Laraway Family

Yes. It's been a long time since I've blogged here. It's been a long time since I've dusted. It's been a long time since I've painted my toes. And so it goes as the school year winds up and life spins nonstop with three boys! :) I love it. Don't get me wrong. I truly love it all. I learn when I'm feeling crazy, and I enjoy when I'm feeling sane.

So, what's been up since Anthony lost his first tooth? Good question. Let me check my calendar and refresh my memory. He lost ANOTHER tooth. We'll start there. It was the bottom one right beside his first tooth. He didn't get $5, but I think he got $3... still respectable for a tooth.

Then, Starks started pooping on the potty! Now, don't get me wrong, it's not at all even close to being a regular thing. HOWEVER, as long as the little guy's naked, he'll pee and poop on the potty all day or night. We also SO enjoy his naked hiney running around, too!

We started researching private schools for Anthony. I wasn't impressed with the speed/challenge of the curriculum currently. However, upon collecting information on and touring schools, we stalled. We felt like we weren't meant to take him out of his current school right now. I talked with his principal, and she came up with some good ways to get him challenged and doing more. His class is full of kids from the bottom part of the curve. Anyway, we still are looking for prayers on this, and in the meantime, we're learning patience in God's plan. :)

Anthony then started Flag Football... it's VERY fun! He enjoys practicing plays with Daddy and being out there on the team. It's a difficult game to grasp, but he's totally teachable. Anyhow, that's the point of the sport at this age- to be able to be taught the sport. Afterwards, we have made it routine to eat some Armadillo Willy's, and it seems to please all!

Chas is LOVING Kindergarten, and he's doing so well. We read a book this week about Frog and Toad, and it was a level 2 reader with chapters. He blew me away with how quickly and how well he reads these books! He is SO smart, and I feel like that intelligence coupled with his personality is going to get him in trouble when he's older. Wow. I think he's awesome, and I've really enjoyed having some time with him after school and before we pick up Anthony. It's about 2 hours, and we're either at the park with friends or at home chilling together.

We had many activities for the school this month- along with my time in two classrooms. The Fall Festival and Walk-a-thon were totally fun for the boys, and the festival was fun for all of us. I CANNOT listen to music without singing and moving, and for the most part, I'm not just moving but dancing. So, at one point, I'm standing in line at a game booth, and I'm just waiting, moving to the music, and singing. I then realize that I'm over half way into singing "Ice, Ice, Baby," and I'm the only one on the blacktop doing it. Now I ask you to think back. I'm sure you, too, knew all of the words, and even as cheesy as cheese-in-a-can that it may be, it's not that easy to refrain from motion while it's playing. It's just got that beat (that he totally did NOT steal from "Under Pressure.") It was an interesting observation- that's all. Anyway, it was fun to see Anthony totally into the scene. He had transferred last year the week after the Fall Festival and never got to experience the fun. He's really adopted this sense of pride and community at this school. I can appreciate that.

Well, I started as a Children's Ministry leader for 4/5 year olds, and I LOVE it! It is SO much fun, and I just thoroughly enjoy those 2.5 hours every Thursday. Plus, as a leader, we meet for our bible study on Tuesdays, and it's a very rich study. Another blessing in my life I can't explain.
I also trained 8 weeks- 4 days a week- for the Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon and then ran it on Oct. 14th. It was exciting, and I finished 13.1 miles in 2:12. I was very happy with my finish, and I loved that Russ and the boys stood on a corner to catch me at mile 6 and 11.1. The boys thought I'd win the race. :) They realized quickly with almost 9000 runners that I wasn't going to win. It was a good lesson for them that we compete to have fun and not always to win. I was feeling a little mental battle at about mile 10 or 11 to the end, but I pursued! I kept up the pace, and I hung in there all alone yet surrounded by runners. The home stretch had THE best cover band, and when I was running by, they were jamming to Led Zep's "Been a long time since I rock n rolled..." It was AWESOME! If I would've had just a bit more energy, I would have been sprinting. However, I saved sprinting to the last 200 feet! :) Yeah... that's all I could muster up. Anyway, it was great, and the medal is really cool.

Starks and Russ went on a trip to MomMom and Pop's/ Wharton, and I had some great times with Anthony and Chas. Russ arrived back home on Saturday, and proceeded to leave on Monday with Anthony to Asia.
They flew first to Korea, then to China, and they leave today for Japan to finish their visit. Russ had a business trip, and we thought since Anthony wanted to go to China over the summer (their miserably hot months) that Russ would take Anthony with him on this trip. Anthony LOVED Korea and China, and he climbed to the top of the Great Wall! Before he left, he was most looking forward to sushi in Japan. We'll see what he liked most when he gets back. :) I'll blog about that next week- hopefully.

The biggest news is that RUSS MADE DIRECTOR!!!! He's very pleased, and I'm very proud of him. He's an outstanding leader, and it's nice to see that's recognized by his leaders. Hooray!

Check back with us periodically for more news! Love, the Laraways