Nervous

I am so excited and nervous!! I signed up yesterday for my first 5K! That's 3.2 miles for us Americans. After I got all signed up, the lady said she hadn't seen the course, but heard that it was hilly. Great! Could you have maybe mentioned that before I made out my check? Well, I'm stuck now. I think it will be fine. I run some hills anyway when I get to run outside because we live on the west side of town (which always makes me want to throw gang signs and say, "West siiiide!) which is pretty hilly. Now, the east side of town where the race will be is not hilly. I guess they found the only hill over there and decided to make us run it. Thanks. Appreciate ya. I called my friend Sheri for running advice since she has been running for years and has done several races, including marathons and half-marathons. She calmed me a bit. Gave me a pep talk. "Just take it slow, keep your pace and try not to get caught up in the whole race atmosphere and run too fast at the beginning." Thanks, Sheri! I hope I can remember that on Saturday. I don't need to win the thing, just finish it without walking and get my t-shirt! Vince says that if I can find someone to watch the kids on Saturday, he will run it with me. That would be nice to have someone to run it with. Whew! I have butterflies just blogging about it.

It's been interesting around here lately. Katie has been going to dance and giving her teacher trouble. I don't know what to do. At home, she does great. If I ask her to show me first position or an arabesque (I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that one!) she does it just fine. She tells us that she wants to go to class and learn to dance. But, get her in the dance studio and she completely ignores what the others are doing and ends up sitting against the wall. I talked to the owner and her teacher and they aren't sure what to do with her. The teacher gives out stickers to the girls who participate during class, but Katie could care less. Andrea, the owner, thinks maybe it's because it's her first structured class. I think the mirrors and stuff distract her. I told her that I was disappointed in her and made her go to her room when we got home, but I don't think that's the right thing to do because this is supposed to be a fun thing and I don't want to turn it into a stuggle. If it were Audrey, I would tell her that she has to finish this session and then if she doesn't want to do it again, fine. Katie's a little too young to understand that and I also don't want to be a burden to the dance teacher who has other kids in there to deal with. If we're paying by the month, why would I pay for her to go and sit against the wall? I've already paid for the recital costume (so adorable!) and hate to quit after the struggle we had getting her in the class to begin with. Not to mention the fact that the grandparents paid for this class and outfits for her birthday. Vince and I are thinking to give her another couple of weeks and then..?? Audrey has been wanting to take the class and she's the right age for this class. The outfit fits her, the leotard fits her, she knows the positions because she does it along with Katie. Should we ask if she can take Katie's place if her sister doesn't shape up? I welcome any comments, questions, and/or suggestions!! Maybe she's just still too young and we should try again next year. She's so emotional and dramatic (don't know where she gets that!) and it breaks my heart to see her upset when the teacher tells her to sit down because she's not following along. She's been so excited for this class for so long so I'm really perplexed as to why she does this.

We are making headway on the Yellowstone trip. We have decided to rent a tent camper. It's not that expensive and we will still get the experience of tent camping, just with a (kinda) real mattress and heat! Yay for common sense! We have also decided to take a short jaunt to Wisconsin over Easter to visit my family. My grandparents are not in the best health and we don't get to see them very often. I just got to thinking that they have never met Sam and haven't seen Katie since she was about 4 months old. I told Vince that I really should get over there to see them while they are still around. He agreed so we called my Aunt Kris and asked if we could stay with her. She said yes, so we are off somewhere around the 9th of April. Of course, as with anything involving my family, it can't be a simple, quick trip. My aunt wants to host an open-house kinda thing where any relatives that want to come visit with us can and that way we won't have to drive all over town trying to visit a million people in 2 days. My parents are planning to come too which means that they will not be visiting us in SD for Sam's 1st birthday, which means that they all want to do an early birthday party for him while we're there. My husband just rolls his eyes, grits his teeth and says, "Sure, honey." through his tight-lipped smile. Also, it was mentioned that my brother and his girlfriend and their new baby come too. I don't know if they are planning on it though. Vince is planning to make a trip to the public museum and zoo while we are there. And Audrey is VERY concerned that the Easter Bunny will not be able to find us if we are not at home, so we have to plan an egg hunt as well. We'll see how much of this actually gets done during the 2 or 3 days that we are there. And, once again we'll be trailing 3 beagles with us. Don't you envy me?

Well, I need to go fold come clothes and get some fabric ironed. I saw the cute little dresses that Cora's mom and granny were making for their Etsy website and decided that I could make those too! They look so darling and comfy. I was going to buy a couple for my girls from them, but they keep selling out their stock in a matter of minutes and I kept missing out. I have already made a couple and they just turned out so cute that I wanted to do some more. I know several people with new baby girls and thought I could make some for gifts too. I feel kinda bad ripping off their idea, but it's not a new thing. They are simple t-shirt dresses and I'm not competing with them by trying to sell them to anyone. Am I bad? Meanwhile, between sewing and running my house work has really suffered. HA! As if it weren't suffering before! Wish me luck and I'll be sure to let you all know how my race goes.