My first 'half' -- Ooh, Rah!

This past Sunday, I reached a milestone: my first half-marathon. For those of you who know me (or have been keeping up with my blog), I started a marathon training program in July with the hopes of completing the Chevron Houston Marathon in January (and still be standing after it was over!). Well, I have been lucky enough to be introduced to my first actual races through this program: a 5-miler, a 10-miler this past month and most recently the half-marathon. Since I am a born worrier (I'd worry about nothing if I could do it--in fact I think I have!), I've been worried about how I'd do on Sunday's race, "would I be able to complete the half without my knee pain flaring up?", "would I know where to park, where to go, etc.", even "would I be able to make it to the starting line without catching my daughter's cold?". Well, all my questions were answered as usual before Sunday (thank you God) and I made it to the starting line. The weather was perfect except for the cool temperatures in the morning. I think it was in the low 50's (my father in Missouri would be laughing at this one--weather is soooo relative, isn't it?) but once I got going, I felt great. After a hard run up and down the hills of Allen Parkway (again, so relative, isn't it?) I ran across the finish line.

Here's me with my race medal. My knees were aching, but I still got my race "bling".

Here's me with the 'fam'. You can definitely tell the kids had just gotten up. Jason had just got them out of bed to come see mommy finish her race. I'm not sure if the kids saw me or not, but Layton kept telling me, "Mommy, I proud of you". My family always make my heart smile.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who supports me in everything I do. Not only does he support and encourage me in all my running endeavors by coming to my races and watching the kids so I can do my training runs, he is my No. 1 fan at home. I am so thankful for his support, because without him I wouldn't be able to accomplish many of my life goals. I don't know what I have done in my life to end up with such a wonderful man, but I thank God every day for it! I am truly blessed.

The Great Outdoors

This past weekend, the family and I headed out to spend a weekend in 'The Great Outdoors' (a.k.a. Huntsville State Park) with some of our nearest (and not so near) and dearest friends. Of course, we almost didn't make it due to my dear husband's last-minute food poisoning (that's a whole other story), but luckily, we made it safe and sound to the park on Friday night as promised. Here's a rundown of our fun camping weekend in pictures (of course!)

Here's what we got to wake up each morning. Peaceful, isn't it?

It was so cold the first night and morning, that my dear husband had to 'wear' his blanket. Let's just say the guys got a good laugh out of this one!


Here's Ashlyn and her friend, Haleigh, enjoying the outdoors. Ashlyn is such a cut-up, I wonder where she gets it from? Hmmmm.....


Here's Layton and Jason taking a little afternoon nap in our shelter. They look so cozy, don't they?

Here's my dear friends in our 'Camping Diva' shirts. You didn't think that just because we were out in the wilderness, we couldn't look cute??!!!


Here's a picture of all our kids. If you look closely enough, you can see all the dirt on their little faces. Oh, to be a kid again...



Here I am roasting marshmallows with the kids for our s'mores. Poor Layton kept dragging his marshmallows in the dirt after he roasted them, so we had to do his twice. (Good thing, we had the chocolate from the previous s'mores to eat until we could get the marshmallows roasted!)


The Stansell family sitting down for a picture. I don't even think I noticed that the kids weren't sitting still for this picture until after I saw it. Oh well, one of these days we'll get a good family picture.


We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends to do things like this with. It was definitely a fun time had by all! Now, back to the daily grind...Until next time!

Wordless Wednesday

"Do, Re, Mi..."

On a recent trip to the library, I picked up a cd in the children's section, entitled 'A Child's Celebration of Showtunes'. On this particular cd, it featured classic songs from the original cast recordings of a variety of Broadway shows. 'The Sound of Music', 'Fiddler on the Roof', 'The King and I' are just some of the shows that it featured. I was in heaven! As the song 'Do, Re, Mi' came on, I could just picture Maria Von Trapp singing with the Von Trapp children as they were picnicking by the Alps. Oh, how those movie scenes made me wish I was one of the Von Trapp children (okay, maybe not a Von Trapp in real-life since the Nazi's were taking over Austria at that time, but you get the picture...) All those songs made me revisit my old love of movie musicals. (Is there anyone on the planet who does not like 'The Sound of Music'?)




Speaking of movie musicals, I happened to come across another great movie musical, 'Grease' as I was flipping through the channels the other night. One of my all-time favorites! I knew all the songs of 'Grease' like the back of my hand! 'Grease' was one of my mother's favorite movies when I was a child and I grew up singing all of the songs like they were nursery rhymes. In fact, my sister, Jackie, and I made a tape recording when we were preschool age of 'You're the one that I want' from the movie (if only we knew what we were singing!) I think Jackie and I both wanted to be Sandy in the movie (of course, who wouldn't want to look as great as she did at the end of the movie and end up with John Travolta!) Anyhoo...(back to my train of thought--sorry about that) I forgot just how much I loved watching movies like those and singing along with all of the songs. Of course, my beloved husband, Jason, would have to disagree with me on some of my movie tastes (he cannot stand 'Grease' or 'Annie', two of my all time faves!) But I just love 'em!


'Grease', 'Annie', 'My Fair Lady', and 'The Sound of Music' are some of my all time faves! What are some of your favorite movie musicals?

Harvey

This past Friday, Jason and I had the opportunity to see the play, 'Harvey', at the Pasadena Little Theatre. What made the play so special was that Jason's mom, Glenda, had a part in it. Since it was opening night, we took the kids up to the play as well. Let's just say that's when the "fear" set in...After we sat down, the director got up and made an announcement for everyone to "turn their cell phones and pagers off and to stay seated until intermission since the actors would be going in and out of the entrance doors". (Can you see the sweat start beading up on my forehead?!) Needless to say, thanks to some snacks (thank goodness for goldfish!) and yes, some good behavior on the kids' parts, we made it through the first Act of the play without any loud tantrums or screaming. Despite the 'fear' of the kids misbehaving during the play, the first Act was really good! It was also very touching for the kids to see their 'Mamie' acting in a play. The kids were so excited to see her when she came out and were so quiet the whole time she was performing. At the end of the play, Ashlyn told us that she wanted to reach out and hug her, but that she couldn't reach her. How sweet is that?! I'm just so glad that the kids got to see her in a different setting, not just as their 'Mamie', but as Glenda, doing something that she loves.

If you want to catch a great play, 'Harvey' is running through until the last weekend in October. Check it out--you'll enjoy it!

Do you have some 'memorable' experiences at shows/theaters with your kids? I'd love to hear 'em!

Wordless Wednesday

"The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down..."

No, I'm not going to start singing this Disney song (this was in Bambi, right?!) but for some reason, this song popped in my head as I was thinking about Saturday morning. Unfortunately, unlike most people's Saturdays where they get to sleep in until noon--I got to get up at my usual time (before the crack of dawn--otherwise known as 5:00 am) to go meet my running club for my long-distance run. I stumbled sleepily out the door, drove to our usual meeting place at the Clear Lake High School (yes, I drove there right after I "stumbled sleepily" out the door--scary, isn't it?), stepped out of the car to meet my running group and then the heavens opened up. As I was kicking myself for not staying in bed, I thought to myself, "Is there a way I can discreetly sneak away to my car without the rest of my group knowing?" "Is my running group going to think I'm a wimp?" But before I had a chance to think any further and debate my future social standing in my group, our group's organizer, Angie, spoke over the loudspeaker--"What are you going to do today? What if it is raining on marathon day? What are you going to do then? Not do it?! You have a choice..." Well, my choice was to run my scheduled 9-mile run in the rain (a.k.a. torrential downpour). I'll have to say I was miserable--spitting the rain out of my mouth, stepping in puddle after puddle, and using my hands as windshield wipers to wipe the rain out of my eyes, but...I did it! No one can stop me now! I'm strong! I'm invincible! Now, if only I don't catch pneumonia...

A Tribute to Lily (1946-2005)

The end of September was the 2nd anniversary of my mother’s death and I wanted to take the opportunity to write about her--the mom I knew that not a lot of people did. My mother was born and raised on a small island in the Philippines and she used to tell me the most interesting stories about growing up. She told me about how a boy on the island used to jump out from behind her and scare her on her walk to school, so she told me that one day she took a knife and hid it in her clothes, and as she put it, “he never bothered me again”. Or her story about how she unknowingly worked for the black market out of college and how she was kidnapped and the CIA got involved. Her most poignant story was about how she was (7 years old?) at the time and was told to watch the dinner cooking while her older brother took care of the house and her other siblings (she was one of ten!) while her mother was just recovering from giving birth and how their hut and everything in it was set on fire and they lost everything. She did tell me about how my grandmother and grandfather never blamed her or said anything to her again about it and just rebuilt it and went on. (I guess after that story, nothing my kids do should ever matter that much either!) When she was a teenager, she was a nanny for a US couple and came to the States back in the Civil Rights times and she would tell me about how she felt being of a different color than most. When she was a teenager, both her parents had died, so when she married my dad she came over to this country by herself, parentless. Every known soul, except my dad was still in the Philippines. She made me see just how strong and daring she was and how she lived a life of adventure. She was strong, independent and bold, and she didn’t care what people thought. She always spoke her mind, so what you saw was what you got. My mother was a larger-than-life personality for her 4’11” frame. The only word I could use to describe my mom was ‘over-the-top’. She was a fireball and I honestly grew up thinking she was not afraid of anyone or anything.
On the contrary, she was also a very kind, hospitable woman, who never met a stranger. She was very social and could strike up a conversation with anybody from off the street and invite them to our home. She loved to have people over after church and would cram our house full just to enjoy their company. She was a terrific cook and she always cooked enough for an army, even though there were only four of us.
She was a very extravagant lady and she loved to shop. She loved ‘bling’, not the costume jewelry, but the real stuff. I think she could have hocked her jewelry collection and bought a small country, considering how extensive it was. She always joked that she would ‘come back and haunt my dad’s second wife’ if he remarried if he ever gave her any of my mom’s old jewelry. You would think it was funny, except for the serious look in her eyes! If anyone could come back as a ghost, my mom would because if she said it she meant it!
She loved to learn knew things. She cooked, she sewed, she played the guitar, and she even took piano lessons herself for awhile. She also took small engine repair classes to learn to fix our lawnmower, and upholstery. She even refinished our antique baby grand piano by hand. She loved music and she sang and played the guitar—she was even in the church singing group, ‘Sweet Adelines’ when I was a girl. She taught me about commitment. She made me stay with piano lessons for 12 years. By doing that she taught me that with commitment, things pay off. She taught me that I can’t live a life just doing things halfway.
She was a stay-at-home mom when I was little, selling Mary Kay on the side, but she decided that one day she would get a job. She didn’t want just any job, but a good-paying job for the Postal Service that she saw in an ad. So, with no experience, she studied for and took the Postal Exam and almost made a perfect score! She eventually became a Supervisor in the USPS in downtown St. Louis. She was always so proud of that story.
She worked nights for many years so that my sister and I could go to college. She was a tough, little lady and she took care of herself. She always stressed independence and practicality with us. She wanted us to be doctors, lawyers, because she thought we could be those things. Also, she always wanted us to be able to support ourselves, with or without a husband, because as she had been shown in her life that life did not always go the way you had planned.
I see her so differently now than I did when I was a kid. Now I see what great strength she had and determination to make it for herself and her family in another place, away from anything familiar. She was very determined and whatever she set her mind to, she did. She was so proud of me and my sister and my kids (Ashlyn & Layton—she loved you so much!!) and loved to brag about us all the time. I could spend pages writing about her, but I just wanted you to have a little glimpse into the person I called mom.
She taught me not to be afraid, stand up for what you think is right--no matter how big or scary someone or something is. That you can accomplish anything that you want to in life. That you are stronger than you think you are and to not take for granted the people in your life right now. To always do the right thing. When things are hard to suck it up, put on a brave face and get right back out there—that’s the way she always lived her life and I’m proud to say that I am her daughter! Mom, may God hold you in his loving arms until we meet again someday.

For those of you out there who have lost your mothers--fight to keep their memory alive so that your children and grandchildren know them. And for all of you out there who still have moms living on this earth--don't forget to tell them you love and appreciate them. Don't wait until its too late.

May God bless all our mothers out there.