Racing

Back in February we bought a treadmill. I was having severe cabin fever due to the extreme cold outside and dying to get rid of the excess weight still hanging on after having Nora. And, now that we have 3 kids instead of 2, I can't feasibly take all three in our double jogging stroller. Thus the need for the treadmill. Well, today was a gorgeous day outside and so we took advantage of the nice weather and raced our first 5K of the season. A few days ago, as we were talking about the race, we realized we needed a single jogging stroller for Nora. We've realized through research that the "Baby Jogger" brand of jogging strollers is one of the best kind out there so we researched Craigslist for strollers nearby and got a steal of a deal for a stroller for $40 that originally retails for probably around $250. Well, today was my and Nora's first time pushing the stroller and it was amazingly light. I hardly could tell that I was pushing it at all except that I wasn't able to swing my arms. Jeremy, as always, did very well and finished 13th place overall and 3rd for his age group and received a trophy which he kindly handed off to Matthew, who had been eyeing the trophies since we first arrived at the race. I finished in 115th place and 6th for my age group. I wasn't expecting much seeing as how it was my first race in over a year and after having a baby. I'm just considering it a baseline from which to improve upon throughout the season.

Please refer to the bottom right of our blog to see our race times.

Girly

Maybe I'm not a very good at teaching my son how to be masculine. While Matthew was playing some games on the computer I thought it would be fun for Corinne to paint her fingernails and toenails. Just as I was getting started Matthew came over and told me he wanted his nails painted too. I did try to dissuade him by telling him that polish is only for girls and mommies. It didn't work. He still thrust forth his fingers and toes and said, "paint mine too, mommy!" I knew that nothing I could say would change his mind so I gave in and painted his fingernails and toenails too. I do have clear polish, but he wasn't having that either. The dark pink was too irresistable.

In addition to the beautiful manicures and pedicures from yesterday, today we were listening to some disney songs and a song from "Sleeping Beauty" came on. This happens to be Matthew's favorite Disney movie and so he got up from his chair and put his blanket around his waist and started twirling. I may be in for some rough male identification days ahead.

Spring Break in Arizona

I was getting depressed by the persistent cold here in Connecticut and hearing from my family how beautiful the weather is in Arizona so we decided to take a multi-purpose trip to Arizona. It was to be my spring break and Jeremy's second trip to work on our house in Buckeye. The day after we arrived we were all just so happy--it seems as though the warmth and cloudless skies uplifted us all. This is Matthew's super happy face.

Nora was just a dream to travel with. She was the quiestest and best of all three on the plane and throughout the whole week. The people in front around me on the plane would stand up when we landed and notice Nora and say, "I didn't even realize you had a baby because she was so quiet!" She loved Grandma Strong and smiled lots for her.

Yes, while we were there it reached the 90s so we ventured into the wading pool. It must have been too long since my kids were last in one because it took them awhile to figure out what to do with their cousins. The next day they were feeling the results of the heat--Matthew and Corinne broke out in heat rashes. Matthew's didn't go away until we came back home.

We went over to Uncle Daniel's new house and visited with his puppy and ferrets. Matthew and Corinne couldn't get enough of them.

We also spent some time at Aunt Melinda's house and the kids loved playing with Hannah and the fun outside toys. My kids just couldn't get enough of being outside. I couldn't find it in my heart to keep Matthew indoors to minimize his heat rash because it was just too beautiful outside to resist.

It was very convenient that we happened to be there while the Easter pageant was going on at the Mesa, AZ temple. We had a spot on a blanket close to the edge of the grounds of the temple. That means that we were close enough to the temple ground boundaries to hear the yelling of the protesters that are not allowed on the temple grounds. It made for quite a distraction and contrast to hear the yelling negative comments over the soft soothing voice of the narrator of the pageant. It was fun to watch Matthew and Corinne understand some of what was being portrayed by the actors. Matthew said he wanted to hug and kiss Jesus. After the part where Jesus is beaten and crucified, Matthew found a piece of tree bark and said it was a bandaid for Jesus.

On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with cousins. It started raining early that morning so we were worried we would have to have the hunt indoors but it cleared up by the afternoon and everything dried up.

Their cousin Tommy was having a birthday so we combined the egg hunt with a birthday party and celebrated with cupcakes and a pinata. All the kids were able to take turns hitting the pinata but Tommy was the one to take it down.

Matthew was pretty aggressive with teh pinata and gave it some good whacks.

Corinne loving the candy she found.

I caught Matthew doing this right after the pinata. All the kids went into sugar shock within an hour.

Tommy blowing out his candles.

Catching the newlyweds outside playing a game of soccer with Tommy.

Happy as can be with a cupcake in her hands!

Nora smiling and happy throughout it all! We had a great trip and are having a hard time adjusting back to the cold Connecticut weather and lack of cousins.

Kitchen progress

While in Arizona this past week, Jeremy was able to make quite a bit of progress on the home. This is what I saw the first day we were there. Jeremy had done quite a bit of work when he went in March. Most of it was preparatory work like taking out the pantry and doing some electrical wiring for the appliances since we are going to put them in different places than they were originally supposed to be.

Here is what it looked like when we left it around 4am Sunday morning. We worked all night putting the island together so that the granite can be placed in a few weeks. Not all the cabinets have the doors on, but the appliances are all in place (except for the drop-in stovetop). As we were assembling the island, we realized just how large it is going to be. I hope I don't have any regrets. It is supposed to double as an eating area instead of having a kitchen nook. I guess I'll see how it turns out after the granite is placed. Sorry for the lighting--it was dark outside.