Easter 2011

I know that Nate will not like the first picture in this post, but I'm proud of his creativity. We have a leak inside the wall in our upstairs bathroom. Our contractor will come someday soon to start tearing into the wall to repair it. In the meantime, Nate hooked this up to keep the laundry room floor dry. The hose dumps any water leakage into our laundry sink.


The girls trying on their Easter Dresses!




Tearing around the corner from Aunt Cyndi's house to begin the egg hunt.


and Ellie finally starts the hunt too!


Cousin Macy and Mikayla


The Easter bunny was creative this year!


Chocolate Easter eggs in the flowers...




The Jones' in front of Nate's home church.


The girls hyped up on candy, made their shirts into capes.

April Drags On...

I can't believe we got a taste of spring and now we're back in the 30's this week. This week, I played hooky from a few commitments and hung out at the Mall with Ellie. I've discovered a nice shoe store that does layaway and I was finally able to pay off some boots. Elyana was happy to meet the Easter bunny there. I was annoyed that the Easter bunny doesn't talk. What's the point of that? (In all honesty, what is the point of even sitting on his lap for photos?) Anyway, Ellie was thrilled and I snapped a cute picture.




Today, Mikayla had a community education theater class. Nearby at the Civic Center, there was Mayo One, Mayo Clinic's helicopter. They were having a high school career education day and were cool about inviting us inside for a peek. Here are a few pictures of Ellie, Mikayla, and her friend, Drew.










Finally, I can't remember if I posted this one, but it is Ellie's preschool picture this year. I think it turned out cute.

Indoor Triathlon Photos

Spring is Finally Here!!

It has been so nice to be able to send the girls outside after school while I start on dinner. At the same time, I'm a bit overwhelmed with the things that now need to be done: yard work, wash and pack away winter outer wear, and figure out what the girls have outgrown and now need.

With the start of spring has come preparing for the 2011 Triathlon season. I did an indoor triathlon at the YWCA in Minneapolis this Sunday. It was a 600 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. For some reason, running is getting easier for me. I made 21 minutes for my run. Listening to good tunes really can quicken your step. I loved the cute signs the girls made for me. Hopefully, I will have some pictures soon to post.

Mikayla starts a theater class this Saturday. She says that she is nervous about it, but with her personality, I expect she'll get into it and do great! Now that spring is here, I'm going to push her to try to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. I don't know anyone her age that still has them. She's just afraid to hurt herself. Just getting a mere rug burn is traumatizing to her! Ahh, first born drama!

Elyana started spring swimming lessons this week. She was so so excited to be back into them and ran the whole way from the parking lot. We couldn't get dressed fast enough. I'm still trying to figure out what the girls will do this summer and what is logical budget-wise.

Right now, Elyana is watching Dora the Explorer and just reminded me of her father. She said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. There is an owl in the background and it's daytime. Owls are only awake at night. They always do stuff like that! Geez!" Details, details.