Happy Easter!

Saturday morning we painted Easter eggs -- Noah enjoyed it for about three minutes, and then got bored and wanted to do something else. Evelyn liked it -- and already asked today when we were going to paint eggs again :)
We went to 8:30 Mass this morning as usual, then came home to search for Easter eggs and their baskets of goodies. Both of the kids got new pjs (Minnie Mouse for Evelyn and Thomas for Noah) -- they also got the Bambi DVD, and yummy candies :) Here is a picture of Noah opening up a bag of goodies from his Grammy and Papa:

kinda fuzzy picture -- but this is the only full length one of Evelyn in her Easter dress:

We had friends over for dinner last night... and it ended up being a really late night, so I am exhausted today. Hoping to sneak a little nap in during the kiddos nap time.

I had hoped to get in a long run this weekend, and so far that hasn't happened..... I definitely don't have the energy right now! It is also raining pretty hard outside -- so that doesn't help the motivation. I will have to try to do it on the treadmill at the gym tonight after the kids go to bed. But, I have never done more than 6 miles at a time on a treadmill... I have such boredom issues when I run indoors! The Apprentice is on tonight --- so maybe I can tune into that while I run...

Bright Shiny & New :)

The kids were able to practice their "Easter Egg Hunt" skills this past weekend at our church. They had a fun hunt around the church & school grounds... along with plenty of candy and sweet treats to be enjoyed by all :)

The kids opened all of their eggs afterwards and pretty much ate all of their candy immediately. On one hand I felt like a bad parent for allowing them that much candy (I don't think the other parents were allowing that)... but on the other hand I remembered what my mother-in-law (a dental hygienist) told us about cavities and sugar... I guess it is better to eat candy all at once as opposed to 8 or 10 pieces of candy spread throughout the day. Maybe we did the right thing after all...?? :) As for my mention of "news" in my last post... it is not baby related (sorry Laura)... it is job and car related!

Job: I started a new job this past Monday... with Amazon.com. It was a tough decision to leave Pfizer, but I was ready for a change. I was getting worn out with all of the driving, night/weekend events, etc... and feeling a little "stuck" from lack of advancement. I am now working in downtown Seattle (south Lake Union area) in a sales role dealing with large corporate accounts and I love it so far!

Car: We had to start shopping for a new car (since I had to turn in my work vehicle). We ended up purchasing a new silver Mazda CX-9 --- it is amazing!

Starting to feel all bright shiny and new -- just like my new car and job :)

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Noah turned 3 this past Saturday. Hard to believe three years has gone by already. He is such a big boy now (except for the fact that I still don't have him potty trained -- UGH@!!) Noah insisted that he have a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese -- so that is what we did :) Kiddos love that place --- but it has to be one of the craziest, loudest, most sensory-overload places there is! EVERYONE was exhausted by the time we left. Here he is with his Spider-man cake: Noah taking a break from eating his pizza to pose with me:Evelyn pouting: (not sure why -- probably something to do with the fact that it was Noah's party, not hers)

Evelyn helping Noah open his birthday presents from the party the next morning:

It was also my other big guy's birthday recently, too. We celebrated Travis's birthday on Monday :)

I have other news to post about... but will save that for later.

A Race to Remember

Kara and I ran the Mercer Island 5K on Sunday morning. I was so happy to be able to experience Kara's first race with her!! Here we are pre-race:Kara did a great job. It was a hilly course --- and she was strong and pushed through to the finish (even the last .25 miles was uphill!!). I think there will be more races in her future. Who knows... maybe next year she will want to join the "destination half marathon girls weekend" crew with me!!!
Here we are back home after the race: We went out for a celebration dinner on Sunday night. Yummy seafood was had by all --- shrimp & fries for the kids, seafood fettucini for Travis, and Kara and I enjoyed crab legs :)

We were all sad to see Kara leave. It was so great to have her around --- makes me wish she lived closer!! I am hoping she has another work meeting on the west coast next year -- maybe we can make it a yearly visit!!!

Fun on Saturday

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to do some sightseeing downtown. I love any excuse to go to the Pike Place Market! Here we are with the kiddos:

The kids both put Kara to work while she was in town --- Noah enjoyed the extra cuddles and storytelling :)Kara also played plenty of "don't spill the beans", "the three little pigs", "hello kitty bingo" and "candy land". We are a family that loves game-nights!!

"Best Friends"

My college friend Kara came into town today -- we hit the nearby outlet mall for the afternoon, and then picked up the kiddos to spend some quality time with them. Evelyn found a new best friend!! We brought out a new Play-Doh set that she got for her birthday -- and she couldn't be happier!! I couldn't be happier, too!! With Travis's job travel, and my work/home stress, this visit is just what I needed :)
Our agenda for the next couple of days involve more shopping, sightseeing, girl-time, and we will finish it off with Kara's FIRST 5K on Sunday morning. I am praying that it won't rain!! I don't want it to be her first -- and last run. It will be much more enjoyable for her if she can stay warm and dry :)

Outdoor Fun

The weather here has been beautiful the past few days --- cold -- but beautiful!!! I have been taking advantage of every minute of it :) Here are the kids playing with an awesome toy they got for Xmas (Thanks Melissa!). It is a Stomp Rocket --- the kids stomp on that red foot thing and the rocket goes flying up in the air (and then they chase after it, repeat over and over, and get really tired in the process). Highly recommend this toy --- Endless fun!!
Since Travis and I both had today off, we made plans to head to Snoqualmie for some snow tubing. We had a blast! I was surprised how big the hill was, and surprised how fast we went! We all rode with the kids on our laps (Jim and Lucy were there, too) -- and they were smiles from ear to ear :) We also got a workout -- instead of using the "tow lane" (which has hooks that pull you back up the hill), most of the time we opted to skip the line and make the trek back up the hill on foot... pulling the kids in the tube behind us!!

Noah totally reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story...

Back to work tomorrow -- Travis has more travel again (he gets back Saturday)... so it is going to be a busy week!