Sickies!

Since the week before Christmas, we have had some sort of illness in our household.  I am so tired of it, and I think it's part of the reason I seem to be in a funk.  Either I've been sick, my kids have been sick, or Ryan has been sick.  Here's a pic of my two little sickies watching "Barney" and drinking their Pedialyte.

With all that being said we have begun to discover some remedies that have actually helped:

Drink a lot of water - I know that water is the last thing you seem to want when you are sick, but I feel like it really does help flush all of the sick toxins out of your body.

Get some darn sleep - It's hard to actually say enough is enough and it's time for some sleep, but it really does help to stop and rest your body.

Enjoy the snuggles from your kids - My kids are pretty much past the phase of just wanting to sit and snuggle when they could be playing instead.  Yesterday, though, I got to sit with Owen for about an hour and half with my little tender guy.  It was pretty sweet.

Zinc Lozenges - These are supposed to lessen the length of a cold.  I feel like they have helped me out.

Remember the power of positive thought - I know this sounds kind of hippy-dippy, but I just think about my family all being healthy and happy again at the same time.  It will happen, and focusing on that instead of the fact that we are all sick can help me out tremendously.

Wash your hands - This one doesn't need much explanation, but a good hand washing can go a long way in  preventing the spread of germs.

Do you have any other tips you'd like to share?  We need all the help we can get here at out house.  :)

Motivation

My motivation has been low lately.  My motivation at work, my motivation at home, and my motivation with my running.  I am not sure what is causing this, maybe it's just the general manotiny of life (which really is a good thing, don't get me wrong) or maybe it's the weather (cold and generally blah).  I'm not quite sure, but there have been a few things I've been doing to try and break me of this lack of motivation.

In the running world, I ran my first 12k race on Sunday (Feb. 10th).  A 12k race is equal to 7.5 miles.  The race was the 9th Annual Fanconi Anemia Run/Walk  This is a great race that I also did last year.  Last year I did the 5k, and I remember talking to a lady who was doing the 12k, and I thought to myself, "Wow, I'd never be able to a 12k."  What did I know?  This race follows the Portland Waterfront right along the Willamette River.  It's just absolutely beautiful, and it's put on by some really great people who really are passionate about finding a cure for Fanconi Anemia.  My race went great.  I ran at 10 min/mile pace, and I was ecstatic about that.  After the race I ate a cinnamon role at the finish line, and then continued on for another mile so I could get my 8 miles done for that week.  Now I just need to hold onto my momentum gained from this race and keep on chugging along.  I think I'm halfway through my half marathon training, and I'm feeling really good.

In the working world I'm in the middle of preparing my 8th grade group for their District Festival Performance.  This is on March 21st, and I really think we are going to do great.  This group of 8th graders is pretty stellar.  They are all awesome musicians, and they are all really fun kids to teach.  I've been really motivated with them, but in my other classes I'm feeling a little worn out.  We're working toward our concert, but I'm just not feeling really excited about it.  I think I just need to start picking out some music for our final concert of the year, so I can keep moving the mind forward.  I really shouldn't complain, though because I love my job.  I work at an awesome school, I finally got some more hours this year.  I feel like things are on the upswing in my career so I just need to keep chugging along.

At home, I've just had very little motivation to keep the household running smoothly.  Being a Mom is so darn tough (as all Mom's know).  Sometimes all of the cleaning, organizing, book reading, food cooking, lunch packing just gets a bit overwhelming and boring all at the same time.  So I've been trying to get back into list making.  This makes getting the last piece of clothing put away a little more gratifying when I can cross it off the list.  I've also been up to my usual recipe hunting.  I find that cooking the family different meals throughout the week helps me stay happy about my job as Mom.  Hopefully these two things will help me get excited about my Mom job.

So is anyone else out there having a hard time staying motivated?  Maybe it's just a January-February thing.  We are all just trying to keep our heads up until Spring arrives.

Dancing Machines

Here is yet another dancing video.  I just find all this singing and dancing so adorable.  It just warms my music teacher heart (and dancing in a diaper, for some reason, warms my Mommy heart).

We had a busy, busy holiday season.  Here is a quick recap of everything that happened. 

 

 Owen and Lindy got to go and cut down their first Christmas Tree.  We've been very lucky this winter and have had wonderful weather.  That day was perfect, and we got ourselves a beautiful tree.

Amy and I received our Master's in Education.  Amy received her's with a Reading endorsement, and I received mine with a Methods and Curriculum endorsement.  It's pretty cool to be have a Master's and be done with that task.  Now onto the next one.  

 We celebrated Christmas Eve with Amy and her boyfriend (at the time, now Fiance!).

 We flew to Iowa to celebrate late Christmas and the New Year with Grandma & Grandpa Bradstreet!

 The babies received some great homemade gifts from Grandma, Grandpa and even Great Grandma.  In this picture you can see the cool caterpillar that Grandpa made for them.

 Owen and Lindy got to meet Great Grandma Bradstreet.  Great Grandma really enjoyed meeting the twins, and they had a fun time with her.  Especially Lindy, she seemed to form a special bond with Great Grandma on this trip.

 Here's a nice generational picture.  Four generations of Bradstreet's.

Here's the whole gang.  We clean up pretty nice.

 

And where was Marlee during our trip to Iowa?  She got to stay with Aunt Amy and Uncle Cross.  She even got to go on a trip to the beach with them.  On this trip, Amy and Cross got engaged.  Hooray for them!!

It was a busy holiday season, and I finally feel like things are winding down and getting back to normal!  We are very excited for the new year.  We have a lot of fun adventures planned, and we'll see what unexpected adventures pop up along the way.