Celebrating Matthew

Hey All. There are a lot of updates I owe you. A lot of things have happened. Weather has changed, the kids have gotten taller, our internet is rubbish, Matthew got in a bike wreck, but I haven't the time for all those things. Here's what I need to talk about: my fiance is an old man. That's right I said it. He turned a whopping 24 years old on Saturday, right smack dab in between Earth Day and that other infamous holiday in which illegal things are done that of course I know nothing about because I've never known anybody that ever did anything illegal, especially drugs. I've just heard of the day from those rogue ne'erdowells over back in England, and of course, Amsterdam.

So what did we do? Well, since it wasn't on either day, we didn't take part in either festivities. No illegal substance consumed, no trees planted. We did, however, have a big ole day of fun-filled adventures!

Originally, the plan was to do some more fishing like we did last Saturday.

That wasn't an option, though, because the weather was disgustipating. So, instead, Matthew told me he wanted to run his first 5k in 8 months. Sure, why not? Mr. Muscles and the family all drove down to Dyer
School and stood out in the frigidity. Lara seems to be lacking a lot in coordination these days...when Matt picked her up from Granddaddy's house on Thursday, she had a huge gash on her leg from falling down the stairs. Then on Saturday she tripped at the 5k and got a bloody nose and skinned her knee, ripping her jeans. She hasn't quite figured out that when you're as delicate as a china doll, ya can't run around like a sumo wrestler. Oh well, it only looks a little bit like her father beats her, and I'm sure anyone that knows Matthew knows that's not the case.

So how did he do? 2nd in his age group, which I say is not half bad given his herniated disc and pinched nerve and he hasn't run at all since September. Not bad at all my friend, not bad. Although I have been keeping him in shape and on his toes since February when he started chasing me all over the place to try and tickle me. Apparently the squeals are cute, and by cute I think he means torturous and I'm not responsible for any injuries inflicted. I'm a pretty quick little whippersnapper, so he's got to be fast to keep up with me. I also always wear socks if I'm inside, so I can slip around the hardwood floors that he sticks to in bare feet. Mwahaha.

Aside from being 2nd in his age group, he also placed 24th overall. I told him I knew he would have gone faster if it wasn't his 24th birthday, but he decided to be cool and come in 24th in celebration of his age. In fact he counted all of the people in front of him to make sure that he was in exactly 24th place by the finish line. :) He's so clever.

Crossing the finish line!

Then we relaxed at Matthew's house for awhile, and gave him his birthday present from all of us - a big framed print of this:

That Lara is just a pretty lady isn't she?!

The rest of the afternoon was spent...asleep. Everybody fell asleep without meaning to, for two hours. This was great and refreshing, except that I was the first one to wake up and look at the clock. That mean ole clock told us we only had about 10 minutes to get ready before we had to leave for a birthday grill out in honor of Teri (Matt's sister whose birthday was last week) and Matt. So Matt jumped in the shower (still gross and sticky from the 5k, bleck) and the kids got socks and shoes on and we headed out for an evening of fun and festivities!! And cupcakes. A huge number of cupcakes. Toni (Matthew's other sister) made beautiful vanilla cuppycakes with blue frosting and sprinkles, super cute. And I went crazy on the chocolate route and made Nutella-filled cupcakes with Nutella frosting, and Mocha cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We all felt a bit dead after the dessert course.

After a grand ole evening of hot dogs, burger, spicy sausages, and mac n' cheese...and cupcakes o' course, we all headed home serenaded by Silly Songs with Larry and put the kids to bed.

And now the internet seems to be fixed! Yippie kie yay!

Still don't have a real job apart from subbing. If anyone wants to help me out here, I would appreciate it! I need a regular paycheck!

See Y'all!
TFMM