Inspiration from Afar

I recently found a blog that is inspiring and heartbreaking. If you go to this site, have tissues and a loved one nearby and ready....you will need both. This guy, Matt, has a newborn daughter that he is raising on his own. His wife passed away shortly after giving birth. I love reading his blog, even though it makes me sob as if I know them. I wish I did. He amazes me.

http://www.mattlogelin.com/

He has beautiful pictures on his blog and Flickr site, which inspired me to buy myself a Mother's Day present of a new camera and take pictures of everything and anything. I started today on Mother's Day. Keep in mind that I am not a photographer, but I tried to find beauty in ordinary things today and this is what I found. Well, 3 of the 109 things I found and took pictures of. -RL

barn

windmill

clothespins

Mama Mia!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there in the blogosphere! It was a great day with the 2 little guys shown above. How lucky am I to be their mom?!

We went to the Lien farm in Rothsay and then Chris and I ran 4 miles in preparation for the upcoming marathon. It was quite a bit easier and more fun than our 12.5 mile trek last Sunday. I found the meaning of "hitting the wall." I also found that there is no shame in stopping for a Snickers bar at mile 11. -RL

Why I never blog pt. 1

I realized the other day, that I haven't blogged in several weeks. It's my sworn duty as a driver on the information superhighway to blog every so often so that the world is aprised of my every thought and whim. Here is today's whim. This is the second time I've tried to blog this topic. Five minutes ago my Dell screwed something up (Rikki says it might have been my fault, but why play the blame game?) and I'm re-typing this. My first post was so much wittier. Here's what I remember:

I'm going to use the word blog in everyday speech from now on. Tomorrow I'll say "Yesterday. I blogged." Yeah.

See how witty that is? Anyway, my goal is to blog more than sporadically for the rest of my life until every thought I have magically appears on the interweb without me even having to type it. I will tie a string around my finger so as not to forget to use blog it up ad nauseum henceforth. If you have any problems with my newfound attitude let's argue via the comment area. I'm in the mood for some verbal fencing. Peace out. -C.L.

P.S. My favorite 70's song is "Slow Ride" by Bloghat. "Take it easy!"

13.1 Miles

The Fargo Marathon is on May 17! Chris and I are planning to run the 1/2 marathon. If you can come and cheer us on, please do! If you want to run with us, please do! If you want to send us positive vibes from home, please do! -RL

My Two Suns

These 2 little guys light up the world for me. I am so sick of winter--truly, truly sick of it. This is the first year that I've believed in seasonal depression disorder. Winter, snow and cold seem like they are never going away. If these 2 small people were not such wonderful bits of sunshine everyday, it would be easy to stay in bed all day during the winter and hibernate. I want to get out and run on trails instead of the treadmill......go to the park.....go for bike rides.....see Elliot crawl on the grass instead of carpet.....watch Ethan ride his bike instead of being cooped up inside....wear flip flops.....open the windows.....eat outside on the deck.....drink iced tea on my porch. At least I have these Es with me each day, I hope their pictures and smiles brighten your day too! -RL

Supertots!

It was parents day at Supertots again and Ethan discovered during this session that he loves to swing on the rope. It was all he would do during their free time in the pit. Notice the Star Wars shirt? Yes, this obsession has taken over his life. He dreams he's Luke Skywalker at night. -RL

Easter Buddies, Easter Bunny

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter! We had fun dressing up the kids in their Sunday best! The minute we walked in the house from church, everyone changed into sweatpants and t-shirts for the rest of the day. I guess we're not "Sunday best" kind of people. The Easter bunny brought several Star Wars related toys for Ethan, so we haven't seen him since. He received a light saber from Grammy that will most likely result in massive injuries to someone in this house. -RL