Easter 2013

 

Jason was off on Good Friday so he headed up to Newcastle with the girls.  I worked Friday night and slept on Saturday before heading up myself on Saturday evening.  The girls had so much fun on the farm with Grandma Romaine and Grandpa Eddie.  They got to see Toby the cat, the Easter Bunny, ride on the four wheeler (much to mom's dislike), visit with their cousins, watch Hop the movie and run around all over outside! 

We went to church in Sioux City on Sunday morning before heading over to Uncle Lonnie's house for Easter lunch.  Thanks for having us Lonnie and Terri...lots of food and lots of people!  After lunch the girls got to hunt for Easter eggs...lots of Easter eggs!  After playing for a while and visiting we packed up and headed back to Omaha.  We of course had to stop and GaGa and PaPa's house to pick up another Easter basket!  I went through all of their stuff today and each girl got 3 baskets, each got a Barbie, each got a Leap Pad game, more candy than you can count or ever want to eat, each got a book and they each for 3 stuffed animals!  Spoiled??  No...I call it LOVED!

 We planted magic jellybeans on Saturday night and they grew into GIANT Lollipops!

 Lily found her basket first!

 There were baby chicks and baby ducklings at Uncle Lonnies!

 Opening their Easter gift from Aunt Trina with Cousin Miles



Lincoln State Farm 10 Mile Run

I drove to Lincoln yesterday morning to run in the State Farm 10 Mile Run with my good friend, Michelle.  Michelle and I were roommates and teammates in Wayne.  I haven't seen her in almost a year, and it was fun to be able to run with her!  She is training for the Lincoln Half Marathon and will hopefully run it with Jess and Sarah while I run the full.  I wasn't looking to set a PR, but to simply run with and enjoy catching up on life with Michelle.  Michelle, on the other hand, set a HUGE PR!  She beat her last year's time by over 5 minutes!  Our official time was 1:31:41 which is a 9:04 minute per mile pace.  We were running the first 3 miles at an 8:30 or better pace, and I asked her if she wanted to slow down and she said, "I'm fine"...love it!  We ran the first 5 in an under 9 minute per mile pace and then slowed down just a bit after that.  This was run from the State Farm building in Lincoln and then over to the Mopac Trail.  It was a 5 mile out and back route.  I rolled my ankle 1/2 mile into the run and its a little sore today, but not too bad. 

Running is so much better when you have someone to do it with!

Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. ⁷ When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!^[a]”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]

¹⁰ “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

 

As you know today is Palm Sunday.  The above Bible verse was the scripture for today's service.  The girls walked through the service today waving Palm branches as they do every year on Palm Sunday.  I remember doing this as a little kid. They have been looking forward to this all week because they have been learning about Easter and Palm Sunday in their Wednesday night classes.  Lily kept saying, "Do I get to wave the Palm trees today?"  LOL!

 

The Crood's

We took the girls to see The Crood's yesterday out at Village Pointe.  We hadn't been to a movie as a family in a long time and Avery had NEVER been to a movie.  Jason had a gift card to the theater that he had gotten from Lily for Christmas and we had some Snack Cash to use too.  With the matinee pricing and the gift card it only cost us $2 to get in!  I think after snacks we paid a total of around $15 for the day...not bad for a family of 4!  The movie was super cute and Avery did great!  She sat on either my lap or Jason's the entire time.  Her little face lit up when we walked into the theater.  She loved the giant M&M's on the wall and all of the giant movie posters. 

Avery on the Potty

Avery is finally asking on her own to use the potty and she is actually going!!

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Leprechaun Chase 10K

Last Saturday, March 9th, Jess, Sarah and I ran the Leprechaun Chase.  It was a 10K run that started from inside The Air and Space Museum, went through Mahoney State Park and ended back inside The Air and Space Museum.  It was a FUN time with GREAT friends!  I have mentioned in previous posts that I am blessed to have these two gals to run with, and I mean it!

We couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise.  It had rained in the early morning, but the temp was near 50 degrees.  It was cloudy and windy, but overall not too bad.  The course, on the other hand, was tough.  It was muddy in spots and HILLY!  Jess and Sarah ran together and I ran my own race.  Despite the challenging course I was still able to get a PR (personal record).  My previous 10K (last year's Corporate Cup was 50:03), and I ran this in 49:02 or a 7:54 pace per mile.  I was pretty happy with that!  I finished 18th in my division (30-34), 68th female and 237th overall.  There was around 2,000 runners.  Sarah set a goal for her and Jess to run a 9:30 pace and they beat it with a 9:28 overall pace...way to go ladies! 

This was the featured run in February's Runner's World Magazine....pretty cool to have this be in your hometown!  The fun part about the race was that the Lass's (girls) got a 5 and a half minute head start on the Lad's (guys).  The winning gender got free green beer at the after party.  A guy ended up winning, but we were still able to enjoy some green beer and a good time!  Next month the 3 of us are traveling to Kansas City to run the Rock the Parkway Half Marathon.  This will be Jess's first half marathon and we are so looking forward to a girl's weekend!  We will be joined by 2 other college buddies and another gal as well. 

 

 

Three friends having a good ole time!

 I can't forget to mention that the daddy's were left behind with the kiddos and they did a GREAT job!  Those little ones are so lucky to have daddy's like they do!  Lily, Weston, Avery and Rylee.  Weston and Rylee are Jessica's little ones.  Sarah has 3 little ones herself!

 

 

At least we left them with some good snacks!

Running Buddies

I'm so thankful to have these girls to run with!  Sarah and Jessica are two good friends of mine and old college roommates/teammates from Wayne.  Sarah has run a full marathon in the past and some halfs.  We started running together just this past December when she was training for another half marathon.  Jessica is currently training for her very first half marathon and I have enjoyed running with her and helping her with this new journey.  We all live so close which makes is really nice!  It helps so much to have someone to join you in a long run...we have lots of old college stories to share and make us laugh during a long run!  I'm thankful for these two ladies/running mommies/friends and everything else that they are! 

We are traveling to Kansas City together in April to run a half marathon together...Jessica's very first!  We are running a 10K together this coming weekend here in Omaha.  It is the Leprechaun Chase 10K which was the featured race of the month in February's Runner's World Magazine.  The picture above is from a pre Leprechaun Chase night at Red Dirt Running Company, which is a local running store.  We were able to do a test run in a pair of Mizuno Evo Cursoris shoes and there was raffle drawing for prizes.  In May, Jess and Sarah will run the Lincoln Half Marathon with another college friend of ours (Michelle) and I will run the full marathon.  I hope our running time together continues and that we are able to run many more races TOGETHER!

Valentine's Day 2013

 The girls waiting ever so patiently to see what is underneath the blanket...daddy worked so hard  putting it together! :)

They got a Barbie Volkswagon powerwheels!  Thanks to my good friend and co worker, Lindsay, who found a killer deal on this and asked if we wanted it!!  On any other Valentine's Day I would NOT give this kind of gift to the girls, but we didn't have anywhere to store it for months and months before another birthday would have rolled around!