Ahhh swimming

Tonight I went swimming with Lacy...without kids! How fun, relaxing and tiring all at the same time. The more I run and train, the more I have come to appreciate the non-impact sports. During my 12 mile training run the other day, I felt things like, "oh...I'm so cold, so wet(it was raining), oh...now my leg hurts, ankle sore, toe is rubbing, knee bothering me, if only I was 20 pounds lighter, can't wait to be done, that car is not getting over and might kill me dead"...all these thoughts come at different times during the 2+ hour duration. But swimming is different. It is fun, fluid, graceful and works you out without all the pain. It was a breath of fresh air so to speak. I'm reminded that I need to go more often. When I was pregnant with Macy and training for our relay, our family went swimming once a week for some cross-training and fun for most of the summer. Jon and I would take turns swimming laps while the other watched the kids in the shallow end. I really haven't gone much since then. Hopefully I can coninue to make time for it.

By the way...we went to the new YMCA in Gig Harbor...hello AMAZING. It is so cool, they have everything. Lacy is a member, I went as a visitor. Wow. I really wish I could afford to be a member. Not to mention the pool water is warm. (SK pool borders on giving kids hypothermia.)

Other than that the past few days have been good. Entering our spring break week here. Of course all the kids woke up way earlier and were extra energetic. So much for my hope of sleeping in. I think I need to wear them out...maybe I'll take them swimming!

It was a Hannah Montana themed birthday....Here is the "Hair" station where they got their hair done with fun accessoriesManicures were done by Jon's sister Sammie. We were so excited they could be with us all the way from Kennewick. Here she is doing cousin Michal's nails followed by the "Wardrobe" station.After the fashion show, here's the kids lined up on the runway

A little runway action by Sierra

And the birthday girl striking a pose

These muffins Peyton made the next morning from her new Disney cookbook. They were soooo yummy. They have apricot jelly baked in the middle.Also found this picture on the camera...Macy discovered the bird bath one day while I wasn't watching...look closely to see the drops of water all over her face.

Just Macy being cute with "Bullseye" Easton's puppy.

And finally, here's Jon and I on our anniversary date.

Happy 11th Anniversary.

Jon and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on Saturday. Hard to believe it. So much has happened in the past 11 years. We have been truly blessed. It was a crazy week of Easton being home from school sick 4 days in a row, I had a stomach flu on the Thursday before Peyton's party and the not to mention cleaning and putting on the fashion show. We were exhausted the day of our anniversary. We did manage to enjoy the evening of dinner at Gino's downtown Port Orchard. If you haven't been there it is the old Twetens. I love Gino's. It has an italian flair and the food is great. On the expensive side, but we wen't during happy hour and shared and $8 pizza and some side salads. Anything to save money these days. After dinner we went to a comedy show at our very own Admiral Theater in Bremerton. It was fun. One of the finalists from Last Comic Standing was a headliner.

I will post some pics soon, just need to find that cable...in the flurry of cleaning on Friday I think it went missing. I gotta go now, my kids are at Jon's parents and I have to take full advantage of being kid-free for a couple hours.

Peyton turns 5!!!

March 20th was Peyton's 5th birthday. She has been so excited for her special day. We were going to have a pool party, but she decided she wanted a pinata, and I said no pinata at the pool. So on Friday we had a bunch of people over, probably close to 30+ in our house, including 15 kids(mostly little girls). My fabulous husband has been cleaning out the garage lately. And I mean CLEANING. We filled a dumpster last week and took 3 expedition loads to Goodwill. Needless to say it has been awhile since we worked out there in the "black hole". It looks amazing now. So for the birthday party we had a fashion show. Runway, spotlight, music and all. When the kids first arrived the boys were called to the "press room" (our office). They were given mini digital cameras and were to take photos of the whole event. The girls were given little handbags which they would fill throughout the evening at the many stations. Most stations were set up in our play room. We had "Hair", "Makeup", "Wardrobe", "Manicure", and "Stage Practice"(in the garage). The girls would go to each station, get made-up and ready for the big fashion show which we held in our garage. I was amazed at how brave these girls were, especially Peyton. She really is fearless. She was a natural at walking and posing. We videotaped the whole thing. (If only I knew how to post video I would put some clips on here.) I have some photos I will post later...as soon as I find my lost camera cable. :(

Last week Peyton had a preschool field trip to see some baby farm animals. Her favorite part was when she got to pound a nail into wood. Now I know what we can do for fun when the weather is bad :).

Easton finished up his second year of basketball which he loved. Here's a couple photos from his party and last game.

After the basketball party we visited the pet store and Macy about freaked out. She ran in and said "Hi" excitedly to the birds about twenty times while waving and then we went and saw the big "shishee" for fishy, which she kept laughing and pointing at. Very cute.


I returned home from a late night birthday party for my friend Patty and Jon showed my the following disturbing picture. This is Easton's toy(which I have never liked, given to him by my mother) which Macy insisted on bringing to bed with her.

My cousin Jenna's little boy Cohen, 8 months, came for a visit on Monday. He is so cute and sweet. I was a bit worried that Macy would be a little envious and hord her toys. However she was so great, she would bring him toys to play with and plop down next to him to play. They were so fun to watch.Here is a funny one. When I first pulled out the camera, Macy decided to play a trick. Each time I would try to be funny to get a smile, she would scowl. As soon as the flash went off she would crack up and smile big. It was hilarious.

Here's a couple photos from our Leavenworth trip last October. We went there so I could run the Leavenworth half marathon. A beautiful course by the way! We went there during Oktoberfest, although we were not into the nightly beer drinking craziness, we did enjoy the rock wall and other special events they had going on. Peyton is our fearless child. She is strong-willed and competitive. Therefore, when she saw this enormous rock wall, it was an oppotunity to challenge her brother, herself or anyone else. She made it ALL the way to the top and rang the bell. At age 4 1/2 I was pretty impressed.

Inaugural Rock & Roll Marathon

So I started training yesterday! The inaugural Rock & Roll Marathon in Seattle is this coming June. I am so excited. I am planning on running the marathon where they have live bands playing every half mile to mile. I have heard of other rock & roll marathons in other cities, but finally one in Seattle. You see...the other marathon Seattle offers is Thanksgiving weekend, which I ran in 2006. The problem is that the weather stinks! It snowed that freezing fall day. So June will be the perfect time for this. If only the training weather would permit. I am in a running club called the "Sole Mates" we run various races throughout the year. Relays and such. So a group of us will be training together for this coming race. Woo Hoo!

In random order...

Last night we did a little family night and went for pizza and roller skating. We had fun, Easton is getting pretty good...doesn't even need to hold on to the wall anymore. I love roller skating. It reminds me of being a kid again. Oh the many birthday parties we had at Skateland.

I was going through my camera and found some photos I wanted to post, so here goes...

Another daddy/daughter date... okay I am jealous now! Our 11th anniversary is in a couple weeks, so I think it will be my turn soon. A couple weeks ago, Jon took Peyton and Macy out to Build a Bear workshop, Macy's store for a little makeover and to Krispy Kreme for some treats. Here are some photos of that fun time.

Here is Peyton helping make cupcakes for my birthday back in November. She loves to help in the kitchen.

For New Year's Eve we went to a friends house. Peyton and her friend Neleah played dress up. Neleah's brother Noah also wanted to have a part in the fun. He was hilarious! Macy has sure enjoyed being outside lately. A whole new world to discover. She especially liked feeding Bigelmo rocks.

Peyton and I went to her dance studio's version on the Nutcracker together in December. They served these giant cupcakes that were pretty yummy. This would be a way cute picture except it was taken with my terrible camera phone.