48 Hours

In 48 hours I will be sitting in the airport with my best friend, Julie, waiting to board a flight to TX to take us to my other best friends and some family!! I'm super excited!!

Weight news: Jimmy has lost 30 POUNDS!! I'm so proud of him and all of the hard work and effort that he is putting into his lifestyle change. GO JIM!!

I've lost 12 pounds. I ran the 5K and that was a huge goal for me to accomplish. I've now signed up for a mini-triathalon with my girlfriends in June. I think this is the healthiest years of my life!!

Big news about Jagger....he was accepted to Full Day Kinder at a college prep elementary school. We are very happy about that. Kaylee and James will also be changing schools and since the school is K thru 8 I will now have all my kids at the same school for 4 years. I am already sad to be losing my little buddy to kindergarten but I am looking forward to what the next chapter of our lives will bring.

And for those of you that have been worried about Jagger's haircut...it's already growing in and he now leaves the house without wearing a beanie. He still likes to talk about all of the money that he raised for hte "sick kids."

Well, that's about it for now. I just thought I'ld check in before I left for TX. I'm sure I'll have tons of picture and loads of funny stories when I get back.

Happy travels for me and Jules!!

My 3 Heroes

It's official...my boys are HEROES!!

Pennock Elementary hosts a St.Baldricks event once a year to raise money for Kids with Cancer. It's an awesome opportunity for the community to get together and support a great charity.

My children all have very giving spirits. I'm so proud of each of them.

When I saw the flyer for this, I immediately thought it would be a great way to get Jagger involved. He has such beautiful hair. Sometimes we've been told to cut it though...it's too long, he looks like a girl...MEAN PEOPLE! But we talked with Jagger and told him that a lot of people would like to see his hair cut and that this would be a great way to raise some money for sick kids. He waivered a bit but then solidly decided that this was something he would like to do.

Jagger raised $500 alone. That was his goal and we thank everyone that helped him reach it! Jagger really enjoyed knowing who was giving to him, how much and reading the notes of encouragement and support that came along with the donations. He also loved all the people that couldn't donate but just encouraged and supported him with love. He's a shy boy but I think he liked the attention just a little!

Then we were getting close to shave time and James needed a haircut. And then daddy said he would love to join in and support Jagger. So, I signed them up as well. With only 3 days left to shave time we just put their goals at $50. James raised $55 and Jim raised $65.

That's a total of $620!! WAY TO GO CLINTONS!!

Here are the pics...

All 3 of them ended up on stage together at one point...love this pic! I have never been prouder of my boys!

James got his hair cut by a firefighter...SOO COOOL!!

My handsome boy. Slightly shorter than normal but just as goodlooking as always! James, I'm so proud of you for supporting your brother and doing something great for sick kids at the same time. What an awesome little boy you are!!

And here goes my Jagger...

I cried just like I knew I would. Jagger did really well though. He went right up on stage and was such a brave boy.

Then they were done and he felt his head....ummm, not so happy now!!

Look how handsome my boys are. Seriously...that Jimmy is HOTT with his head shaved!!

Since Jagger had the most severe cut he got to choose where we ate lunch to celebrate what heroes they are.....and MacDonald's won.

Jagger also got to go buy some new underwear because we are celebrating him for being out of pullups at night time for a whole month! He was super happy with the new skivies and has decided to wear a hat until his hair grows back in!!

He started to get comfortable without the hat too and Jimmy got him doing some kungfu master poses...I'm intimidated!

I actually kind of like his hair. When he smiles it fills up his whole face. His eyes are HUGE! Such a handsome boy. So, I wanted a cute pic of him and he put his rockstar hands up. I ask if I can have one without the hands and he says he can't because he has his spiderman underwear on....well, of course, that makes sense??

I can't stop looking at my handsome boy. I tell him how proud I am of him all of the time. He helped a lot of sick kids. He says he is happy he did it but he wants his hair back. He's not sad, just looking forward to never cutting his hair again. Me too.

My First 5K

I RAN THE 5K!! Okay, I more like jogged...but I DIDN'T WALK!! Time was 43 minutes. I have a lot of room for improvement but I'm super proud of myself and can't wait to do another! I won't write much on the race because I want to write an article on it. But there is a story I'ld like to tell at the end of the pictures....

I was so blessed to be able to run with one super fly guy and two awesome friends....
Such awesome girlfriends. Huge encouragement through the whole race. So blessed!

Just a little proof of Jimmy and Julie sneaking off together....HAHAHHAA

And here we are after the race....ready to go grab us some cokes and hamburgers. Yay us!!

My story...

I have never run more than .2 miles at one time before the start of training for this 5K just 5 short weeks ago. It was hard to run. It hurt my lungs. It hurt my legs. But I did it. I started with a mile. I moved up to 1.5. I kept climbing. It was hard.

Some friends of mine just lost their precious daughter to Batten's Disease. Towards the end of her battle her dad posted a blog update about Emma's race. He said that Emma was at the last .2 of the marathon. He talked about how every marathoner will tell you that the last .2 of the 26.2 is always the hardest; the longest. As it was for Emma. And for the next 12 days we all cried, prayed and cheered Emma on towards the finish line and right into the arms of Jesus.

So, as I ran and trained I thought of the blog update and of sweet Emma. Every time I thought I couldn't take another step I thought, if Emma could then she would take 1000 more steps. And I kept running.

On race day I wore a shirt with the logo for the nonprofit organization called Emma's Hugs that was set up in Emma's honor. I thought of Emma. And I ran for Emma.

And that is just one more way that a sweet little girl who never really spoke, was blind, could not control her muscles...it was just one more way that Emma Dunnam encouraged just one more person!

To read Emma's story you can click on the blog called "Especially Fond of You" on the right hand side of this page.

Growing Up Too Fast

While I was on the phone today, Jagger told me he was hungry. Apparently he didn't want to wait for me.....

First Gum

On Friday, February 19th, Jagger had his very first piece of gum. We bought him a pack and he would chew for about 2 minutes and then throw it out. Then 30 minutes later he would grab another piece and do the same thing. He had the whole pack gone in one day!

Here he is trying to blow a bubble....

Quirky

My James has always had a different way to play. He rarely uses a toy for its intended purpose. He loves to take apart things, recreate things. I will find things in odd places and doing odd things.

So, it only made me laugh out loud when I walked by the bathroom and saw what he had done with the bathtub toys.....