Catching UP

I am desperately trying to catch up on the blog before our summer vacationing starts. I have been caught up with our daily life and blogging has taken a back burner for a little while. It is amazing how much has happened these past few weeks. This post is just a bunch of disjointed thoughts I have and some random updates on what has been "Going on At the Glenn's." The photos in this post are a bit of a lesser quality that I usually put up but that has been my life these past few weeks. I have been too busy to mess with Photoshop or play with lighting. A couple were even taken with my phone. But hey at least I am posting!

We are definitely in the "end of school rush." Life seems to have sped up. This month seems as though someone has held the fast-forward button down on the remote.

Speaking of fast forwarding... I have ran two 5K races this month and am doing a third this coming weekend. That has got to be a record! The last one I did was the Berry Run for our local strawberry festival that we have every year. I was able to beat my time from Lauren's 5K that I did by a whole minute! Here's a shot of Marie and I at that race.

I have been teaching Zumba classes Friday mornings and am going to be starting Tuesday mornings as well, per the requests of my students. Looking forward to a leaner me and am already seeing results. I was even complimented today by a friend at church on how I am looking skinnier! YAY! I have also been asked to substitute teach for a friend of mine who is also a zumba instructor. Nothing beats getting paid to exercise! (I'm saving up to buy a kitchen aid mixer) The paddles for the Bosch one I have broke and all I have left is my dough hook. Not very helpful for making cookies or frosting, that's for sure).

Emma is a full fledged walker now. Gone is the Emma scoot. I sort of miss those days. But it is kind of nice not having to spray and wash the bum of every pair of pants she wears anymore.

The kids are at the end of their swimming lessons for the month. It will be nice to take Saturday mornings a little slower once school is out. But it has been nice to have a set plan on Saturday mornings. It makes the day feel more productive. Once School is out it is really going to be a challenge for me to come up with things to keep us all busy.

The weather here is bumming me out! I am really getting depressed. It is the end of June and it is still acting like fall. It has been in the lower to mid 60's and raining since Feburary! Enough already! I am seriously rusting! I am sooo looking forward to our trip to Boise in a couple weeks. There it has been in the upper 80's and even 90's AND they have SUN! I can't wait! I vow I will never paint ANYTHING grey in this house. I can't stand the color!

The days we did have sun Dan and I were able to mix and pour our own concrete pavers around the garden boxes. We are just about finished. We just need to get some sand to level out some ground and set the individual bricks in between each garden box. Here's a pic of the individual bricks Dan and I made one of those evenings. Can I just say ouch! My knees and back still ache just looking at this picture. I believe it was about 129 bricks total.

I was almost hired to do a Thomas the Train birthday cake for a friend this last week. Yes I said "almost." I was so excited I couldn't wait to start!. Unfortunately she called and cancelled on me that same day... Too bad I had already baked the cake. Needless to say I made it anyway. It became our Father's Day cake. I added "we love Dad" on the back. We ate some tonight for dessert. mmmm cake. Here are some progressive shots of it.

I really hope the weather gets nicer soon. I want to be able to go pick strawberries with the family this year. It has become a tradition and this year Emma is old enough to set down and let wander and eat the berries while we pick. One of my favorite photo opportunities of the year!

Tomorrow is Kiera's end of the year field trip to Kayak Point. I really hope the weather is nice. I will be taking Emma and Ethan with me and I really don't like the idea of spending $7 to park and sit in the rain. But at the same time she only graduates from Kindergarten once.

Pillowcase Inspired Boys Room Canvas Tutorial

This week I decided to get around to decorating Ethan's room. I promised him I'd do something for his room when I was making the silhouettes for the girl's room. I have had the idea of what I wanted to do for a long time. It was just a matter of getting around to it.
I bought some more 12X12 canvases at the craft store with a 40% off coupon the other day with the intent of finishing this project for Ethan's room. But life happened and that bag of blank canvases sat and stared at me for another 2 weeks before I got around to it. But I am happy to say that today it is finished!

I took step by step pictures in case any of you would like to see how it was done and could re-create the process for a similar project.

Step One: inspiration came from Ethan's bedding. We decided on 3 images to copy and went for it.

Step Two: prepared the work surface and gathered all the needed supplies

Step Three: Paint base coat on all 3 canvases making sure to do the edges as well

Step Four: After paint dried I took a pencil and freehand drew the images I wanted on the canvases and then painted them accordingly. I kept Ethan's pillowcase nearby for reference. (sorry no in progress photos here. I was in the zone)

Step Five: Now step back and admire your work. And wait so ever patiently for the buggers to dry so you can hang them up!

Step Six: Attach sawtooth hangers on the backs of your canvases with a hammer and grab some nails, a level, and a stool (or in my case just stand on your son's bed) and hang your custom artwork.

 Lovin it! Sorry this is not the best picture. The room was a total wreck. They really do look great with the bed made and toys put away and the curtains drawn up. Perfect for a home and garden's magazine photo shoot. (...who am I kidding. The room is never like that and they still look great!)
Ethan loves them, and is happy to finally  have something fun hanging on his walls.

Oh the Places Cheerios Go

It has finally happened. I was checking my e-mail and my little man Ethan comes over to me with the saddest poutiest lip I have ever seen. I asked him what was wrong and he didn't answer. I asked him again and told him I wouldn't be able to help him unless he told me what was wrong.
I've heard horror stories from other moms on this topic and always thought to myself "WOW, I hope that never happens to me." Well what happened next was that something I had hoped would never happen to me.
In his squeaky, quiet as a mouse voice, he told me it was because he had cheerios in his nose. !!!! WHAT? Are they still there? Where? Both Sides? !!! Panic! What to do what to do?!

Luckily it was only on one side and I was able to help him hold one side closed while he blew that cheerio out onto the floor. Whew! So today's lesson....Cheerios don't belong in noses.

5K for Lauren Hammond

 This past Saturday I ran another 5K! The event was to benefit my friend Lauren who battled with breast cancer. I am SOOO happy to say that she is now FINISHED with all her treatments! She did it, is now on the survivor side and is doing awesome! All the proceeds from the race went to help Lauren and her family pay the medical bills she's accrued during her journey with Breast Cancer. It was a lot of fun and my very good friend Marie ran it with me. She and I have been getting ready for another 5K we are running this upcoming weekend too and thought this race would not only be good to help our friend Lauren but it would be a good practice run for this weekend.

The weather was off and on rain all morning, it was cold, gray and all together yucky. It was a bit of a push to get there but when you go with a friend you tend to motivate each other to tough it out.  My friend Marie was just that somebody too. So glad she went with me. She keeps me going.

My goal this time was to beat Marie. She and I ran the Berry Run 5K last summer (I had just had Emma 3 months prior) and she beat me then. So this time I had to change that.  The competitive side of me took over at the end of the race and I was tired of staring at her back for every single mile lap we took. I decided at the last leg to sprint at the end and I beat her by less than 2 seconds! She claims she was waiting for me but I don't want to believe her :) I love this girl! She is my bestest buddy. She calls me during the day just to see what I'm up to, she's my 9:00p.m. shopping buddy,  going out for ice cream or a stroll through WalMart at 11:00 at night partner in crime. She's also who I vent to when things are crazy and I need someone to cry on. I love her and don't know what I'd do without her.

Here's a shot of us before the race sporting our pink sweatshirts and our "Lauren's Warriors" t-shirts.

 And here's the after. I look pathetic. My face was redder than cherry koolaid! But man it felt good and I knocked 3 whole minutes off my time from last year! 33:41. AND I beat Marie ( I love you Marie). AND get this! Apparently I came in 3rd in the women's division. Got to love that! There wasn't that many of us (maybe 15?) but hey I placed, and that is something I never thought I'd do.

Wish us luck for our race this weekend. I sure hope it doesn't rain on us. I sure would like some real summer weather. This Fall type stuff is really bumming me out.

Ethan's Preschool Graduation

Ethan Graduated from preschool yesterday. Mind you he still has another year of preschool before he heads to Kindergarten, but this year is finished! I think I've mentioned before that we participate in a preschool co-op where us moms rotate weeks of teaching. I did it with Kiera and so I just kept going with it when it was Ethan's turn. However, I don't think I will continue with it next year. Lets just say, I am a bit burnt out from it. It is a lot of work to have extra little ones running around while trying to make sure Emma gets what she needs. Especially when not all the kids mesh well together (or with my patience supply) when they are here. I'm just being honest. I think I might be enrolling Ethan in a local preschool come fall. Mommy will be happy and I think he'll be happier too.

I am am so proud of this little guy. He has grown so much this past year and he even gives his sister a run for her money from time to time. Love you Ethan!