Summer is in full swing in the Lathrop household.  Joshua is working full time, enjoying his free time playing games online with friends, taking jiu jitsu, and excited about NMMI.  I am so proud of him!  After making honor role grades in school, Josie and Jordan are spending time at the pool, hanging out, and excited about Camp Classen.  I am so proud of you girls, too!  All three have awesome attitudes and help out around the house BIG TIME.  We keep telling the kids, if you work hard, you get to play hard, so they are reaping the rewards of their hard work.  Simon and I are in constant motion, trying to finish the kitchen tile (FINALLY), working in the garden and the yard, along with a seemingly endless list of future projects.  But, we still manage to chill out and spend time with the kids, sit on the front porch and enjoy a cocktail in our wonderful new chairs (thanks Mike and Dee!), and grill on the back patio.  Life is good!

Simon is always surprising me with things I would never buy for myself, like very nice shoes.  He leaves these goodies just sitting around inconspicuously, waiting for me to notice.  Yesterday, when I came home, there was a Born shoebox sitting on the bed.  Inside were these wonderful sandals that fit my feet like a glove!  Aren't they adorable?!  It's hard to tell in the pic, but they are a very dark blue/green.  Thank you for being so sweet, Simon!  I love you!

 

Look at the wonderful cards the girls made me for Mother's Day! 

http://www.box.net/shared/static/5zehjed7ok.pdf

 

The fourth annual "Remember the Ten" run was Saturday, April 17th here in Stillwater.  It is a memorial run that is held every year to honor the memory of the ten OSU basketball players, media, and staff that died in a plane crash in 2001.  My mom was friends with the family of Bill Teegins (Tietgens), a sportscaster who died in the crash, so I guess the event kind of has special significance to me. 

http://www.remembertheten.com/about-the-event/ten-men-we-will-remember

Although all five of us were registered for the run, Simon, Josie, and I ran the 5K.  Joshua was sick, so we didn't want him to run.  And Jordan decided to do the Fun Walk with some friends instead.  There was also a 10K run, which is the event Simon and Joshua participated in two weeks after Simon’s knee surgery in 2008.  Tough guys!  Oh, and our 11 year old neighbor, Julia, also ran the 5K with us.

This was my first organized, competitive run and it was FANTASTIC!!!  There were over 1,400 total participants in all activities combined and the vibe was very cool.  We got in line, picked up our packets that included our numbers and t-shirts, and walked around outside the stadium waiting for Simon to return after taking all of our stuff to the car.  So nice of him!  Rain was in the forecast, but it slowed down to a very light mist during the run, staying cloudy and cool, but not cold.  Perfect running weather.  Simon returned just as it was time for everyone to line up.  The crowd was huge, but Simon, Josie, Julia, and I took off together in a pack.  The race started and ended at the stadium. 

We didn’t stick together for long, though.  Since Simon is taller and faster, he took a wide lead ahead of us before we reached the corner on the other side of the stadium.  The girls started slowing down at the first big intersection after the stadium, so I lost them.  The route took us right down the street in front of the building where I work on campus, which I thought was pretty neat.  The crowd thinned out significantly in the last half and I was feeling pretty good that not very many people were passing me.  Although I didn’t train very hard and it wasn’t my intention to truly compete, I still hoped to finish strong.  By the time I rounded the final turn onto Knoblock Street, I was running out of gas.  Then I saw the big banner at the finish line.  There were only two guys between me and the end, and one of them was kicking it into gear.  The competitive urge hit me, and I became determined to pass the other guy.  I broke into a sprint the best I could, passed that guy, and hauled buns to the finish line.  It was the best feeling!  I could hear Simon cheering me on as I glanced at my time.  Right around 30 minutes.  Not bad.  Not bad. 

Josie wasn’t far behind, and Julia sprinted over the finish line with full-blown war face.  She's a serious girl.  As all of us wandered around and took advantage of the free water, bananas, and cereal bars, Simon went to check out our times and scores.  Our final stats were:

Simon finished 96th out of 300 men, and 7th out of 11 in his age group

I finished 101th out of 375 women, and 5th out of 28 in my age group

Josie was 217th out of 375 women, and 5th out of 7 in her age group

Julia was categorized in the wrong age group, but came in 265^th out of 375 women,

 

Okay, I’ll admit it.  I still feel pretty dang proud.  I see more runs in my future!

 

Well, Simon and I had our second exam in this semester's accounting class last Wednesday. We both made B’s on the first exam, so we studied our butts off in the hopes of making A’s. Simon was nervous and worried, mainly because that’s just his nature. I'm not sure if he ever would have reached the point where he felt totally prepared. But I sure did feel good about it. I knew the material quite well. So well, in fact, that I felt like I would make an easy A. I was READY!

As an extra precaution, Simon and I got up around 5:30 am for a little review. I laid out my notes and our calculators next to my purse. Organized. Confident. READY!

Then we pulled in to the parking lot. As Simon stopped the car, the sick realization hit me that I’d forgotten my calculator. Simon had grabbed one he brought home from work, so he never saw the two near my purse. That’s fine. I know this stuff. I can hand calculate everything, right? That won’t add, like, thirty minutes to my time, right? Besides, Simon and I could share his if things got tough.

On to class. In our seats. The tests are handed out. It’s 10 pages. We have 75 minutes. I glanced through the pages and noticed that the professor had left tons of room for calculations and lengthy hand-written problems. No biggie. Let’s do this!

I jumped in from page one. Balance Sheet. No problem. Just long. Wait, I left out a line. Erase and re-write. No, that amount should be calculated on a monthly basis and distributed into two sections. Erase and re-write. Okay, two full hand-written pages later and the Balance Sheet was done. Perfect. Next question.

Statement of Cash Flows. One section. Easy. Oh, two sections. No, three sections. Dang, another calculation. Look at watch. It’s been a freakin’ HOUR?! I only have fifteen minutes left and there’s still one, two… SIX PAGES LEFT!!! WTF???

Frantically, I jumped to the multiple choice section. All calculations! I knew this material. I’m fine. I’m fine. Only one guy has left. No one else is finishing. I’m not crazy. It never crossed my mind that I would run out of time. What is wrong with me? Why can’t I write faster? “Hurry up class. Five minutes left.” And that’s the precise moment that I experienced an honest-to-gawd psychological meltdown…

You know that scene in “Vertigo” where Jimmy Stewart begins to spiral away from the camera? That was me. As I gazed down at the test on my desk, the figures formed a spinning water going down the drain image. I began selecting answers without reading the questions. Then the tears started. Not because of sadness. Because of anger. Anyone who doesn’t understand that women cry when they are angry doesn’t know women at all. I was pissed. Pissed that I had spent so much time studying for nothing. Pissed that the test was too darn long for any reasonable person, including Simon, to finish it. Pissed that I took too long and screwed myself out of the A I knew I would’ve made. I was just so MAD. And now I’m almost embarrassed to go to class on Monday.

The good news is that Simon spent the next 24 hours sweetly convincing me that the world wouldn’t end, that the curve would probably be huge, and that we’d still make decent grades in the class. Thanks for seeing the glass as half full, Honey! I’m still pretty bummed, though.

We recently received Josie's scores for the standardized test the school system requires.  They call it a "Benchmark," but the EXPLORE exam is like a pre-pre-ACT exam.  We are so tickled and proud of Josie's performance!  Overall, her cumulative score puts her in the 94 percentile out of all U.S. scores!  Isn't that remarkable?!  Here's the link to the whole report:

http://www.box.net/shared/static/esjub2qefz.pdf

Way to go, Josie Ann!!!