Graduation weekend

We had a huge graduation weekend.  Friday morning was Janhavi's graduation at SLU.  She graduated with all the medical students and the ceremony was very nice.  I don't have any photos, hopefully I will get some later.  After her graduation, we went to lunch at Fritanga and then I immediately had to leave to go to Greta's graduation at night.  I took a couple of pictures of her before we left.

Managed to get someone to take a family photo.  We haven't had one since Richard's birthday back in September

Greta with two of the other exchange students-Mikkel and Anais

Greta got a certificate for completing the Exchange Program-very cool!

On Saturday we went to a party for the residents in the Pathology program.  It's hard to believe that Prerna has spent 4 years in residency and will now be doing a fellowship in Florida.  Wow, I managed to get rid of a lot of students this weekend!!!

A week as a single parent

Sam was in San Diego for a week, so I got to experience life as a single parent (which I don't do very well).  The kids were great and tried really hard to help me out when they could.  Maggie and I got our fair share of exercise.  I had to take her to the orthodontists on the day Sam left and so I took her with me to do the SLU 5K at night.

We did the Girls on the Run on the Saturday Sam was gone.  We left Ben at home with Greta (and his friend Jalen who stayed overnight).  After GOTR, we went to breakfast at First Watch with some of the other girls and parents.

Friday night was the school picnic.  I had decided that we weren't going to go because I really didn't have time and it was the night before GOTR.  However, they put me down to work at the registration table and so I decided to go for my 30 minute shift.  The kids had other plans and we ended up being there for almost 3 hours!!!

Mother's Day was on the Sunday.  I bought myself this azalea from Trader Joe's.

We went to Cici's for "dinner" and then went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream.  The only "healthy" part of it was that we walked there and back!!  Ben won this ball and then wrote "Happy Mother's Day" on it!!!

Eating was truly horrendous for us.  I made pancakes for the kids every morning.  The novelty soon wore off though and they didn't want them at all by the time Sam got back!!!

Ben did manage to eat some healthy food in amongst the other junk.  He loves lettuce and celery!!!

I sent this picture to Sam to show him how desperately we needed him back!!!!!

Greta is in the middle of awards ceremonies.  This one was for athletics.  It took for ever and Maggie was beside herself with the whole thing.  She was overtly crying by the end of it!!!!  Poor Maggs

The house is turning blue......

We had some work done on the house recently. Of course, we had to have Jason and Sergei do it because we don't trust anyone else!!! We had the kids bathroom done completely. We had a new bath installed and the walls tiled.  Then we had wood paneling installed on the walls in the downstairs bathroom-it matches the paneling on the walls on the stairs.  We also had a back splash in the kitchen.  After they were done, we had Maggie's bedroom, the bathrooms and the stairs painted.  Everything looks really nice now it is done, but I didn't realize how blue everything was!!  It's completely different to any colour we had already, it is lovely.

This is Maggie's bedroom, she chose purple and it is really great in her room.  Having the walls a darker colour is much better for the kids sleeping and Maggie's room gets a lot of sun

The walls are grey in the outer part of the kids bathroom.  It goes well with the blue tile

The time in the bathroom is white and the walls are a dark blue.  It matches the blue tile in the sink area.  Honestly, this may be my favourite room in the house now, the colours go so well together and it looks so clean in there.

The walls in the downstairs bathroom are something in between blue and purple, it goes really well with the paneling.  This was my favourite room, now it has competition, but it's still #2!!!!

The Hudson Team do Girls on the Run 2013

The day finally arrived.  They have been training twice a week for 10 weeks.  There have been tears, whining and success, but nothing like the success they all achieved on THE DAY!!!!  No one should underestimate the power and excitement of 8000 runners on a perfect Spring day.  The girls all finished the course and had a great time. 

"Mummy and me" pictures Anna and Barbara, Maggie and me, Taylor and Karen. 

Everyone was so excited that the day had arrived and these girls make a great team.  They can all be so kind and supportive to each other (long may it continue!!).  Delayna (pictured with Taylor on the right) was the lead coach, she did a fantastic job with the girls and I am so happy that I didn't have to do it!)

After the race, we waited for everyone else and met at the school sign.  You can tell everyone was very happy!!  Maggie and I ran the race in 32:12, best time we have done together



We are ready.....

Girls On The Run is this Saturday.  Maggie and I are doing four 5K runs in a week.  2 down 2 to go...
We did a practice 5K run in Tilles Park with the GOTR group last night.  We had a picnic afterwards.  Mia Louise is on the left, she is in 5th grade and she's a fantastic runner.  I told her she needs to get on a cross country team

 Maggie found a bunch of caterpillars in the park and the girls spent ages messing around with them.  Crystal on the left has shaved her head because her best friend has leukemia and is not doing well.

 Barbara has been coaching the girls with me and June is walking with Maddie on Saturday...

 This is Maddie.  She had an autoimmune disease a few years ago and could not walk well.  Now she is working on her first 5K.  She did 4 laps instead of 5, but it was still an amazing achievement for her.

 Delayna is the lead coach for this program, she has done a fantastic job with all these girls

They are so ready for Saturday.......

From Sam, this morning....

Ben (petting Ferdy): See! He loves me. He's not moving a muscle.
Maggie: But he's breathing!!

Jim Schoemehl run

Maggie and I did this run yesterday as a prelude to Girls on the Run next Saturday.  It is organized by the WGHS students and runs through the neighborhood.  It's a fundraiser for ALS.  Maggie and I are doing four 5K runs this week-yesterday, GOTR practice on Tuesday, SLU on Wednesday and GOTR next Saturday!!!

Maggie did fabulously, she just kept on going.  She would ask to walk at some points, but I just kept her going most of the time.  Every time I thought I needed a rest, she'd just be running beside me and I'd think I better keep going while she is!!  We walked very little, just a couple of times when it was uphill.  We finished in just about 33 minutes, I could not believe it.  By the time I got my camera out, it was almost 34, but I imagine with the time to get going at the start and the few seconds at the end, we had to be at 33, if not a little under.

Maggie has so much heart, she will try her best with absolutely everything and never/rarely complains.  She does so well when she's on her own and gets attention.  Last week, I picked her up from Jan and Julie's and she was helping them unload bricks off the truck!!!!