kiddos eating one you will ask for a "pop-ce-cle"

I love how your run up to Daddy with your hands in little fists and ask him to "ES-TEL"  (wrestle)

I recently came home from a morning run and went to make my smoothie.  I looked down and you were handing me the cup I usually make my smoothie in!!  Such a smart little boy!

You repeat EVERYTHING.  Eva often says, "Come on!!" when she is being silly.  Recently we were gathered at the table ready to say prayer before a meal.  We were holding hands in a circle and waiting for Jaden to join us.  Without missing a beat you looked at Jaden and said, "COME ON!!!!!!!  Needless to say, we all about died laughing.

I love that you call the vacuum cleaner a "Boo-ja"

I love that you seem to love monkeys....or "unkie" as you call it.

We love YOU little man....everything you are and everything you aspire to be!!

RACE DAY.

5 months of training.

Early morning alarms....5:00...4:45...

Training in snow.

Training in rain.

Training on ice.

Training in heat.

Saturday morning looooooong runs....every. single. saturday.

Sore Muscles.

Complete and utter exhaustion.

It all came down to this....

RACE DAY.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

To say I was excited would be an understatement.

I had worked SO HARD for this.

The day was beautiful, but also warm.  I'm not a girl that loves running in a lot of heat.  I quickly learned at water stations to drink a cup, and dump a cup on my body.  It helped maintain my body temperature.

The course was quite hilly and I didn't have a lot of training experience on hills.  Regardless, I pushed through.  

My goal was to RUN the ENTIRE 13.1 miles.

It took me 2 and a half hours....but I DID IT.

Here are a few picture of the day:

Early morning picture before our races started!  Matt ran the 5k with Eva and Jaden.  BOTH kiddos did amazingly well and ran the entire course!

My running partner Traci and I as we headed to the finish line!

One of my favorite pictures from the whole day....as I ran towards the finish line I saw Isaac's mom cheering us on from the sidelines.  I reached out to grab her hand.  The only time all day I got teary-eyed.

My other sister in running!!  Jill and I also trained together!  Her drive and endurance amazed and inspired me.  Notice our medals??  We joked that we were never taking them off.  We worked WAY too hard for them!!!

Our good friend Sam finished his first MARATHON!!  Amazing!

An amazing weekend.

An experience I'll never forget.