welcome to spiceland.

Tru has been running the 1 mile fun runs with me when Mike and I run in local 5Ks. She has gotten really good at it, and at age 5, she can run a mile in 12 minutes without stopping. Naturally, when her school announced a fun run fundraiser, she got really excited. The idea is that the kids will collect pledges, like $1 per lap or quarter-mile, and the day of the run how far she runs will determine the total donation to the school. The school is running this fundraiser themselves, so the school gets to keep 100% of the money they raise. This is especially important. The school is only in its second year of operation, so supply stores and book inventories are low, and budget cuts have hurt all the schools around here as well.

Even worse, I haven’t collected any pledges yet, and Tru is getting discouraged. Her classmates are bringing in pledges, and she’s not! Because of this, I am calling on all of her family members to donate $1 per quarter-mile so that she feels like she has contributed to her school. It will cost you a total of $4, and Tru will have a sense of accomplishment not only for running 1 mile, but also for helping her school in this time of need.

Please respond and donate $4 to Tru’s school! She’ll be so appreciative of it, and I know she’ll feel so good about running for her school.

We had lots of fun last weekend in Hot Springs, AR with Papa and Nana! It was Heidi’s first time on the lake and Tru’s second. Tru caught three fish with Papa and went tubing with Nana. Mike and I water skiied for the first time ever. Mike was much better at it than me. He stood up 2 out of 3 times. I tried 10+ times and only got up 3 or 4 times. Nana was a pro. Heidi was thrilled with the ducks and still keeps asking to feed them. She says, “Dut? Dut?” Mike has video that may go up here later, but for now, you will have to make do with the pictures.

Today is Heidi’s birthday! She is one year old. I can’t believe it’s been a year since she was born. She’s 23 pounds now. She’s standing. She can say “Mama,” “Daddy,” “baba” (bottle), “chee” (Cheerios), and “bye-bye.” She can sign “more” and “up.” We’re working on “drink,” “down,” “good,” and “food.” She loves to shake her head at us when we say “No!”

We had Heidi’s birthday “party” on Saturday. Mallory, Ryan, Mark, Georgia Elizabeth, and Anna came over, and we had lots of fun and cupcakes! Heidi enjoyed her cake, after I resorted to feeding her with a spoon! She did not like being dirty. Pictures are available here.