It's a Chuck E Cheese Party!

Today is Morgan's Birthday! In order to celebrate the monumental fourth birthday we decided to take her to Chuck E Cheese. Now there is a little back story to this big trip.

For the last year she has been asking to go to Chuck E Cheese, and up until now Greg and I have dodged the question. She also has been asking "Is it my birthday?" It didn't take too long for her to put the two ideas together and ask if she could have a Chuck E Cheese party for her birthday. Greg and I still resisted for awhile and we told her we would have a party at home and invite her friends over. The plan was to let her invites some friends over, cook out, swim in the kid pool etc. Well with switching her school she lost a lot of her friends that she would have invited, and when we started calling all of our friends who have kids they were all busy. So we didn't want her to not have a party- so we decided to take the plunge and visit Chuck E Cheese.

We invited our friends who have a little boy named Miles and they were brave enough to come along with us. I did some research and decided to reserve an official party- mainly because I wanted her to feel special on her big day! And boy did she get some royal treatment.

We kept the visit a surprise for two reasons. 1. I didn't really want to hear her ask "Are we going to Chuck E Cheese today?" a million times and 2. I wanted to see the look on her face when she figured out where we were. So we finally broke down in the car on they way to the party. She wasn't too sure what we were talking about, but this is how she looked when we got there.

And Elizabeth was pretty excited too.

Since I reserved an official party for her we got all sorts of special stuff. We had a reserved table with a tables cloth, fun plates and cups. And an enormous star balloon that had Morgan's name on it. We got there and played for 45 minutes before lunch and "the show". All the kids got pizza and lemonade which seemed to be a big hit.

This picture shows the whole gang: Miles, his sister Amelia, Morgan and Elizabeth!

Like I said, the pizza was a big hit. Once everyone had lunch the show started. There was a giant screen that counted down Chuckie's arrival. Once I told Morgan what is was doing she got pretty excited. The show started with Chuckie coming out, shaking hands and moving incredibly excited kids out of his way. He made his way up to the front by the stage. Then Chuckie and the table servers started the birthday program. They made a huge deal about the Birthday Stars (which include anyone paying for an actual party)! WE cheered, sang, clapped etc. They even went table by table and yelled out that so and so was celebrating his whatever birthday. So Morgan was really excited when they got to her! "And this is Morgan who is celebrating her 4th birthday today- give her a hand!"

Since she was a birthday star she got an inflatable birthday crown (with extra tokens!) to wear for the rest of our visit. Not only was Morgan excited about the pizza and her new birthday crown, but she was excited about all the games and rides that Chuck E Cheese offers. Greg and I took turns playing with her- this picture is from a Greg trip. He said that all she wanted to do was ride this thing around and around and around....well you get the idea.

She played video games, ski ball, whack-a-mole and plenty of other games. After all the main idea was to get enough tickets so that she could pick out a prize at the end of the day.

At the end of our trip we cashed in our tickets (a whopping 200!) and headed to the prize stand. Now let me tell you- from the minute we got there Morgan had her eye on a lollipop as big as her hand. Since is was her birthday I was ready to fork over the extra $2 and buy it for her. But she got to use her tickets- so she was pretty impressed with herself! In addition to the enormous lollipop she got a cool straw and three small Tootsie Pops which she shared with Elizabeth.

Now for those wondering how Elizabeth liked our trip, she loved it. Actually she loved Chuckie. At the front of the dining room is a stage with a robotic Chuckie. Every now and then the curtain opens, Chuckie comes out and talks and sings. Well she was pretty much in awe of the robot mouse. When he was gone she would stand there and yell "Chuckie!, Chuckie!" She would have been happy just standing there waiting for him to come back out.

When we got back home, we took naps. Both girls were worn out! But that night we celebrated yet again with cake! I made Morgan's cake on Friday and she got to help decorate it. I asked her what she wanted and we chose stars and circles. She even picked the colors- blue, orange and pink. Before dinner we had to stop at the grocery store for a couple of things and she was pretty insistent on getting candles for the cake. So we added some candles at the last minute.

This picture was taken before dinner, but Morgan was anxiously awaiting the cake. She wanted to see it about every five minutes. And that is her lollipop that she got at Chuck E Cheese!

Finally she got to have the cake- and it was a pretty big hit.

Elizabeth liked it too.

All in all it was a pretty good birthday! I guess I should start planning for next year. It might be hard to top this!

Father's Day Weekend!

For Father's Day weekend our Mimi and Papaw came to visit. They came for a few reasons: 1. it was Mommy's birthday weekend 2. It was Father's Day weekend and 3. They needed to see us (personally we think that was the biggest reason!)

While they were here we had all sorts of fun. Lizzy and I always seem to get away with more when Mimi and Papaw are here. We got to have breakfast on the couch- which is way more fun then eating at the table!

Mimi and Papaw brought Mommy and Daddy two new chairs for the porch. These chairs had nice cushions that we decided to play with. I put them on the ground and decided to "go camping". Once I decided to play on them Lizzy thought they were an okay toy, so she played too. We "camped" for a long time and took turns covering up and going to bed.

Eventually we had to stop camping because Lizzy and I got too excited and while we were playing we bumped heads. Both of us thought it was pretty bad (I even got a band-aid!) and so a scoop of ice cream was needed to calm us down. We even got sprinkles and chocolate sauce on our ice cream. That never happens either!

We played in our pool since it was so hot that weekend.

We splashed each other with buckets of water in order to cool off.

We even went to the spray park one day. It was the first day that the water was actually really warm. It was great!

We had a great time. Not only did we get to play with Mimi and Papaw but we got to celebrate Mommy's birthday (which meant cake!) and we got to celebrate Father's Day which meant helping Daddy open his presents.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Chocolate Pudding is a Good Idea in Theory...

One day while at the grocery store I passed by the Jello Pudding and thought "Hey, the girls would probably really like that!" So I picked out the sugar free flavor (thinking this would make my life easier) and took it home and hoped to surprise the girls with a treat. Well a few days later when we were making lunch Morgan saw the pudding in the fridge and asked if she could have some. Remembering my great idea I said "Sure!" So after lunch I got two jello pudding cups out and handed them over.

The entire time I was getting them ready, taking the lids off, putting the spoons in- I was thinking "They will really like these!" Now I wasn't really wrong- they really did like the pudding. What I didn't think about was the incredibly mess it would make.

Note to self- Don't give a pudding cup to a toddler that is just mastering the spoon. Luckily we had the kiddie pool out and I was able to wash it off fairly easily!

It's the last .1 miles that kills you....

This post has taken a long time to write- sorry I'm a bit behind. So earlier in May I actually completed my first half marathon! Since it was a big accomplishment it deserves a little synopsis of what happened.

First I have to say, I have wanted to do the Mini Marathon since we moved to Indianapolis (that was seven years ago people.) And every year I always came up with an excuse. Well this year I decided that I was going to do. So I signed up with Team in Training to hopefully raise money for a worthy cause and have something that would make me more determined to finish the training program. So we started in late January. We met Saturday mornings and we started out running 30 minutes. That was a big deal because I hated running in the cold- but I proved to myself I could do it!

After awhile I got to the point that I had to come to the realization that I wasn't going to be able to make the minimum donation level that Team in Training asks you to raise, so I had to drop off their team. But I joined a local running group and kept on training. The runs were easier but really long! Without the ongoing support of the running group staff (who provided water and bagels) it would have been a miserable experience.

So the months went on, it got warmer (and thank goodness for that- there were mornings that I had frost on my eyelashes when we were done!) and the time finally came to show what all my training had done. I was slightly unsure how I would do. We trained on the relatively flat Monon Greenway and the race I signed up for was "The Race Around the Reservoir" at Geist Reservoir. Geist is hilly...and I was unsure how I would do. I made my way there, and it was incredibly humid and overcast- I could tell it would be hot. Now let me remind you that at this point the farthest I had run was 10 miles- it was going to take everything to make up the other 3.1....

So the race started- I kept up an incredibly pace (for me at least) the first 9 miles. I was averaging 10:30 per mile, which is much faster then what I normally run. (The pictures below were "borrowed" from the event photographers website). See how relaxed I looked- this had to of been early in the race.

By mile 9.5 I was tired, hot and dripping with sweat. I decided it wasn't worth being sick so I walked a little. The next 3 miles or so were the longest ever. The hills seemed like mountains and I seriously thought the finish line would never show up. This picture was probably in the last .1 miles. Seriously that .1 mile kills you. Because you think "Hey I'm done at 13 miles....but no..."

Finally I turned a corner and realized that the white tents I saw was the "party village" at the end of the race. I made it! See how excited I was to cross the finish line.

I finish in a respectable time of 2:38. Slightly slower then what I wanted to because I ended up averaging 12 minutes per mile. (See I told you I slowed down at the end). But I was still happy that I finished.
Greg was going to bring the girls down to see me cross the finish line, but getting to and from the end of the race was nearly impossible and it started to rain just as he was getting them out of the car. So I had to wait until I got home to share the excitement with them. Everyone got a medal for finishing, so to Morgan that meant Mommy won the race! Here she is modeling my medal and my sunglasses.


Needless to say it was a big accomplishment to train for and finish a half marathon. It was hard but exciting. And I liked it so much that my next one is in November- training started this weekend!

What came first...the chicken or the egg?

Well in this case, the egg came first.

Morgan's school decided to take on the amazing task of incubating and hatching baby chickens. For the past few weeks (21 days to be precise) the eggs have been hanging out in the incubator (or "elevator" if you ask Morgan- hey incubator is a big word!) Nearly every day Morgan would show me the eggs when we went to school and when I picked her up. Her teacher Miss Julie would remind her how long they had to stay in there, and all the kids have been looking at pictures of what is happening inside the egg, etc.

Well finally the day came- would the eggs hatch? Of course! Seven out of twelve eggs hatched. A few of them started to hatch late on Thursday afternoon, and when I picked up Morgan I got to see the start of them poking out. Believe me when I tell you it was probably the longest night of Morgan's short life. She couldn't wait to get back to school to see the new baby chicks.

So Friday morning Morgan ran into school to find four little babies in the incubator trying to stay warm. By that afternoon, those four had been moved to the cage, and three more had started cracking their way out of the eggs. By Monday morning all seven were in the cage, looking as cute as could possibly be.

All the kids have been so excited. Morgan is typically greeted in the morning with one of her friends shrieking "Look at the chicks!" Those poor chickens are probably wishing it was a little calmer in their temporary home. I can't imagine that ten 4 year olds creates a soothing environment. The chickens have started getting their "big chicken" feathers and are growing super fast.

They will be sent to a farm in the next few days to live out their natural chicken life.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day has come and gone and I got to spend the weekend with the girls and got a lot of yard work done. For Mother's Day Morgan and Elizabeth (and Greg too) bought me some red geraniums for the planters out back, so of course we had to plant them. We also bought flowers for our pots on the front and back porch. I also put a lot of time into the back hill which will be discussed in greater detail in another post.

After planting and cleaning up I made the girls pose for a couple of pictures with me. As you can see Elizabeth was less then thrilled with the idea, and Morgan just wanted to squeeze my face.

Greg was nice enough to suggest that we go to one of our favorite restaurants the Broad Ripple Brew Pub for dinner that night- which was awesome because I didn't have to cook! So we packed up our stuff and headed to Broad Ripple. Apparently several other husbands had the same idea because the place was full of families. It was nice enough for us to sit outside on the porch. While we waited Greg and I enjoyed some wonderful brew and snapped some pictures of the girls.

Morgan is showing the camera something- but I'm not too sure what it is.

Mommy and Elizabeth, coloring on the kid's menu.

Morgan posing for the camera.

Out of no where Morgan wanted to "cheers" everyone. So we toasted each other...

Of course Elizabeth didn't want to be left out, so I had to toast her too.

When we got back home it was still super nice so we went back outside to finish planting and to play. Morgan brought the lawn mower up from the basement and both she and Elizabeth spent some time mowing the yard.

Another quick pose with Mom.

Miss Elizabeth taking a break from mowing the yard. And for those wondering, yes Elizabeth's hair has gotten much lighter. Her jet black locks from when she was born are long gone.

And finally, Morgan posing with her plant. She picked this pink geranium out at the nursery. She was very specific about what she wanted. "I want a pink flower Mommy." I kept showing her various shades of pink flowers, and none of the cut it until this one.

Mommy Went to Washington!

Well this post has nothing to do with the girls, but I thought I would give an update on my recent trip to Washington DC. As the current president of INASLA (Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects) every year I have to head out to Washington for a day of lobbying, and then two days of meetings that are supposed to train me to be a better leader. Much to Greg's dismay it meant that I was gone from Wednesday until Sunday. (Don't worry everyone he survived, and so did the girls!)

Lobby day was up first- our briefing meetings started at 7:30 and throughout the day we met with three Indiana Congressmen, visited the offices of three more and left information, and ended the day with meetings with Indiana's Senators. Now when I say we had meetings with these people what I really mean is that we had meetings with the wonderful staff people. In case you were wondering, the congress men and senators actually have offices outside of the Capital- they are in four different buildings that look like this-

So part of the fun of the day is walking back and forth from building to building. Hey at least I got a good work out.

This is the National Archives building- we didn't have time to go in, but it was pretty from the outside.

We did have time to stop for a photo op outside the Capital. Funny thing- right before we were going to take the picture there was no one on the steps. The minute we get ourselves together a huge tour group walks behind us.

One evening we decided to take a tour called Monuments by Moonlight. The tour left at 7:30 from Union Station and went to every single monument along the mall- and even went out to Arlington National Cemetery. We drove around in an old trolley car. The weather was perfect too!

While many of the pictures didn't turn out (obviously because it was dark) but here are a few that made it.

The Washington Monument

Good old Lincoln Monument

And the Korean War Memorial which looks incredibly creepy at night. The picture doesn't do it justice, but believe me it was incredibly creepy looking.