Family Time

With each day, I appreciate more and more the time we get to spend as a family.  We have been so blessed that in the last 7 months, we have not had to spend more than a few days from one another.  This has been the first year that we have been able to go to the lake more than once, visit family while they are camping, or just play in the yard.  These boys have been so happy to have more time with both of their parents and we have felt the same.  Oh and seriously how cute is the necklace that Luke made himself?!

One of the biggest changes we have made as a family is that we are more active in our church.  Jeff is an active deacon and it is so wonderful that he is able to go and assist when he is called upon to do so.  Our church family is such a blessing to us.  We are also extremely grateful for the leadership that our pastor and his wife provide to our family.  He has been Jeff's pastor for 29 wonderful years and I am thankful for the messages he has brought that have obviously impacted the man Jeff is today.  In a few weeks, I will have the pleasure of teaching Sunday School to the 2-3 year old kids and on Wednesday nights, I will be teaching the 3-4 year olds.

On a side not, I absolutely love this little chair so if any of my crafty friends want to use their skills and make me one, I would be ever so grateful.

Running and Weight loss Battle

Well my weight loss battle continues and I am now realizing that it will be a lifelong struggle and require lifelong changes.  As a family, we have been working on getting healthy.  Jeff has started working out and I of course have continued to run.  I also started participating in a new physical and spiritual challenge my brother-in-law created on Facebook

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The boys love when we do exercises in the house and I could resist this precious picture of Evan stretching.

  

This is my picture after running 5.5 miles.  It is almost unreal to me that I can type that I ran that far.  I still managed a smile and it felt awesome to complete.



Sweet Luke always wants to life weights like Jeff.  It is too precious.



Evan wanted to be just like me so he put on one of my headbands and we headed out to the garage from my run.  It is so funny to me that the boys love to sit in the hot garage and watch me run.

As of today I have ran 191.1 miles in the last year.  I am so excited that this week I will break the 200 mile mark.  

And here are a few more of the runs I have completed over the past week and a half.  So back to my weight loss struggle.  I have gained 20 lbs back since I reached my lowest weight.  In my life, I deal with stress in two ways : run and eat.  Sadly, I do more eating than I can burn off by running.  I am hopeful that I can get this habit under control and I started again today counting calories.  This type of diet plan has worked in the past; however, it is much slower than my typical don't eat carbs diet.  Wish me luck!

Luke begins Kindergarten

Our family has been so busy lately because Luke started Kindergarten.  When I thought about my future as a mother, I always thought my kids would be at whatever school I taught at.  Given the wonderful opportunity I have been given to become a Special Education Supervisor, I realized that would not be the case.  So, I became a normal mom who would be sending their child off to a place I was unfamiliar with and would not have daily contact with.  I am happy to report, that I did not cry while dropping him off at class the first 

We were so excited when we began receiving text messages showing us that Luke's class made the newspaper.   

He was so excited to see himself in the paper and he kept looking to see if there were more pictures somewhere.

I am happy to report, that I did not cry while dropping him off at class the first day.  He on the other hand became very attached to me and cried.  That was extremely hard on both of us.  I honestly thought he would just run right in there and never think a thing about it but I was wrong.  I know Luke is shy (until he gets to know you), but he has always went easily to babysitters and Sunday School. 

He was so shy, I had to bribe him to take a picture with his teacher.  It's very exciting to think that his future is so bright and that by the end of this year he will be reading.  As an educator, it is so exciting to see the growth and now as a mom I get to share in those joys in a whole new manner.



Just another picture of Luke about to walk into his classroom for the first time and begin the next 13 years of his education at this school.  We are now on our second week and Luke is starting to settle in.  I think he likes to talk alot which probably gets him into a little trouble.  But, overall he seems to be picking up on what he is being taught.



Evan also started going to daycare for the first time ever.  He has been with the same babysitter since he was 6 weeks old.  It was hard to let him go but he has done wonderfully and never cried a bit.  His teacher says he is so calm and well behaved. It makes his mommy so proud!

Catch up post

Well I have fallen terribly behind on my blog.  We have been very busy with sleep overs and all things summer.

The boys spent a weekend with Killion, Dalton and the boys.  My kiddos have missed them so much!

I went with a group of ladies from church to watch Girls Night Out.  It was so great and also had a good Christian message.

I have been helping in nursery and Sunday school for the past few weeks.  I enjoy getting to serve The Lord in this way.

We enjoyed some time at the lake with family.

The boys have played outside so much and have the cutest little farmer tans.

Typically wrestling match in the floor!

Redneck pool shade.  The kids had a blast but I think we need a bigger pool.

Just another wrestling match in the Benton house.

A little front yard baseball game.  I love having a yard big enough to play ball in.