End of March wrap up

I have been behind on blogging, so before I hit April with birthdays and Easter, thought I would do a short catch up on what the Zyrieks are up to at the end of March.

Gary is training for triathlons full speed ahead. His first one is April 1st in Oxford, the Rebelman Tri. Last year it was in the 40's for the triathlon so hoping for better weather this time around. He did the Germantown (dreadful) half marathon with me so once that was over he could focus more on his speed work and hitting the pool. After Rebelman he is focusing on Memphis in May triathlon where he is signed up for both the sprint and olympic distances. He stays busy coaching Caroline's soccer team at Hope and with his Elder responsibilities at church as well. He is meeting weekly with a group of fellow endurance athletes for Bible study which has been great as well.

I am wrapping up my training for the St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon which is on April 28th in Nashville. Hoping for a great day weather wise and hoping I can do well. Gary will be cheering me on from the sidelines and looking forward to it. I am approaching my 1 year anniversary with ALSAC/St. Jude and have truly enjoyed this first year of my new job. I have learned a lot, worked on some great projects and had so much more balance in my life, which is the most important thing in my eyes. I am on the Finance Committee at Hope and that has been great so far having just started serving in January. After the half marathon in April, I hope to do some shorter distances and manage through the heat. Would like to do the St. Jude half in Memphis in December.

Anna is doing great in 3rd grade and the year is almost over! She is a great reader, reading on the 6th+ grade level. She enjoyed basketball in the winter and is playing spring soccer on the school team. There are a lot of girls from the basketball team on the soccer team so that is great to see the same girls.  Anna has been enjoying learning how to sew and teaching herself new things on the computer each day it seems. She is a great helper around the house and has asked for more chores so she can earn more allowance. She is a saver for sure and does not spend a lot of her money. She has made all A's on her report card all year and has worked very hard on her school work. She is in a kids small group at church on Wednesday nights and has learned quite a lot about having a quiet time, memorizing scripture with a purpose and different aspects of the new testament. She is really growing a lot physically, mentally and spiritually these days!

Caroline is our crazy child. She is doing great in school. Seems to run the classroom from the way she tells it. She is ready for Senior K in the fall and has learned some site words and anxious to put them together and read books. She is playing spring soccer at Hope and has turned into quite a little runner. She can run all over the field. She has not scored a goal yet this year but really likes to stay active.  Caroline loves to manage herself which means not allowing anyone else to manage herself. Sometimes that can be a challenge for her parents! She is ready for summer, camps, swimming, the beach and vacation for sure. She asks all the time how many more days of school there are.

The Zyrieks are doing well and staying busy. I feel like this is a catch up and can now move on to April posts!

Western Day

The kindergarten and junior kindergarten students enjoyed Western Day on Friday at school. It was "W" week for the Jr. K students. They all dressed up in their best Western duds and enjoyed fun and games, crafts and of course a cookout for lunch. I surprised Caroline with an outfit that I purchased at Target the day after Halloween in 2010 for $5!!! What a bargain. It fit perfectly and she loved it. We even dug out the boots Anna wore for Western Day from the attic and they matched just right. Caroline wanted to sleep in this outfit once she tried it on at home. Fun day for the kids and the parents as well.

ready for western day!

love the hats and the outfits

caroline and best buddy ava

caroline and marshall

ready for the first game

sitting on the saddle for a game

so cute!!

Germantown Half Marathon

I have been training since late December for the St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon which is April 28th in Nashville. This is the first year that the event benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, so I thought I would give it a shot. I have been working with Lesley Brainard as a running coach and that has definitely given me perspective but also focus on what I am doing each week. Along the way of training for the Nashville event, I thought it would be a good test to run the Germantown Half Marathon. We would treat this as a "long run" and not a race and see how my efforts paid off.

Well, I bombed this long run or this test. It just was not my day at all. Gary has been doing all of my long weekend runs with me which has helped keep me motivated. He is a fast runner which is the opposite of me, but according to Gary I have become pretty strong and to my own credit I have not skipped or missed a single workout since starting to work with Lesley. Gary ran with me for the Germantown half. Mentally I just was not in this race. Gary said he could tell from about mile 1 or 2 but it took me a few miles to figure out that I was not strong that day and every mile was going to be a struggle. Here were my list of complaints: It was hot, my race number was bothering me, my heart rate monitor was not on tight enough, people were passing me in droves, the sun was in my face, Gary's friends were about to finish and I was just halfway done and so on. It was definitely not a good day for me and poor Gary just kept running alongside me. I finished in 2:26 which was about 15 minutes slower than I wanted to be. Of  course I know that I am better than that. I did 13 miles with Gary about 2 weeks before the race closer to 2:10 or less, so I know I can do it. Chalk this race up to a training run that went poorly and I have to keep training.

Nashville is only 6 weeks after the Germantown race, so I know that I have a few long runs ahead. Nashville will be challenging. I will be running alone, but at least there will be lots of entertainment!! It is hillier, but hopefully with some of my training efforts being focused on hills, I won't be so intimidated.

Thanks to our cheerleaders during the race. Dad and Julie met us at the entrance to Houston High School which is mile 6 and the exit which was after mile 7.  They were great cheerleaders 2x for us. Megan and Kyle made us a sign around mile 10 which was great.  Mom, Dan and the girls were at the finish line. The girls had made signs with us on the podium and with medals on. They were so proud. Even though I was mad at myself and disappointed in my efforts, they made me smile because they were very proud and they did not even care about the time on the clock!!

our great and awesome cheereleaders!

gary and i afterwards with anna

caroline was so proud of us and her sign

blair with gary and me after the race

Zoo with the Dinosaurs

What would spring break be without a trip to the zoo? Mom took the girls over spring break for a great time. The weather was great and the girls had a good time. There is a new dinosaurs exhibit that is extra and it was a nice addition. Also new are the camel rides! Makes me laugh to see the girls riding a camel around for fun. Glad we have such a nice resource in the zoo right here in town and our membership makes it so nice to enjoy!

the girls with the "spitting" dinosaur...beware of the water!

having fun with the dinosaurs

riding a camel!

Second sewing class

Anna took her second sewing class on Saturday at Bumbletees. She made a reversible library tote bag. Because it was spring break we were not able to find any friends to tag along, but she still had a great time. She decided she wanted her birthday party here and we cannot wait to see what is in store for that. Anna is doing well with the sewing machine and really enjoys it. I am proud of her for trying something new that I have no idea how to do and sticking with it. She wants to do a sewing camp this summer and is looking forward to that. We just might have to get her a sewing machine of her own!

proud of her creation!

Bingo Night

Once a night ALSAC employees host Bingo night at the Ronald McDonald House, one of our long-term stay facilities for patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. March was assigned to my department and we had a group go over for an evening of fun! We had lots of families attend with kids ranging from infant to 16 years old. Many were from out of town and were here for treatment for check ups. The Ronald McDonald House is for patients staying more than a week but less than a month.  St. Jude purchased this Ronald McDonald House so that our patients, most of whom have compromised or supressed immune systems would not be around typical sick children. Our children's hospital in Memphis, has the FedEx house for their patients. This is a nice way to keep the patients away from germs that can make their treatment even more difficult. We brought over 50 prizes for the evening and had just a few left at the end of the night. The kids had such a great time and our department loved giving back. I don't have any pictures of the patients because we respected their privacy and their fun time. Just wanted them to have a great time!! One little boy was so sad that someone had taken the Monopoly game when he won so we took a quick trip over to our toy room and got him the game. He was thrilled. One other mom told us that her child had been sad and had not smiled all day until he won Bingo. Love that we were able to bring a bit of sunshine to their evening and their stay in Memphis.

If anyone needs a volunteer opportunity locally, there are always activities at the Ronald McDonald House or the Target House that is an extended stay facility for our patients. Volunteers are always needed so give them a call. It might just brighten your day too!

james, our bingo number/letter caller for the night...he kept them entertained!

some folks from the finance/administration team

the prize table where i was stationed for the night. love watching the kids make that tough choice of what prize they want to take home. some were even sweet when they won more than once to select a toy for their sibling!

Biking the green line

Gary took the girls to ride their bikes on the green line during spring break. He and I have run the entire 6 1/2 mile trail out and back and it is perfect for kids to rides the bikes on since it is flat and relatively few places to cross the street. It was a beautiful day and the girls ended up riding 5 miles. Gary was walking and was worn out. He has since purchased a "green line bike" to use to ride with the kids since all of his bikes are so nice and he uses them to train and race on for his bike races and triathlons. The new bike will be a knock around bike. Caroline says she is ready to try without training wheels, so we will see how that goes in the near future. It was rough going when Anna decided to do that and it about did Gary in! The girls are so different in personality so hopefully Caroline will be easier to teach to ride without the training wheels. Great day on the green line and we are so lucky to have such a resource in Memphis.

anna's bike is ready to go!

caroline picked out her outfit and the nice glitter gloves to match!

doing a great job!

worn out girls!! treated to yogurt mountain afterwards!!

Boosterthon Fundraiser

On Friday, both girls participated in the Boosterthon Fun Run fundraiser at school.  Love these kinds of fundraisers because a) there is a fitness component and b) they are not selling stuff like wrapping paper and fake jewelry!! The girls enjoyed collecting pledges for how many laps they could run (35 is the maximum) and the fundraiser was very well orchestrated by the Boosterthon folks. They had an online giving website and a pep rally at school to get the kids excited. The proceeds come back to the school so that extra special things can be provided for the kids. They had a great time. I had an all day meeting at work on this day so Gary went for Caroline's run at 9am and Mom went for Anna's run at 1pm.  Due to the rainy weather the day before they had to run inside the gym. I think it would have been ok to run outside but the grass was pretty soft and wet and that could have made for messy kids!!

Caroline was excited to have a non-uniform day at school and to see how many laps she could run.  She was the first girl to finish all 35 laps in Junior K! Gary was giving me updates from the event and said it was priceless. She did not even want to stop for water for fear she may lose her place in the "race" as she called it!!

Anna ran all 35 laps as well. Mom mentioned it was a LOT of kids running at one time during the elementary time. They split up the grades but older kids are a bit crazier than the younger ones. Mom's camera battery had died right at the beginning of the event, so limited pics from her teacher from her race. 

The school raised a lot of money, the kids had fun and it was a great way to spend the last day before spring break!

the girls in their jeans for a non-uniform day...fundraiser t-shirts are waiting them at school

caroline ready for action

gary and caroline...what a race team!

loving every minute of it

isabel and anna ready for the run....lots of kids!!

some from anna's class with their teacher....fussell's fierce phoenixes

Grandparents Day x 2

Harding hosted Grandparents Day on Thursday for the entire school! The kindergarten students had a program at 8am followed by time in the classroom. The elementary students hosted their grandparents at 1pm with programs in the classrooms.  Dad and Julie were on spring break in Texas and Mimi and Papa attended with the girls.  Caroline's program had a few sweet songs. She said the grandmothers were all crying. They gave awards for the grandparents that had traveled the farthest (definitely not my parents since they drove 1 mile!!) and who had the most grandchildren at Harding (six!!). They enjoyed time with Caroline.

Anna's class had a program based on a timeline and variousinventions through the time of the grandparents.  They had memorized parts and were in character for the program in the classroom. They definitely took time to prepare and present! It was pouring down rain at the time of their program, so glad my parents got there early and were not blown away.

I love so much that my children are growing up with active grandparents. It makes it so special to me and to my girls. I think sometimes my girls take it for granted but they will cherish all the memories they have. When I was their age, my dad's parents had both passed away and my mom's mother was in California. My girls are definitely blessed!

caroline with mimi and papa

anna's class ready to present!

welcome to the grandparents!

Basketball season recap

Anna really enjoyed her basketball season with the team from school. Those girls improved so much over the course of the season. The team is 3rd/4th grade girls and the majority have not played before.  It was the first year Harding participated in the Crosscheck league for this age and this sport. It was interesting to say the least. Our team only won 2 games, against Grace Evan both times, but they played so hard against the other teams. St. George's won our league undefeated and they were crazy good. They were all 4th graders and were very tall for their age, some were my height!! We did make the tournament and of course drew St. George's but that's ok. We played some lights out defense in the final game and it made the girls so excited.  Anna wants to play again and I think she knows what she needs to work on to get better.

The coaches, Perrin Rowsey and Trent Williamson were awesome with the girls. Great teachers, great encouragers and wonderful dads to their daughters. Perrin will move up to coach the 5th graders next year and Trent is our new President at Harding, so I'm sure we will have new coaches next year. The season ended with a party on Friday night in the gym at school. The girls ate pizza, played games and watched a highlight video that Perrin put together and made a copy for each girl. Great season and really glad Anna was brave enough to give it a try!

anna with perrin and trent! great season!