first 25k

We did it! We crossed the finish line at 2:38:03, the same time. We held hands as we crossed and raised them in the air so that hopefully we only have to purchase one picture! Our race started at 8:20 and we parked the car at 8:10. We had stopped to get some ponchos and an armband for Jordan's ipod. It made us much later than what we planned for! We ran to the start of the race and got there just in time to hear the horn signaling the beginning of the race. So we got a couple minutes break before we had to run again! We were lucky that the rain held off for us. On our way to the race, it was downpouring. The 5k and 10k racers were drenched and we only had a little drizzle. We maybe could have shaved 10 minutes off of our time if we didn't stop to go to the bathroom 3 times between the 2 of us. But then maybe we wouldn't have been able to run the whole thing. For not training much for the past month, I think we did pretty well. We felt great until the last mile. Jordan's calves both locked up so he couldn't really use them without feeling pain. He was running like Forrest Gump when he's still in his leg braces. Then, just as we saw the finish line, he said he had to throw up. I prayed so hard that we would make it to the finish! And we did! Jordan was leaning on me as soon as we crossed and some medic came to his side right away and led us to a tent full of runners that were laying down or getting massaged. Jordan didn't think that that was quite necessary though. I'm writing this post 2 days after the race and Jordan and I are still sore! We are very happy to be done with the training for it but now we are considering a marathon in the fall. We're this close so I feel like we better just keep going. But for the first week in 9 months and one week, I don't think I'm going to run a single day!

april....

...where did it go? We had a great month! I just looked back in my planner and there are only 5 days out of the 30 that don't have anything written on them.

We started out the month with a trip to the Frederick Meijer Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. We enjoyed it and so did the girls but we don't think it's quite worth all of the hype. The butterflies don't exactly flock over to you if you're wearing a bright color! But we're still glad we tried it out!

We celebrated Easter in there, too. The girls and I enjoyed making some different spring treats. It's so much fun to let the girls get in on the fun. We did some nests and they thought that was pretty awesome and cake pops which were cute and delicious!

The kids were healthy for about three weeks and then Natalie got pink eye. And then Charlie. And then Ruby. They all got over it right away but Charlie seemed miserable and got a fever so I brought him in and he had an ear infection as well. He was on amoxicillin for almost a week and then broke out in hives all over his body. He's allergic, probably, to penicillin. At that same appointment, I had Ruby checked out as well because she hadn't been acting herself and she had an ear infection as well! She has a very high pain tolerance, I think, because I'd been asking her about her ears all week and she said that they didn't hurt. All of the kids are back on their feet again. Now we just have to get Jordan better (allergies?)

We had some great weather this month! I think the kids and I spent more time outside than in which is awesome! We have tans and sunburns already! The midwest states have had record-breaking tornadoes in the month of April and now in May. My heart just breaks for those people. There are so many stories of children getting sucked out of their parents arms and one spouse being left alive while the other right next to them disappears. Can you imagine? It is heart-wrenching! We have so much to be grateful for!

Jordan's been working up in St. Ignace a lot lately and we miss him so much when he's gone! We make up for his absence on the weekends where I feel like the girls and I can't get enough of him! We think he's done up there now. Hats off to all the single mothers out there! I wouldn't be able to manage my home without Jordan and I pray that I never have to! We sent him some pictures when he was gone....

And last but not least, we attended the royal wedding of Will and Kate! I woke up early to watch it and Ruby (who was in bed with me at the time) watched the first hour or so with me. Ruby never lets me watch a program without her approval (so I never get the remote when she's in the room!) but she didn't make me turn this off (which is lucky for her because I wouldn't have given in!) And then Natalie joined us and couldn't believe that princesses were for real. So there I lay in bed with my very own princesses watching this historical event! A little later, I was holding Charlie while standing inches away from the tv, waiting for the royal kiss and I looked down at him and he was leaning in to kiss me! It was an enjoyable morning until everyone got crabby from how early we had all gotten up!

So there's our month in review :)

almost here...

Question: How long (as in weeks/months/years) can a person train on a treadmill for?
Answer: No longer than nine months.

That is how long I have been running now. And less than 10 of those runs have been outside. It's a mental thing, I know, but I CANNOT bring myself to run in my basement, staring at a wall, anymore. I don't know if I suddenly feel this way due to a change in the weather or out of boredom but I cannot will my body to step foot on that thing! And it's been almost impossible for me to get runs in outside because Jordan has been working up north in St. Ignace.

Our run is 4 days away, now. Two and a half weeks ago, Jordan and I completed a 14+ mile run in 2:16 which averages to a 9:45 pace. We're not exactly sure how far we went because both of our NikeFits are slightly off at times and we ran all over downtown Zeeland and can't remember our exact course. We do know that it was at least 14 miles. Either way, it was by far the farthest we've ever run.

After that run, however, we have both been slacking. Right when it seems we're at the top of our game, running gets hard. Not the physical part but the mental and time-consuming part. For me, it has just become enough. Enough of spending my one and only hour of alone time during the day (aka nap time) on the treadmill. Enough of trying to fit-in two showers in one day or holding off until the afternoon to take my first shower of the day. Enough of trying to arrange babysitters just so we can do a long run. I know it's good for me and I've really enjoyed training but I've had enough of prioritizing it. I still want to continue running and I'd love to train for a marathon eventually but there are just too many other things that I need to fit into my day. Jordan seems to have hit a wall as well and he's also had terrible allergies (at least that's what we think it is). He doesn't have much confidence that he'll be able to run it on Saturday.

Our nerves are getting the best of us, now. If you think of us on Saturday morning, lift us up in prayer, will you? Thanks.

P.S: A 25k is 15.5 miles, not 16.1 which is what I stated in the previous entry!

spring is here

...but the winter weather hasn't completely gone away. It's an unusually cold spring so far (still in the 30s) but at least all of the snow is gone! Our kids have had coughs/colds for the last 6 weeks. All of them seem to be getting over it this week. Illness seems to have hit everyone hard this winter. We are so ready for warmer weather. Mom and Dad Barkel took the whole family to a hotel with a pool one weekend which was fun for everyone! The girls loved swimming again and I'm so anxious for pool/beach days this summer. I've been wanting to write for a long time again but have not had the time. I feel like we are still so busy these days. For me, some of it is work for other people (massages, sewing bags, babysitting) but I also pack a lot more into my day than necessary! Jordan and I have been tackling our endless house to-do list. Jordan completed my massage room and has now moved on to finish off the rest of our basement. He's making himself an official workshop and a family craft room. But he also has some more side jobs coming up that he'll have to commit himself to so it may be awhile until it is all finished. We are also 'life-leaders' with our church's middle school youth group now (which we are really excited about)! I also celebrated a birthday in there. Jordan surprised me with a cake and I'm not even ashamed to admit that we all finished it off over the rest of the night!! I don't really make much a deal out of my own birthday but this one kind of seemed like a milestone for me. I'm 25 now. Part of me thinks, 'that's it? that's young!' but the other part of me thinks, 'I'm a quarter of a century old and probably a quarter of the way done with my life!' Whoa! But I always have to remind myself to just live in the here and now. I don't want to keep looking backward while my life goes ever-faster forward. And I don't want to miss out on the present by dwelling on the future. I need to remember to appreciate the little moments of today! My sister and I have started this thing where every-other week we swap each other's kids and take a date night. So it works out that each of us and our husbands have one date per month. So on our last date, we made a bucket list for the rest of this year for different things we want to do with the family and accomplish. I think it's going to be a good thing to refer to when we find ourselves working too much. Family time is important to us! We just purchased a couple new kayaks and we're very anxious to try those out as well. One of the things on that bucket list is to run a 25k. And there are only 6 weeks left until we run it! We ran (just about!) 10 miles yesterday. It was our first long run outside together. It was much windier than we realized and cold! Our final 2.5 miles were into the wind. It was the hardest physical thing either of us had ever done but worth it :) I started running about 7.5 months ago and would never have believed that I'd be able to do it! And we started in January training for this 25k so I'm happy with our progress. It has been so rewarding! A 25k is 16.1 miles so not too much further to go, I guess! Two weeks ago, I started to cross train and take down the running a bit. I've been getting sore knees and burning toes about the last mile so I thought maybe I should lay off a little during the week. I've been doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred every other day and I really love it. It's not as monotonous as running everyday. Jordan has been doing very well with his training. We've both been incorporating speed intervals into our 'short runs' and this really seems to be working well for Jordan. He's gonna leave me in the dust! We thought that since we're this far into the training, we might as well go for a marathon. We were going to sign up for the Chicago Marathon in October but the sign up is full. The only way we can still enter is if we want to run for a charity. We would love to but we'll have to check into it a little more to see how much we'd have to raise. Charlie is officially crawling on his knees now and pulling himself up on to furniture. He's very active! He has also started to babble a lot more. He's going to be loud like Ruby. Ruby is completely potty-trained now which is so great! She still sleeps in a diaper but that's fine by me! And for diapers for Charlie, I've actually been using (nice) cloth diapers since he was 4 months old. I'll put him in a disposable if we go out or if someone else is going to be watching him but most of the time, he's in cloth. They're not as convenient but they save us a lot of money. I think we only spend about $8 on diapers each month versus like $60+ when we had both kids in disposable diapers! Natalie is changing a lot these days. She is growing up! She is always acting like a dog or a monster and she is always drawing or coloring. I save so many of her pictures because they are amazing for her age! The kids are so ready to go outside and play but it's still so cold and their colds have wore them out. We just bought Ruby a new bike and some helmets for both of them. We're tring out a balance bike for Ruby which it will be interesting to see if it works! Once again, soo ready to get outside to play! As usual, here are some pictures....

By the way, do not let this blog fool you that we are a nice little family. We are horrible people! Remember Bambi, the guinea pig, from the last post? I had stated in there something about not keeping him for long because he stinks.... Well, he is no longer a part of this family. He's dead and we killed him. Now before you turn me over to PETA let me explain. It wasn't intentional. We had a potential buyer that was waiting to check him out and we ran out of his hay/feed. So we just fed him veggies for a few days. Apparently, guinea pigs can't go more than a day or two without hay or feed or they go into irreversible liver failure. We laid Bambi to rest in a shoebox under a snowbank. Actually, I just tossed a couple of shovels of snow on top and when the girls weren't looking I threw him in the garbage! They were sad but not as sad as I thought they'd be. We still talk about him all the time though, because everytime we leave, Ruby shouts, 'bye Gary, bye Bambi'. And then Natalie uses her sweet voice to tell Ruby that Bambi is dead while Ruby very bluntly says, 'Bambi's dead!' You gotta know Ruby, she is so loud and matter-of-fact! So RIP, Bambi. Ruby was getting dressed for church today and I had to take this because it reminds me of Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business', doesn't it?!

Damsel in distress!

Natalie is picking up dog poop (this used to be Jordan's job!)

Charlie is six months old now. He is sitting up by himself now and he is scooting all over the place. He will be crawling soon, I think, which is way too soon for me. He's still very content. We started him on rice cereal and baby food 2 months ago- he loves to eat! Now he's eating 'crumbs' we throw at him during dinnertime and cheerios. He doesn't have any teeth yet but munches it all down. I am in love with his cute chunky legs. When he was a newborn, he made me laugh because he had the skinniest legs I've ever seen on a baby and no butt! But now he's got gerth! He just had his 6month checkup. He's 16lbs 14oz and 26.25 inches long, in the 50th percentile all around. Charlie's sisters and the dog are his biggest entertainment. He can really get to giggling when Gary is whipping his toy around (so cute!) Charlie has always loved his bath times: he loves to splash and squeal while the girls and I wash him up. But lately, he just sits (in his very unsafe seat that I would never leave him unattended in!) hunched over with his head down while he pinches his you-know-what! Is that inappropriate? I don't care, it's so dang cute :)


Ruby is changing so much lately. She is growing and looking less like a toddler and more like a kid. Lately she is very attached to me. She's fine when I'm gone but when I'm around, she just has to be held. She still just loves her babies! She's sticking with her own little language and I love to converse with her! Most times I know what she's saying and it's kind of special to share your own little language with each other. Jordan taught Natalie and Ruby to snap their fingers so Ruby will snap and point at me and tell me to 'come here now!' We've been having issues with Ruby staying in her own bed all night, she always comes to ours. As much as I love cuddling with her, she is a pain to share a bed with. She constantly kicks and rolls. Ruby is cute and she knows how to use it to her advantage when she's getting disciplined. She looks up at us with big eyes and a sweet face (we compare her to Puss in Boots from Shrek 2 which also happens to be her favorite movie at this time!) Ruby prays the same prayer at every meal, 'help me make Jesus happy, help me make daddy happy, amen' (that's a slight translation for you). And unless Natalie taught her that, I think she came up with that herself!

Natalie has been into cooking bigtime! During Ruby and Charlie's naptime, I work on these bags that I sew and Natalie and I watch the Rachael Ray show together. And now Natalie is obsessed with cooking. So Natalie has helped out with every dinner I have made in the past two weeks. And it's a lot of fun to incorporate her into it! She is such a little lady. She talks to Jordan and I like she's an adult, too. Natalie loves doing crafts. We haul out our craft basket almost everyday so that Natalie can cut, glue, and color. Natalie really helps me out nowdays! She's good at picking up her room and we actually have little arguements about organizing. She likes it done a certain way that she thinks is better than my way! We'll be enrolling Natalie into preschool next year so that's a pretty big deal to Natalie and Jordan and I. She must be going through a major growth-spurt right now because she is always hungry. At first I was just brushing it off but then I would hear her stomach rumble. She eats cereal, toast, and a snack all before lunchtime!

We also have another addition to the family: Bambi. Bambi is a guinea pig that we got for free. His cage is in the girls' room which they love. I am not such a fan, however. Apparently, guinea pigs poop and pee and stink... who knew?! I appreciate our dog much more these days. Bambi will not be with us for long. I tried telling Natalie that we should give Bambi to a family that doesn't have any pets and she started to cry. Jordan thinks that if we get rid of Bambi the girls will forever be scared that we'll just get rid of them when we're sick of them! So now I don't know how to get rid of the darn thing. Jordan suggested that we play with it outside and lose him but I'm not that cruel either! Bambi is pretty cute though. I wonder if we could just swap him out with a stuffed toy....


So far, this year has been busy!! I can't believe we're more than a month into the new year already. Jordan has been busy working a side job and on my massage room (which is so close to being finished!!) and I've been busy painting at the same side job, sewing bags, babysitting, and massaging! It's good but I just feel like our family has been knocked off from our routine! The girls and I are definately feeling it. Ruby won't let go of me whenever I'm in sight and she hasn't been staying in her Sunday school class. Natalie and I have been at odds... she's talking back to me a lot so I have to get after her and then I hear her mumble as she stomps off that she doesn't like me :( Charlie is currently my easiest child!!


And the training for the 25k is going much better than I could have anticipated. The hardest thing about the training isn't actually the run itself but just making time for it. I'm hoping February won't be as crazy for us!

My photo assistants!!

so long, 2010

Another year is over? How can that be possible? This has been another great year. There are definately many highlights but just to name a few... our first family trip to Florida, our great weekend camping at Silver Lake, the birth of our SON, and just enjoying life with each other. God is SO GOOD.

This year, Jordan was laid off a total of 5 weeks (I think) but everytime he was, he got more than enough work through side jobs. Business is getting slower and slower but we never worry anymore because God has proven that He'll be there for us. My massage 'business' has been on the slow side since I've had Charlie but that's ok because I was busy babysitting and sewing bags for extra money. But we're finishing off a room in the basement for my massage business (since Charlie took over the previous massage room) and then I'm hoping that I'll get busy again with it. We have been attending Engedi, our home church, for a year and a half now and we absolutely LOVE IT there. We went there once while looking for a church home and we knew after the first service that we wouldn't need to look any further. Something that has been on my heart lately that came with the Christmas season is to just ENJOY my family. So often, I have this detailed list of what I need to accomplish for the day or week. And I usually do accomplish a lot and I feel good about that but then what about the kids and Jordan? I don't neglect them by any means but they're not always priority. I've decided that it's ok to not get everything done in one day or one week if it's because I've been focusing more on my family. I can't get over how fast my kids are growing and I'll never get those moments back; such a cliche, I know, but it's so true. So that's sort of a resolution, I guess - to play and cuddle more!

Not only has this been a great year, it's been a great decade! Seeing how I've only been alive for two complete decades, I realize that's not saying a whole lot! But this has been my most life-changing decade and I think it forever will be. I started this decade as a kid at the awkward age of 14 in middle school. I had acne, crushes, and homework. I went on to high school, met Jordan, graduated, went to massage school, worked, got married, got pregnant, had the baby, quit working, had another baby, had yet another baby.... Now I'm finishing this decade at 24 as a woman, a wife, a mom. I have dirty diapers, a husband, and a mortgage... and so much more! That's life-changing! I'm sure the decades to come will be just as rewarding but this first decade of the second millenium will forever be precious to me.

christmas 2010

We really enjoyed Christmas this year. I guess we always enjoy Christmas. But it's so fun to see the girls enjoy it and understand it better. We did Christmas chains and an advent calender with them this year which was a lot of fun. Both Natalie and Ruby really seemed to grasp the true meaning of Christmas already. They talked about Jesus' birthday more than they did about Santa and the presents. And, as usual, we were all spoiled with Christmas gifts from our parents. We've had the best week playing with all of the new toys.


We were so paranoid that our kids would get this flu bug that seems to be going around and sure enough, Natalie got sick the Sunday before Christmas and Charlie got sick the Monday after Christmas. It was short-lived but it's sad to see your kids miserable. I've never had a sick infant before. Charlie just laid in my arms and whimpered. I don't know how Ruby didn't get it because she always has her hands in her mouth. Hopefully she won't. And I have to throw this tidbit of info into this post somewhere for my own reference: Charlie has been sleeping through the night for 2 weeks now - yeehaw!


Here are a few pictures from Christmas. We hardly took any because we don't like our camera and these are the best ones we got!