Mother's Day Weeekend

Mother's day weekend started out bright and early on Saturday morning...7 am for the Mom's Rock 5k.

It was a small run, not that many participants, but it was fun! What made it more fun is that I actually came in 3rd place in my age group and 4th place amongst all women with a time of 25:35.2. I was shacked and amazed but completely proud of myself.

On Sunday we had a nice breakfast and then we were hoping to go for a nice hike but unfortunately, that didn't happen. That day we were having 40-50 mph wind gusts. This made any outside activity nearly imposable. So, instead, we had a nice lazy day at home...I even took a nap. Jim made me a great mother's day dinner and then we headed out foe some frozen yogurt.


Cheers...

I am so very lucky to be the mom of two beautiful little girls!!

New Hair Cut for Abby

Abby has not allowed me to do her hair for months now so, it was time for a hair cut. I love her beautiful long blond hair but I am tired of the tangles and her fighting me when I need to brush it.

Abby has had her hair cut several times before but this is the first time she had a melt down when we tried to but her in the hair cutters chair. She was so upset that we actually had to leave. After a brief talk in the parking lot we were able to go back in. The problem...she wanted to sit in the train chair.

Abby before:

Abby after...still as cute as ever!

Bath For 2

Kera has graduated from bathing in the sink to baths in the bath tub with her big sister!!

I foresee many fun bath times in their future!

California

For months I have been planning a baby shower for Remy for the last weekend of April but, as we were all in the car on the way to California, we got some bad news...Remy was sick and unfortunately had to cancel the shower. We all felt awful that she was not feeling well but since we were half way there and it was such an effort to get us all packed-up and into the car, we figured that we might as well continue and try to make the best of the weekend.

When we rolled into town on Friday afternoon we checked into our hotel and then headed to the beach. It was a nice sunny day, with the temperatures in the 70's, so it was a great day for a beach stroll. Abby and Kera were a big fan of the beach. Abby loved throwing rocks into the ocean and Kera loved the sea breeze.





After the beach we went in search for food. We ended up on the fisherman's wharf and unfortunately the best thing about the $100 dollar meal was the view. Abby was being a bit antsy, Kera was not a happy camper sitting in her car seat, and the food was mediocre at best.

After an awful night sleep in the hotel...the girls were restless being in a new environment and the beds were some of the worst I have ever slept in...we went out to a nice breakfast and awaited a call from Joe. He had the day off so we were excited to at least see him for the day.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel, we were supposed to stay 2 nights but we decided after all of the hiccups to head home a day early. Then, we headed over to Joe and Remy's. Remy unfortunately had a really bad night but it was great to see her and Joe...even if it was for only a few hours.

Next, it was time to head back home. It is a 5.5-6 hour drive and we wanted to be home for dinner.

Lessons learned on this trip:

• Abby and Kera love the beach



• Portable DVD player are a life saver when traveling with 2 year olds



• Kera LOVES to cry in cars so, a road trip this summer is probably not in our future



• There is nothing wrong with take out especially when you have 2 kids under 3



• The saying, "let's make the best of it", is not always possible



• I am glad that my pregnancies have not been as hard as Remy's

Even though the weekend did not go as planned we are looking forward to our next trip to California! When we go back in July we will be meeting the newest baby Rogers. We are SO EXCITED to meet her!!

Easter

WOW, this is our second Easter in Vegas, I can't believe it! On the Saturday before Easter we had our second annual neighborhood egg hunt, it was a great time! It was so much fun watching the kids, and the husbands, fun around. Here are a few pictures of the egg hunt...


Abby with her friend Maddie:


After all the eggs were found they all had fun discovering what was inside:

Last year we were able to get a picture of all the kids sitting nicely on the curb...


left to right: Abby, Kyle, Rohan, and Maddie

This year was NOT so easy! Corralling a bunch of 2 year olds is no easy task!! This is the best picture of dozens taken...

left to right: Kyle, Maddie, Sarah, Abby, Rohan, and Angelina

There are also some new babies in the group:


left to right: Makayla (with mom Rebecca), Banyan (with dad Greg), and Kera (with me)

After the neighborhood egg hunt it was home to decorate eggs for the Easter bunny. This was a first for Abby and she had a lot of fun!

So much concentration...
great results...


On Easter morning the Easter bunny was very kind to the girls...I think leaving him a couple of carrots helped...



After an Easter egg hunt at home we got dressed -up...


...and headed to Mt. Charleston lodge for breakfast.


Breakfast was good but it is hard eating out with 2 kids under 2.5. Right as our food came Kera had an explosion and we needed an outfit change...so much for the pretty white dress, oh well. A nice customer took a family picture of us...

I think this is how group pictures are going to look for the next few years!

The rest of Easter was spent relaxing at home. Overall it was a very fun holiday weekend!!

Kera's First Meal

Sunday, April 17th was a big day in the life of Kera Elizabeth! Not only did she have a fun afternoon of splashing in the pool but, it was also Kera's first meal of solid food! She was not so sure about things at first...

but, she got into it...

and I think she ended up to really liking it!

Abby even helped her baby sister!

After a few days of rice cereal and oatmeal Kera moved on better things like sweet potato!


Now, a few weeks into solid foods Kera is enjoying rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, bananas, and apples.

Burrs Turns 60!

Right after my grandma's visit my parents came to town, April 8th-15th. It was GREAT timing! Not only was Jim going out of town for a week, so they were in town to help me with the girls, but it was my mom's 60th birthday. Here are some pictures of our adventures. We basically did my normal weekly routine with a few extra activities thrown in.

Sunday was a HUGE holiday for my dad, Master's Sunday. We were able to drag him out for a hike in the morning:

Then we watch a bit of the Masters. Kera looked like she was actually into it...

While dad finished watching the Masters back 9 us girls headed out to "The Farm". Not only was Sunday the Masters but it was also National Egg day. On the morning news I heard about a local farm that sold fresh eggs so, we decided to check it out. Well...the term "farm" is used lightly in this case but...there were animals. This place was more like a junk yard with animals but...it was a nice junk yard and Abby LOVED it.

We did not end up coming home with any fresh eggs, they were really expensive, but we did come home with some fresh local honey, YUM!

Monday, was my mom's birthday. The morning started off like any other Monday with story time:

On Monday evening dad cooked us a great birthday dinner (I did help with the seasonings), halibut and asparagus on the grill and of course, carrot cake for dessert...

On Tuesday we had gymnastics and then we headed to Ethel's Chocolate factory. I had this grand hope that the factory would look like Willy Wonka's factory but, no such luck. It was a very small factory and the tour consisted of a hallway that you could look in on the workers. The problem that we ran into is, they were not in production on the day we went.

One nice thing about the factory is that there was a cactus garden connected to it so, we were able to take a nice walk through the cacti...

After the factory we headed out for lunch and I could not believe our luck! On Tuesday Ben and Jerry's was giving away FREE ice cream!!

My dad brought a fun project for Abby and him to work on during the week, a bird house. Dad had all the pieces ready to be screwed together and painted. Abby and Pepe had a good time working on it together!

Also during the week, Burrs was able to see Abby at dance class:

take Abby on a few bike rides:



and frozen yogurt:

Their trip ended with a visit to the Shark Reef and lunch at The Hotel. It was another great visit by Burrs and Pepe and we are looking forward to seeing them again in August.