Maddux - My Love

Oh that girl.

As of late, I've been able to sneak little moments with her: before bed, after school while Ruby's napping, running errands. Random, unexpected moments that pop up when we definitely didn't plan them, but they allow for conversations. Thank you, God, for that.

Maddux is one who changes her mind about things often. Within a month she told me she did NOT want to go to Eli's school when she started 6th grade for the sole reason of not wanting to wear a uniform, only to reverse her story and tell me she definitely wanted to attend so that she could wear a uniform. And she seemed to have no recollection of ever feeling differently about it. That being said, she has some things at her core that I love and that seem to remain, regardless of the season  we're in.

Maddux wants to adopt. Dogs and kids. She's long since asked for a dog, and she would be an excellent caregiver; we have no margin for another living thing in our house. But she dreams about the day when she can have dogs, and she wants to adopt them. Maddux has also always wanted to be a mom (which means she wants kids). Recently she told me she wanted to adopt her children. We know a few families that have adopted, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to me, but it still reminded me of her beautiful heart.

This girl loves soccer. I'm so glad she asked to play again! Maddux is a dynamo on the field and she has made some fun new friends on the team. We are hoping she wants to play in the spring so that Lehr can coach her team.

Finally, Maddux joined a running club for the first 6ish weeks of school. Once a week after school she would run from 1-3 miles. Though running is not something she usually enjoys, she's fast. REALLY fast. And she had a friend in the club, so she had a good time logging the miles. Two outcomes: she asked to do the running club again and she is the fourth fastest girl for the mile in the entire school. So proud!

Boosterthon

This last week Maddux participated in the Elementary School annual Boosterthon fund raiser. She was super pumped because this year would be her chance to do the color run (4th and 5th graders only). As not excited as my speedy girl usually is about running, she was gearing up!

The night before we picked out her clothes: a pair of white shorts that was already marked with paint, shoes that were not brand new, and a pair of clear, protective glasses (smart girl!). It was especially humid the morning of the run, as we were expecting rain by the afternoon. This made the color powder hang out in the air even longer than usual and stick to all of us, even those of us that weren't running through it. (I think Maddux and I both had it in our lungs for two days after!)

As expected, Maddux joyfully ran at least as many laps as she could to max out her pledges, opting to find the color every time it was thrown in the air. Maybe she will learn to love running yet?

First 5K

For at least the last two years, Eli and I have been planning his first official 5K. We've signed up for two or three, only to have sports or travel get in the way, and he's trained up to three miles a few times without earning a shirt or a medal.

So when we found out that Gigi's Playhouse was sponsoring a 5K this spring, we jumped on it as a family activity. Lehr and Maddux planned to run and walk while pushing Ruby in the stroller, and Eli and I planned to run at a pace set by him. As expected, sports schedules came along and rained on that parade. Maddux's game would be too close to allow for her to participate, and Eli's game was going to be cutting it very close. Eli was very adamant about running anyway though, so Lehr took Maddux to her game while Eli, Ruby and I went to the race with the plan to meet at Maddux's game as soon as we finished the 5K.

Eli was SO proud to wear his green race shirt as soon as we arrived. We talked a little about strategy ahead of time, and we agreed that something around 33 minutes would be great. The main goal for Eli was just to not stop running. The organizers ran us through a quick warm-up and then the race started. Eli and Ruby and I moved through the crowd at a decent pace; I tried to slow him a little so that he didn't run out of steam too quickly. The first half was great, but in the second half we did hit a very steep hill. Had Eli not been there, I may have walked at the top because of the extra stroller weight. Eli kept going though, so I matched his stride and we even sprinted the last few tenths of a mile. Eli finished at 33:13...so very proud.

We grabbed a water and he told me, "No way could I do a 10K....that was a really long race!" He seemed fine, but on the 25 minute drive to Maddux's softball game, Eli fell asleep next to Ruby in the back seat.