Happy Birthday to me, Happy Easter to Everyone

This week was a crazy week. It contained my birthday, Easter, and our move to the apartment in Kentucky. I spent a lot of time doing laundry and attempting to get things laid out to pack and take. It was difficult because I had sent things down with Ryan, things to go down with Kris and Linda to Ohio, and I needed to pack separately for Ohio.

On Monday, we woke up to snow. It wasn't a ton, but enough to make things a bit slippery. Keira made spring crafts today at school, so that helped cheer things up a bit.





On Tuesday, Keira was scheduled for her Kindergarten prescreening at Village Oaks. She had a good time with the other children doing worksheets and playing. Soren did well sitting with me during the parent orientation. I did really well until Keira came back clutching a little Novi Wildcat that they gave her. I do hope we come back to Novi once we are done with our assignment in KY. I also hope we can get Keira into a school as nice as Village Oaks while we are gone.




Wednesday was a crazy day. It was Keira's last day for a while, so I made in cupcakes for her to take in. I felt like they didn't look homemade since I put them in the store's containers for easier transportation! She will be back in school for her actual birthday, but I just felt that it might be easier to do it now and to help with her understanding of what is going on.



I took Soren to his final storytime while Keira was at school. He loves Ms Kathryn.



After picking up Keira from school, several of us went out to McDonald's to grab lunch and let the kids play. It was pretty crazy, because it was crowded even before we got there. Keira's friends from school, Charlotte, Summer, Greg, Brendan, Austin, and Conner all came out to lunch and played in the playscape. It was fun, but we didn't stay long.


We left McDonald's and did a quick stop home to pick up my bike, as well as a few other things for the kids to head over to Ellyn's house. It was her birthday today, and she was having a German style party for herself. It was fun to be able to celebrate her birthday with her and her friends.

Next, it was time for my birthday celebration. Keira and Soren stayed with Linda at Ellyn's for a while playing with Bryn and Lletyon before going over to Linda's house. I had planned to do another "Big Birthday Brick" at Island Lake. It was cold and dreary, but my faithful hardcore ladies, Cristina, Valerie, and Kristel were there to ride. We picked up Tom, our leader of the Wed night workouts, for the second lap. We rode 30 miles in the freezing wind, and then ran 3 miles. It was a pretty good way to celebrate my birthday.



On Thursday, we got up and went to the gym early for a run and to say some goodbyes (and see you in Junes). We will miss everyone at Powerhouse Elite. I really feel like it was MY gym since I had been there so long, through all their changes. I have made some wonderful friends there. Keira and Soren will especially miss Ms Angela. Soren was there on her first day there.


After we got back from the gym, we got to work on packing the truck. It took a lot longer than I thought, because it seemed like there was always just "one more thing" that I needed or would fit. We finally got on the road and had to turn around to get my cell phone charger. Ugh. We were able to have a rather uneventful drive to Westerville, but because of all the delays, we ended up meeting up with Ryan and my parents at Cap City Diner instead of stopping first. We had a wonderful dinner and finished it off with a slice of their famous chocolate cake. It was actually the perfect size for me, Ryan, Keira, and Soren to share.


On Friday, my dad had to work. Ryan and I hoped to get in a ride together, but the weather didn't cooperate. After waiting on the weather all morning, we finally gave up and got some lunch at Chipotle. While Soren napped, Ryan and I went to see Water for Elephants. I really enjoyed it. We got our race packets picked up afterwards for the "bunny hop 5K", and had some pizza from Donatos for dinner. Not the greatest pre race meal, but since the race was a 5K, I didn't have to worry too much about carbo loading for it.

On Saturday, we got up early and everyone came to the race. Ryan and my dad drove separate, because he was going to leave to go for a bike ride with the Westerville Bike Club. I had a great race, and was first overall for the ladies! I was pretty pleased with this. The course was shortened a tad due to flooding, so although my time is a PR, it wasn't a full 5K, so it doesn't really count. It was windy and wet on the course, so I felt like I would not have beaten my 5K PR time had it been a full 5K. It was just short of 3 miles, according to my garmin.



After my race, Keira ran in the kids race. Soren was signed up but he didn't want to run. I carried him instead. Keira had a blast, and each child received a Cheryl's cookie as a prize. That is a great prize!




Following the races, we got ready for the Easter Egg hunt at the same park. My dad's Lion's club ran it, so he helped set everything up. It was really well organized, and both Keira and Soren got full baskets of eggs. It was pretty soggy, but the kids had a blast.





Kris and Linda arrived shortly after we got home from the hunt. Once Ryan got finished up with his ride, my parents and his parents did some sightseeing in downtown Columbus, visiting the Santa Maria replica ship and German Village. Once Soren woke up, we met up with everyone for an authentic dinner at Juergens in German Village. We also had some excellent desserts.


The next morning was Easter Sunday. Keira was up early and checked out her basket first. We brought Soren down, and both children were excited to receive new bikes!


We felt like it was Christmas again since they received presents from both sets of grandparents and the Easter Bunny all at the same time. We had an indoor egg hunt too.

We had a yummy breakfast of egg waffles with fruit, and then went to church. We attended the Westerville First Ward which met in a brand new Stake Center in New Albany. It is a beautiful building and it even had a pavillion and baseball diamond behind it. The service went long, but the kids were fairly well behaved and we were able to hear the messages of gratitude that Jesus Christ was resurrected and lives.




After returning home from church, we had a fabulous pork tenderloin for dinner, and then got loaded up to drive to Kentucky. We had a smooth drive with no stops and made it down a little before the kids needed to go to bed. We got everything unloaded, and the kids seemed to like the new place.

Up for next week, we will be figuring our way around the Louisville, KY area!

Ryan heads out!

This was a pretty big week. Ryan left for Kentucky on Tuesday, and I tried to keep the kids busy with things for them. We had some really nice weather, so it finally felt like spring is here. We also started saying goodbye to people, so that was tough. I did a lot of work most evenings getting things organzied to leave.

On Monday, Keira made a robin at school today and a birdfeeder. While she was at school, I got in a swim. We didn't do a ton out and about today, as I tried to get things ready around the house for the move. We were up pretty late getting the car packed for Ryan to head down.



On Tuesday, after my morningn workout, we went to the Novi Sports Park. This is a favorite playground. The kids always love the cars, swings, and the bouncy bridge.









Wednesday was "blue day" at school for Keira, so we all dressed in blue. She made a blue egg with a marble as well as put blue tissue paper on dots. She loves dot to dot activities.


After school, we went to our playground.




Ryan went on a group ride with some triathletes at the VO2 Multisport store and had a great time. They were pretty fast, and he was glad to keep up with them, otherwise he might have gotten lost.

Thursday was a really busy day. We started the morning at our final Kindermusik with Miss Karen. It was a really small class, so Keira and Soren got a lot of attention. It was nice for their final class.





After music class, we went to the gym and then to the mall to get our picture taken with the Easter Bunny. I was AMAZED with how well it went, especially since Keira was crying in the car on the way because she wanted to see a white bunny and not the brown one. I realized that it was because she wanted pizza from Sbarro, which is right by the white bunny at Laurel Park. Once she was assured that there was a Sbarro at 12 oaks, she calmed down. I promised them that if they did a good picture, they could get pizza afterwards. We did a bit of running around getting changed into picture clothes, but then Soren walked right up to the bunny and gave him a big hug. Keira was happy to stang by him for the picture. I was go pleased that there were no tears or stress!


After getting changed again and getting our pizza, we played on the rides in the food court for a while. Ryan was able to get in some mountain biking with a small group in a huge park near the apartment. It was a complicated trail system with no set route, so he was glad he found some people to ride with. It also had some very challenging terrain.


On Friday, there was not a storytime at the library while Keira was at school. After my workout, I headed down to Laurel Park and they were doing storytimes there by local "celebrities" to promote reading. We attended a reading of "The Penny House". It was read by Brian Meaken of the Livonia City Council. We were also given a copy of the book to keep. Soren was a bit bummed that we couldn't play at the mall too, as the story was a lot longer than I expected and we were almost late getting Keira. She was funny once I got her. She said that she learned that a xylophone was used to look at bones. I asked her if she meant X-Ray, and she said yes. Today they learned about the letter X.


After getting Keira, we met up with Linda for lunch at McDonalds, and she watched Keira and Soren so that I could get some things done around the house. The big accomplishment was getting the patio all cleaned up and cleared of leaves from the fall. It looks very empty right now, but I was really glad to get it done since storms were forecasted for the weekend.

Ryan got back into town around the time I was picking up Keira and Soren. We decided to have everyone meet at Noodles for dinner with Kris and Linda.

On Saturday, we woke up to the sound of rain. Ryan's ride plans were on hold, and then it stopped raining. Ryan made some calls and they decided to postpone until noon, and I took the opportunity to run 10 miles with Valerie in the neighborhood. It was great to for a run with her; it had been a while. I was able to finish up just in time for Ryan to leave. It started to sprinkle a bit as he left the house, but for the most part was a decent ride.

That afternoon, I got signed up for my first half Iron distance triathlon. It is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. I feel pretty good about everything excpet the bike. I had some trouble with the website, so I actually ended up registering through the race sponsor directly. Hopefully that doesn't cause any confusion with packet pick up. Later, we went over to Kent and Valerie's house for some pizza and to hang out before we head out of town. We will miss them! I am glad that we have several triathlon, cycling, and running events that we will be doing together over the summer.



Sunday was a rough day for the kids. We kept them up too late last night. They were pretty tired all day. Soren went back to sleep after waking up early and took a nap before church. We had to wake him up to leave. He looked so cute asleep!

We had a fairly good day at church, they were just tired enough to be pretty snuggly but not crying or misbehaving tired. We had a low key evening at home and worked to get Ryan packed up to head down on Monday.



Up for next week, I have Ellyn's birthday, my birthday, then a trip to Ohio for Easter before heading to KY.