Easter

On the Saturday of Easter weekend there was an Easter egg hunt at the church building. It was snowing outside, so the hunt was moved into the cultural hall. There aren't a lot of strategic hiding places in a cultural hall, so the eggs were strewn about on the floor. Here are Becca, Isak and the other children from church waiting for the big race for candy to begin!
Isak was so excited to dig into his candy that once he had a few eggs he just stopped in the middle of everything and started cracking open eggs. As you can see, there were still plenty of eggs to be gathered, but he was more interested in the instant gratification of eating the candy!Becca got run over by a couple of older, over zealous girls right when the egg hunt started and spent most of the time crying. She ended up with very few eggs as a result. As an apology, one of the girls that had been involved in the mishap shared some of her eggs with Becca, so she ended up coming out pretty well. Isak had a nearly empty basket, but a full mouth. He was happy.We have church at 9:00, and the Easter Bunny was thoughtful enough to wait until we were at church to come deliver baskets. When we came home we found Becca and Isak's baskets in the sunroom. They received basketballs, movies, sunglasses and more candy.
The Easter Bunny even remembered mommy and daddy this year! We were surprised to find (well, at least daddy was) a new garage door opener in our garage. The Easter Bunny must have noticed that ours has been broken for the past couple of years and that we have just been too cheap to buy one! One of my favorite parts of our Easter tradition is buying new spring Sunday clothes for everyone. Becca was beautiful and Isak was so handsome. Unfortunately we didn't capture any good pictures of them before we went to church.

Even more wonderful than getting new toys, candy and new clothes was when Becca asked if she could give the family home evening lesson and proceded to tell the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. She had every detail just right. She was certainly taught well in Primary that day!

Spring Break

For Jeremy's spring break we had made plans to return to Williamsburg, VA (we were there last summer for a Matis family reunion) with Jeremy's brother, Jason, and his family. The Jason Matis family ended up not being able to go, but we love to travel, so we decided to make a go of it anyway. Any doubts that we should follow through with the trip left when I realized that it would be sunny and in the 60's in Virginia the week of spring break and still cold and snowy here in Indianapolis.

Becca and Isak love to take trips as much as Jeremy and I do and behave amazingly well in the car. Of course sometimes you have to get a little creative to make a 12 hour drive fun, but they have no problem with that!
Although we had spent a couple of days at Colonial Williamsburg over the summer, we wanted to return and check out a couple of things that we had missed before. Jeremy got to be on the jury of a mock trial at the courthouse, which was very interesting. One case in particular really made us appreciate the religious freedom that we now enjoy.
I wanted to check out the Yankee Candle store in Williamsburg, which is Yankee's flagship store. The rest of the family wasn't extremely excited about going, but it turned out to be way cool. There was like a little world inside the store with blue sky, fountains, shops, etc. This clock tower opened up every half hour and the mice inside put on a little musical show.

The part that I liked best was the Holiday store where it is perpetually Christmas. It even snows!

We spent one day visiting Jamestown and Yorktown. I'm ashamed to admit that we didn't really know the significance that either one of these places played in the history of our country. It was very enlightening to visit and learn about these important historical landmarks. Both of these pictures were taken at Jamestown. We ended up not getting any pictures at Yorktown, but there was a great self guided driving tour in Yorktown that we loved!

The highlights of the trip for the kids, although not pictured, were swimming and going to the indoor jumping place. It was great to have our family together for so much time! It made it really tough to send Jeremy out the door to school again the next week, but we are grateful to have had the opportunity to get away and have fun.

Mini Me

While looking at some pictures this morning I came across this one. It seems like a silly picture to have - a basket of laundry? Why would I want to preserve that memory?

Well, those of you who know me and my daughter well know that she is simply a much smaller version of me. Once when my mom was visiting she looked at Becca and said, "Do you have any idea how strange it is to see your grown daughter growing up all over again?"

This basket of laundry illustrates that Becca is, in fact, little Tricia.

Becca and Isak love playing on my bed. They do all sorts of wonderful things up there - fight dragons, escape alligators, build bird nests, etc. The problem is that my bed is also the place where I fold laundry. So, there are times when my bed is covered in folded laundry waiting to be put away. You can imagine my dismay when I have, at times, gone into my bedroom and found my once folded laundry thrown onto the floor as Becca and Isak chant "Two little monkies jumping on the bed..." Let's just say that they have been reminded often that jumping on mom and dad's bed when it is already occupied by folded laundry is not a good choice!

So one morning, after folding laundry and then leaving the room to do something else, I heard that Becca was playing on the bed. I stormed into the room prepared to exile her to time out and found all of the laundry that had been on the bed "neatly" placed in the basket. And thus the transformation of Becca into Mini Me was complete. Now she too will enjoy a life full of compulsive cleaning and frustration over an always-too-messy house.

I threw away a breadstick!

Okay, please don't judge me, but the fact is that every Monday I take my kids out for lunch. Yes, our budget is tight, but there a few things that I have built into our lives to help me maintain my sanity. One of those things is Monday lunch-out day.

So, today Becca and Isak wanted to go to the spaghetti house, better known to the rest of the world as Fazoli's. Every time they ask to go to the spaghetti house I groan. Some of you know that I have issues with going out for spaghetti. When I go out to eat, I like to enjoy things that I can't easily make at home. Pasta is such an easy thing to make at home, that going out for it just doens't seem like much of a treat. Additionally, I can't get out of the place without eating two meals worth of points (Weight Watchers) due to the incredibly yummy, buttery, salty breadsticks!

Fortunately today was a YMCA workout day for me, because on those days I earn 10 activity points. 10 points is enough to counteract 3 of those yoummy, buttery, salty artery cloggers! And, as we sat down to eat, I was quite happy with the idea of eating only two of them so that I could save some points for some gooey chocolate carmel candy left for us by the Easter bunny.

We each ate our one breadstick that was given to us with our meals, and I went to get more. I had decided to ask for three, one more for each of us. That was it. No more.

The nice lady at the Fazoli's told me that she would go get them for me. She soon returned with a wrapper filled with SIX of the most soft, butter drenched breadsticks I have ever been served at Fazoli's. Again, I groaned. There was no way I was going to eat only one more! I mean, it is very rare to be served such perfect breadsticks!

Well, to keep this story from getting too long, let me just say that I ate two more breadsticks, Becca ate two more breadsticks, and Isak ate one. Those of you who are really good at math and reading comprehension already realize that there was one breadstick left. Part of me just wanted to eat it. I wasn't hungry. In fact, I was very much not hungry. But I just didn't like the idea of throwing something so perfectly tastey away! I found myself wishing that there was some way that I could preserve its tastiness and mail it to my mom (There are no Fazoli's in Washington and my mom is a big fan!), but Fazoli's breadsticks are really only good for about 10 minutes after they are taken from the oven. Ulitmately I realized that I was either going to have to eat it or throw it away.

Well, from the title of this post you already know the outcome. What you don't know is that this is a HUGE milestone for me! And if I could do it once, I know I can do it again. Now, the question is, can I keep myself away from the gooey chocolate treats piled up on the kitchen counter? I'll let you know.

Surgery

In February Becca had her tonsils and adnoids removed and tubes put in both ears. She was very sweet and grown up while we waited for them to take her back for the procedure, but afterward she very much needed mommy and daddy to calm her down and take care of her.

Initially she did very well and even ate chicken nuggets the day of the surgery! A few days after is when the soreness and discomfort started. It lasted for a week or two and now she is fine. I have been so happy to have my sweet and happy girl back.

The biggest change that we have noticed in her so far is that she doesn't snore anymore. She sleeps so peacefully! Now if I could just find a way to stop Jeremy's snoring!

Becca's Amazing Day

Becca turned 5 on Monday. Here are some of the highlights of her amazing day.

• A whole day with daddy (the school was closed for MLK day, and Jeremy, who had planned on studying/working for a few hours, was easily convinced by Becca to stay home on her special day).


• Lunch and gifts at Grandma and Grandpa Matis' house with Aunt Cori, and cousins Ryan, Kimberly and Katelyn.

• A makeover at Club Libby Lu with cousin Emma

• Dinner at Applebee's finished off with a Barbie birthday cake

• A shopping spree at Build-a-Bear and the Disney Store (her gift from Aunt Jill)

Thanks to everyone who made Becca's day so wonderful! It really was an exciting day! Becca is such an exuberant little girl and she LOVES everything! She is so easy to please and it is so fun to do things for her.

The best part of my day was when we got home at night. It was past the kids normal bedtime and they were exhausted - both had fallen asleep in the car on the drive home. We decided to forego scriptures and prayer and just put them in bed. As I was putting Becca in bed she started crying and said "We haven't even said prayer or anything!"

I had her say a prayer and, without prompting from me, she thanked Heavenly Father that she could have such a special birthday. She fell asleep with a big grin on her face. Wow! I love that little girl!

Day Two of Operation Half-Marathon Number Three - Successful

Yesterday I officially started training for the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon 2008.


Yesterday and today I have thought a lot about my progress over the past year. A year ago I officially started training for the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon 2007. I had been walking somewhat regularly since the summer of 2006, but in January I tried to kick it into gear. Many times in the past I had said that I was going to participate in the Mini, but this time I was actually registered and I was more determined than ever before to actually do it!

I didn't follow the training program extremely well. I typcically walked 2 miles a few times a week and as the Mini approached did longer walks on the weekends. I figured that anything I did was an improvement and I was happy with that.

When the day of the Mini arrived my goal was to simply cross the finish line, although I must admit that I was skeptical. I had been averaging 16 minute miles, but the furthest I had walked at one time was 8 miles. I really wasn't sure that I could maintain an 18 minute mile for 13.1 miles. I was horrified at the thought that I might not finish the race! Here is a photo of me, pre-race, on May 5, 2007:

Well, I finished. It was one of the most difficult things I have done in my life, but I did it, and the feeling of accomplishment was amazing! I cried as I approached the finish line, partially because I was miserable, but mostly because I had accomplished something that for so long I had wanted to do, but hadn't had the determination and discipline to do it. I was very emotional.

At that point I resolved to participate in more half-marathons, if nothing else to keep me motiviated to exercise. Jeremy and I registered for the Indianapolis Half-Marathon, held on October 20, 2007. Over the months between the Mini and the Indy Marathon I lost 25 pounds and continued to exercise regularly. I was excited because I expected the 13.1 miles to be much easier considering that I was in better shape, I was a little lighter, and the weather was much more tolerable in October than in May. Here is my pre-race photo from the Indy Half-Marathon:

During the Indianapolis Half I started strong, even jogged a bit, but by mile 10 I was running out of energy. It was discouraging when they started following behind us cleaning up cones and signs - apparently we were bringing up the rear. We did eventually make it to the end and I even drummed up enough energy to run across the finish line! And, we didn't bring up the rear - there were two more walkers behind us! I kept telling myself that I hadn't walked any slower than in the Mini, but that the other participants were just faster than in the Mini! Sadly, we learned that we had actually added over a minute to our mile average.

In spite of my disappointment in my lack of improvement, I was thrilled to have completed my second half-marathon and was even more determined to improve. Since October I have continued to exercise regularly (with a brief hiatus over the holidays). Last week as I looked at the training schedules available online I decided that I am ready for a walk/run schedule and to fully commit to run at least part of the Mini in May.

The training starts with a walk/run 3 times a week for 36 minutes each time (3 minutes of walking followed by 1 minute of running repeated 9 times) and cross-training twice a week. This morning I did my first walk/run. I wasn't sure that I would be able to complete it as suggested. I thought that I might complete the first few cycles and then have to walk out the remaining time. As I practically sailed through the walk/run, even extending it a few minutes, I was amazed as I thought back to last year at this time and the change in my ability. All of the effort is worth it, and I can't wait for May!

Just FYI, my ultimate goal is to run my first marathon in January 2012 in the Disney Marathon at Disney World. Anyone want to plan to join me?