Baskets, & Candy, & Egg Hunts--Oh My!

Our poor sweet girls have been sick all week (they apparently like to get sick around big holidays), but thankfully took a turn for the better Friday evening--just in time for some Easter fun!
Saturday (yesterday), we got out for some (much needed) fresh air with a trip to the zoo and park, and a potlock dinner at the Church with some friends (that Jenny attended, but the still-kinda-sick kiddos and Travis stayed home for). Then (unsure that we'd have nice weather on Easter) we ended the night with an egg hunt.


Excited to get started.

I love her expression.

Bethany didn't quite understand the egg hunt concept at first and bypassed an egg on her way up the slide (it was her first day on the big slide though, so her excitement was understandable ;) ).

With a little help, she got the hang of it.



Grace (the veteran) was all over it from the start.



Come back baby! There's more eggs!

I'm coming, mom and dad!



Success. :)

She loved to shake them!





Yelling "I love Easter!"

We tucked the kiddos in bed and set out their Easter baskets. Bethany loves lift-the-flap books and Grace has recently gotten really into puzzles so we got them these (thank you Marshall's clearance!). And they both love to color, so we added some new crayons and markers too. :)

I woke up this morning a little earlier than the girls and snuck in some scripture reading. The part I'm in the scriptures just happened to talk about the resurrection, and I was struck with such a sense of gratitude for my Savior and his Atonement, death, and resurrection.
Then the girls woke up and opened up their Easter baskets...

Finding her Easter basket. She immediately started opening the eggs and eating the candy inside. :)

 Much of the morning was spent using their new coloring supplies...

We just got this desk for free from a friend and love that the girls each have one now. Thanks again Elizabeth!

Grace's creations.

Travis, Grace, and I then assembled the traditional resurrection rolls (we put some butter and sugar on top this year too--yum!--and also used the colored bunny marshmallows that Grace convinced me to buy). We love doing this every year and teaching the kids (though a delicious treat) about the true meaning of Easter.

 

We were sad to miss out on Church today, but didn't want to spread the girls' sick germs. But, we tried to make up for it by reading Easter books and watching Church videos. I think Grace is starting to grasp the concept of Easter and it's heartwarming to see.

We pulled out the table cloth and fancy glasses for Easter dinner.

 

Now that we eat a vegetarian diet, I was at a loss at first for what to make for dinner today. But after looking through my recipe books, I came up with the menu of (brown rice) spaghetti with homemade marinara and lentil meatballs, honey ginger green beans, and garlic bread. It was a lot of work, but it was also super delicious! I'm not sure if it's our new Easter dinner tradition, but we'll definitely be making it again!

We just bought this new serving dish and I was so excited to put it to use.

Yum!

 After dinner, we headed out to the backyard for another egg hunt. Hooray!




She was lightning fast finding the eggs today.



This is a "I see some more eggs" smile.



Running to get them!




Got em! :)



Shake, shake, shake!

Happy with her bounty. :) LOVE her smile!




We divided the booty and they dug right in.

Happy Easter everyone! Hope it's been a day filled with Christ, love, family, food, and fun for you too!

Strongsville Super Saturday 5k

Today I ran my second official 5k--the Strongsville Super Saturday. The weather was a little frostier than originally expected, but the wind was mild and the sun was bright, so it was all I could really have asked for.
I had been entertaining the idea of running a 5k for about a week this past January when a friend posted on Facebook that she was doing a 5k and wondered if anyone wanted to join her. Figuring it must be a sign, I signed up too. :)
My original reason for doing the race was to give me an incentive to continue working out 5 days a week, and to do so more intensely than I had been over the holidays (which had been a low-impact 20 minute workout each day). But, being slightly competitive, I soon tacked a PR goal onto that--I wanted to be 5 minutes faster than my previous 5k time of 35:12 (that I'd run at the Chili Bowl 5k in February 2011).  The winter here has been cold and snowy, and for the first couple weeks of training I was running on our treadmill and the times I was pulling did not look good. 12 and 11 minute miles were just not going to cut it, and I began to think that a 30 minute 5k was a little too optimistic. I got a little nervous. Then, the weather turned a little nicer, and I got a few runs in outside, which revealed that our treadmill hadn't been calibrated correctly, and I had actually been running about a 10 minute mile. So I began to hope again. And then, on the last two Mondays, when I ran a 2 3/4 and a 3 mile run under my goal 9:50/mile pace, and I realized a my goal was possible, I decided to tweak my "ultimate" goal again--to 29 minutes (but still be satisfied with at least a sub-30 time).
The eve of the race finally came and I began to get nervous again. Was 2 rest days before the race too many? Had I trained enough? Was I familiar enough with the course to run the race like I wanted to? After stewing over it for 20 minutes in bed, I decided I just had to trust that the training schedule I'd been following wouldn't lead me astray and hope that it'd be enough.

Me, Shelley, and Jessica are all smiles before the race. We're excited and ready to start!

This morning we picked up my friend Shelley (the one who had invited me to sign up), and headed for the start line, where we picked up our shirts and bibs, and met up with our friend Jessica (who was also running the race). Nervous and excited, we took a couple quick pictures then chatted together at the start line for the last few minutes before the race began.
Finally, the gun sounded and we were off! After a slightly frustrating start (of technical difficulties with my watch and MP3 player), my tempo song (the one I'd been training to that kept me to the beat of my 30 minute goal pace) was on and I was in the groove (and hoping I didn't have too much time to make up).
We cruised through the first mile (which was mostly downhill) and were excited to know that we completed it right at 9 minutes! But the real test--the hill--was coming up (at mile 1.5). "Alright" I told myself "It's just a hill. It's not too bad. You can do this." But then we saw it, and it was MUCH steeper than I expected. "That's ok." I told myself again. "Just keep to the beat of the song and you'll get through it. Just keep on pace." Right about that time I saw a lone spectator holding a sign off to our left, and I thought "What a sweet angel to be right here where their friend--and all of us--needs them most. Bless that person." And then I looked a little closer and realized that it was one of our friends from Church, Elizabeth Brown. I was SO grateful to see a friendly face. With that encouragement, I powered up the hill while Shelley and Elizabeth ran together behind me, and caught up to Jessica who'd pulled ahead a little while before. Running side by side, we took on another (much smaller, but still significant) hill and finished up our second mile at 18:10. "The worst is over" I told Jessica, and to myself said "Over halfway there."
The hills had taken more out of me than I'd expected, and as we took a turn onto our second-to-last street, I had to keep reminding myself "You can do this! You've done this before! Just keep running to the beat!" (I learned in this race how important running to music is; it kept me on pace and kept me going when I otherwise would have slowed down time and again. It really was a lifesaver.)

Cruising in to the finish line along the final stretch.

Still running mostly together, Jessica and I took our final turn with less than a half mile left in the race, and saw some more familiar faces--our friends Danny and Crystal (Crystal had run the 1 mile race before the 5k--which she smoked) were there shouting my name and cheering me on. It really was such a blessing as I had needed some more encouragement right then (thanks guys!!), because though Travis and I had decided that this is when I was going to speed it up, I honestly wasn't sure how much I had left to give. But, digging a little deeper, I started lengthening my stride and reassuring myself (again and again) that I was almost there.
Then we were to the final .125 (or 200 yards) of the 5k, which was a straightaway to the finish line (and where I had planned to go "all out"). Adrenaline pumping, and with some more cheers from Elizabeth and Travis and the girls in sight (oh how it made my heart happy to see my girls and Travis's smiling face and hear him cheering excitedly for me), I gave it all I had...



Seeing my sweet family and knowing I'm almost there.

Grinning after Travis telling me "Smile! You're going fast!"

and crossed the finish line at 28:00.7!! "I did it!" I thought. I'd EXCEEDED my goal and smashed my old record by over 7 minutes! I felt so amazingly happy and proud.

I found out after the race that I had also finished 7th in my gender and age bracket (25-29 year old women) and 115th out of 263 runners overall. It felt so good to not be at the end of the pack! 

Jessica and Shelley were close behind and we huddled together for congratulations and another picture before going home.


Shelley coming in strong.

Finished and happy with our times and grateful to Elizabeth for her support.

All cleaned up and wearing my race threads. :)

I'm SO grateful that I signed up for this 5k. The commitment really got me going on those training days that I felt sick or tired (or lazy) and got me to get my exercise in anyway (and I always felt a really nice sense of accomplishment when I did). And of course exceeding even my "ultimate" goal for this race feels so SO good. There's just something wonderful about testing yourself and seeing what you're really capable of.
After I finished, Elizabeth commented that I need to catch the running bug. And maybe I have. That competitive part of me kind of wants to know if I have a faster time in me. So, til then...

Valentine's Day (aka Family Fun Day) 2012

This year's Valentine's day was completely internet-inspired (thank goodness for Facebook and Pinterest, right?!). One of my favorite recipe and craft blogs (Our Best Bites) posted this idea for little Valentine love notes and I thought it was the perfect way to start off "Love Month" (February 1st, for us) and get us in the loving mood. So (as suggested), I bought a few mini mailboxes from Target as well as some treats and stickers (to make it extra fun), then Travis and I printed off and filled out the love notes for each other and the girls, and "Voila!" our Valentine's were complete! 

The girls, Grace especially, really enjoyed waking up every morning to see what was in her mailbox. She loved hearing what our favorite things about her or memories of her were, and hearing what Travis and I loved about everyone else too (and of course, eating m'n'm's--her favorite treat--wasn't bad either ;) ). It was such a tender experience to sit and think about what I really love about each of my family members and the good times we have shared. And as a bonus, I unintentionally got Travis to write a love note to me daily (score!). 

Another website I follow (called The Power of Moms) shared another great idea called We Love to Be a Family Day (and some other fun ideas too). The author suggested picking 7 activities that your family loves to do, writing them on a schedule, and then doing them for Valentine's day (or any family day), and taking pictures to record all of the fun. Again, I thought it was a great idea, and loved the concept of making Valentine's day a family day, not just a romantic date for Travis and I. So, I brainstormed and came up with a list of some of our favorite things to do right now and then made up this schedule:

I'm currently on a cooking and baking craze (and think every holiday is more fun when special food is involved), so this activity was one of my picks. :) Cinnamon rolls are currently our favorite breakfast so we had those, and made it Valentine's-y by adding some bacon and heart shaped strawberries (thanks Facebook and Pinterest!)

 Up next on the schedule was the library. (In case you didn't know ;)) it is snowy and cold here in Cleveland in the winter, and so we're sometimes hard pressed to find fun things to do out of the house when we get cabin fever. I stumbled upon this open playroom at the library this Winter and it has been a Godsend! The girls love to go there, and we often do several days a week.

Bethany loves to try to put things together:

And Grace has been really in to building with blocks lately:

Here she is happily knocking down my tower ;) :

Bethany is in to these bead toys right now. If you could hear the audio in this picture, you would hear Bethany going "ahhh" as a sound effect for the beads falling down. Too cute!

 Then we were off to the park (for a quick trip, since it was freezing!)

These girls love to swing! Travis was pushing Grace by her feet and she thought it was hilarious!

We came home and had some lunch (mac n cheese, the girl's current favorite), and then had a tea party with the girl's Pooh stuffed animals (Grace loves to have tea parties these days, and Bethany loves to destroy them ;) ).

After lunch, we had naps/rest time, and played for a little bit before we headed off to Danny Boy's for our Valentine's dinner. I had heard great things about this restaurant and had been wanting to go there for awhile, so when we found a coupon for it the other day, we decided to make a family Valentine's dinner date out of it.
It did not dissapoint! The girl's devoured their cheese pizza, and Travis and I savored every bite (which wasn't even half--leftovers baby!) of our classic club croissant with yummy cajun fries and BBQ chicken pizza. Some of the best pizza, sandwhiches, and fries we've ever had for sure!

Grace with a happy full tummy :)

Being silly with mom:

And since it's a Holloway tradition to watch movies and eat popcorn, we did just that next.

Bethany really got in to eating popcorn for the first time and we all enjoyed watching a new Veggie Tales movie.

Bethany loves to share (and pretend share) her food with others, and had fun feeding Travis and I some popcorn. It was so sweet!

Like I mentioned before, holidays are even better when special treats are involved, and this time that special treat was this chocolate sour cream bundt cake (from a new favorite recipe blog I follow), made Valentine's-y with heart sprinkles and m'n'm's. Super moist, rich, and chocolatey, this cake was a definite winner (and quite possibly the best homemade chocolate cake we've ever had)!

Grace LOVED this cake, and immediately asked for seconds:

Then to work off some of that cheesy and chocolatey goodness we had consumed, we did a little Ring around the Rosie...

Surfed on the ironing board...

and went on airplane rides (one of Bethany's favorite things to do). 

We made the activites extra fun by "checking them off" with a sticker when we completed each one. (We never got to the draw a picture activity, but that's ok. Like the article said, it's not about getting them all done, it's just about having fun!) 

Then we tucked the kiddos in bed and Travis and I had a little slow dance and reminisced about our first Valentine's day and other fun times we had when we were dating. 

We had such a great time on our Family Fun Day! Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day too!