From man-to-man to a zone

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure most of you know this by now, but I know I haven't been able to talk to everyone. Carl and I are expecting our third child :) I am almost 3 1/2 months along, and the baby is due May 3rd. Since I know I will be having yet another C-Section, they will probably schedule delivery for the very end of April, since delivery is usually set around 39 weeks.

I'm am excited to be into my second trimester! Although it could have been much worse, I'm glad the all-day nausea, constant hunger, and feeling like I need a nap 24/7 is over!! :)

Everyone is very excited about the idea of another addition to the family. Jocie is excited to by a big sister again, and of course Ella is looking forward to having a "real" baby in the house. We have also decided not to find out the sex of the baby early. So, unfortunately, you won't know until we know on the actual birthday.

Carl and I are also very excited, but also a tad nervous. Three kids seems like a lot more than two.....I know that sounds weird, but to us it makes sense. One of Carl's friends told him having the third child is like going from a man-to-man defense (in basketball) to a zone defense. Because now the kids out number the parents, so you need to know how to cover them all :) We liked this analogy, and now feel that we're up for the challenge!

Annual TC Kid's Marathon

This weekend was the annual Twin Cities Kid's Marathon in St. Paul. Since the first week of school, I have been training some of my fifth grade students to participate in a 5K, 1 mile, or 1/2 mile race. This year, I had 11 kids come down (4 participated in the 5K, 5 in the 1 mile, and 2 in the 1/2 mile). I made sure to get all my runners up to the very front of the pack at the starting line. While at the starting line, we were interview twice! Once by the race official (over the loud speaker!!), and once by Diana Pierce herself (Kare 11 news woman who sponsors the event) All my students did incredibly well in there races (thanks to my training of course)! One of my students actually ran the 1 mile race in 5.48 minutes and got 3rd over-all out of over 1,000 kids participating (WOW)!!

Carl, Jocie, and Ella also participated. Carl and Jocie ran the 1 mile race. I was so proud to see Jocie running super hard through the finish line. She also did an awesome job and finished the race in 7 minutes! Ella participated in the Toddler Trot :) As soon as "go" was heard, she was off like a shot, and looked as if she got 3rd place out of all the 3-year-olds. I always get a kick out of watching how serious some of the parents of the toddlers can be....scary (probably future stage parents...yikes).

We had a beautiful day, with beautiful surroundings of the State Capitol and the St. Paul Cathedral. The day was a lot of fun and a huge PINEWOOD Elementary success!