Race Against Hunger 5k

What a great way to start Thanksgiving Day! It was unusually cold that morning. It reached 31 degrees by the time we left the race, but was still so much fun! A few friends from Mops and their family and friends all dressed in candy cane shirts and socks. It was fun to see them scattered around the race. There was probably twenty or so. Even a guy was dressed in the same attire! Yikes! I tried to convince Landon to wear the same or at least some striped tights, but he just wasn't ready for that kind of excitement yet!
Landon and I ran the race together. Our plan was to run it at a brisk pace for me and an easy pace for him, but since we had a few stroller problems during the first mile we ended up picking up the pace for the last two. Unfortunately someone stole a piece of equipment that helps count the racers as they came in, so we had to wait in a long line of people to cross over the finish line. Our Garmin showed us that we were just under 27 minutes. Not too bad for pushing two kids! The girls had a great time too. It was a bit cold for them, but they were troopers and toughed it out. It was so fun to see so many friends from Church, the Visalia Tri Club, MOPS and especially a few of our family members. I hope this is the start of a new Thanksgiving tradition.

Just after we crossed the finished line.

A few of the Candy Cane Ladies. They all looked so strong during the race!

My great niece Katerina, Claire (school friend of Katelynn) and Katelynn. They were some of the first walkers in. They were cruisin!

Halina and Elise were so excited to get out of the stroller. It won't be long until Halina will being jogging with us.

The Little Zucchini Bread Maker

"I can do it all by myself, Mom"

I was not going to let Halina shred the zucchini, but she insisted she could do it without getting her fingers close to the shredder There was about an inch left of each zucchini, but she never got cut, so I was okay with a little bit getting wasted. The zucchini's were from our garden and would have soon gone to waste anyway. From that point on, with very little instruction, she made the entire bread all by herself. The bread turned out great.



Better Homes and Garden Zucchini Bread Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1/4 tsp. shredded lemon peel (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Grease bottom and sides of 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. Set aside.In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.In another medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, zucchini, cooking oil, egg and lemon peel. Add dry mixture to zucchini mixture & stir until moistened. Fold in nuts.Spoon into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 mins. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Enjoy!

Awanas Homework

"The Lord Jesus, the Servant"

At Halina's Awanas club last week their bear hug (lesson) was on what it means to "serve." In the lesson they asked the children how they would define the word serve and Halina's response was "to share and be loving." As a part of the lesson they asked the kids to make place mats for each of their family members as a way of serving them. She was more than willing to make these for her family. She even made one for the dog.
It was amazing to see how great she felt about serving her family by making them something that was from the heart. Halina has been learning so many valuable lessons through Awanas. We can already tell her faith is increasing and her understanding of God's love for her has grown.

Somewhat Last Minute Trip to Vegas

Two months ago we booked a trip to the beautiful island of St. Lucia to attend a dear friend of ours wedding and to have some vacation time for just Landon and I. We were able to promptly renew our passports and get family to take care of our girls for nine days. Everything seemed to be falling into place and Landon and I were giddy with anticipation for an exciting week with some of our favorite people. Unfortunately, the week before we were suppose to leave, the island was hit by Hurricane Tomas and our resort encountered quite a bit of damaged. The hurricane left the resort with no running water and it was not able to secure water from another source for at least a week. This meant there were no showers, flushing toilets, restaurants were closed or barely operating and the pools were being used for sanitary purposes. We considered still going, but after a second call from the resort asking us to cancel our reservations we finally decided not to go. We were both upset about the whole situation, especially because we wouldn't be able to attend the wedding. Fortunately our friends that were getting married were staying at a different resort that was still in good condition and were able to carry on with their joyous event!

Since we still had childcare taken care of for the next couple of days we decided to hop on over to Las Vegas for the weekend. We left Friday morning and returned Monday evening. We went to some fancy restaurants, gambled, went dancing, went shopping, sun bathed by the pool and enjoyed some much needed kid-less time! We were so excited to have some time just for us that we hardly rested and actually went home more tired then when we got there. I am greatly anticipating our next vacation for just the two of us. I now see how important it really is for married couples who have children to get this time together.

Heading out to the Blue Martini! The seared Ahi Tuna was unbelievable, not to mention the outstanding band that performed that night. Oh, and don't forget the great company!

Two Princesses and a Bumble Bee on Halloween

Halloween 2010 was a memorable one! We decided to stay home this year and just trick or treat around the neighborhood. At 6pm, just before sunset, we headed out to our next door neighbors houses on foot. The girls did great at the first two houses. They said "Trick or Treat", "Please", "Thank you" and left with a smile... until we came to the end of the driveway of the second house. At that point it dawned on Halina that it was going to take a lot of work to get all the candy she desired... SO we turned around and went home to get the jogger. After that we zipped around the neighborhood until the girls baskets were nearly full. We were able to make it home in time for Halina to pass out about 100 pieces of candy. I think that may have been her favorite part.

Surprisingly Elise quickly got tired of the candy and took over my carrots and hummus. I'm sure our dentist would be proud of that!

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

In the hopes of creating some fun family memories and possibly a new tradition we stayed in the Friday before Halloween and carved a couple pumpkins together. Halina was thrilled to see what was inside the pumpkin, as well as use her new princess carving set, but Elise did not share those wonderful festive feelings. She wanted nothing to do with the pumpkins or even the family fun. In my attempt to create a joyous family affair I resorted to the Halloween candy and let the girls take their pick. Elise was a bit skeptical, but after a couple bites she was as happy as could be for the rest of the evening.
We carved a total of three pumpkins, but I only took pictures of two. The first one Landon carved was of Cinderella's castle, the second one was of a silly face that Halina drew and the third (no picture) was of Princess Jasmine. Unfortunately, Cinderella's castle did not keep until Sunday. Even with some wire and toothpicks it still wouldn't stay up. The Castle ended up collapsing into the pumpkin. Both Landon and Halina were a little disappointed about the castle, but overall we had a great time together and look forward to more creativity next year... and maybe a little more help from Elise!