“High-Tailed It! I Made A Run For It”

Tristan ran his first Flying Pig Marathon today while this marked Lindsay’s 5th year running the 5K (or 3.2 miles).  After a month of record rainfall (most rainfall in April EVER for Cincinnati at 13.5 inches and within a fraction of an inch of the most rainfall inside of a given month) it was a beautiful day; about 52 degrees starting and it went up to 71 by noon.  It was really a perfect morning to run.  (And hopefully a good day for my basement to dry out as well!)

Here they are pictured with their team; “die fliegenden Falken von Fairview-Clifton”.  They have trained all year, with a small break during the coldest month and a half and is the team’s 3rd and final marathon for the school year.  Their gray T-Shirts read as my title above does.  I think their team looks smaller this year; probably due to two factors that GEBAS did not help pay fees this year for the first time and placement exams/auditions were being held at Walnut Hills.

They met about a block from the starting line to warm up and stretch next to a very swollen Ohio.  I have not personally ever walked along the streets downtown and seen the river right there so close.  It was an amazing sight.

The picture on the left is that of the Public Landing which we had to walk around.  The picture on the right just shows how high the river is right now.  The water definitely has a current going.

We walked down the road from the starting line to see the runners off, to try to catch a glimpse of our two in the sea of runners that followed and to cheer them all on.

Nathan and Kaitlyn brought flags to wave during all the excitement.  Haley cheered.  Rick and I manned the cameras.  Then we hightailed it through the crowds in shut down city streets to be near the “FINISH SWINE”.  I think we walked a 5K before we were done.

Tristan was first just as we suspected.  He’s a quick one!

About two minutes later Lindsay came pumping.  She’s fast too!

And we found our runners after the race recovering from their final sprint with snacks under their thermal wraps donning their medals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lindsay’s Stat’s                              Tristan’s Stat’s

bib # 28749                                       28750

overall place 520 out of 2961    306 out of 2961

division place 36 out of 198       39 out of 184

gender place 154 out of 1887     245 out of 1115

Time: 28:45                                         26:37

Pace: 9:17                                            8:36

While Tristan is a faster runner than Lindsay you have to keep in mind the gender difference here.  Lindsay is ahead of him in her division and gender place.  Regardless they both have a quick pace.  This was a great run for both of my athletes.  Tristan plans to continue the team next year.  Lindsay may join the team for the run next year after training on her own unless she finds a team to run with at her new school next year.

Haley’s 8th Grade Recital

Haley played Concertino in D by Rieding on stage at her final violin recital tonight accompanied by her Dad on the piano.  Her Dad and I are very proud of her hard work and growth over this past  year.  The following is the second half of her number as filmed by Lindsay.  Haley received lots of applause at the end and gave a curtsy to her audience  which is not shown. 

Haley playing Concertino in D by Rieding

Easter Dinner

In the evening we had Easter dinner and set a beautiful table.  Setting the table for company was always my job growing up and I still enjoy setting a beautiful table for special occasions.  My Mom still misses me not being there to set her table. 

Tulips from the yard were our centerpiece.  They smelled very nice and added color.  We also strewed violets around on the table cloth.

I served a fresh fruit salad of cantaloupe, cuties, strawberries and blackberries.

I also served a fresh flower salad with lettuce, carrot, scallion, tomato, craisins, toasted pecans and freshly picked violets.  Plus we had Irish Soda bread, a ham with glaze that had been given to us at Christmas as a gift  and cheesy potato bake.  It was delicious and there was plenty.

Dessert or No Dessert… that was the question.  I finally arrived at the conclusion last week that I should make something special… but not chocolate.

So I used an old trick from my Merrie Miss days to make a cute bunny cake out of two round cakes.  I made a homemade yellow cake with lemon zest and dressed it up a little bit by making a fresh lemon filling, spreading it in between layers I cut.  Then I froze the cake to make frosting it easier… less crumbs,(and they thaw inside of two hours at room temperature).  I made a fluffy white frosting which is very similar to merangue but has the egg content cooked on the stove top before it is whipped.  I chose this frosting, in part, because it used the two egg whites I had left over from the egg yolks used in the lemon filling so there was no waste but I also knew the flavors went well together.  Then I pieced the cake together, frosted it and decorated it with left over stuff I had around the kitchen.  I thought it was cute and one child lay claim on it as a future birthday cake. 

Earlier in the afternoon the kids got into their baskets before watching a video detailing the final days of the life of Jesus.  They had plenty of chocolate then.

Kaitlyn and I wish everyone a happy Easter.

Easter greetings came from the mail and Lindsay found her own special Easter surprise awaiting her.

It was a nice, quiet, low stress afternoon.  Happy Easter!

“Hand”-Me-Down Family Fashions

We took two pictures today of the children dressed up for Easter.  Usually we do it outside by the Easter Egg tree but it was pouring rain again and there were no guarantees that all five kid’s outfits would survive through 3+ hours of church so we took a picture indoors before we left.

We somehow ended up color coordinated by accident, Rick and I included, except for Nathan.  This doesn’t happen when I try and I kept on a budget of $0 for this!  Tristan is sporting an Easter tie he got several years ago second hand which he remembered yesterday he had and wanted to wear.  Kaitlyn received a package in the mail recently containing among other things her cousin Sophie’s bridesmaid dress from my sister Rachael’s wedding back in 2005.  I had the other two matching girl’s dresses in cream and teaberry in storage and found that Lindsay now fits Haley’s bridesmaid dress.  Perfect!  (And thank you)!  I even had matching hair ribbons for both girls that I’d pulled out of the fresh flower wreaths that my girls wore to the wedding reception.  Nathan, the only one not matching everyone else is wearing a little 4 piece shorts set with a white shirt, jacket and bow tie that I picked up second hand for Tristan way back in 2003.  Then Haley felt left out.  Rick said he missed the memo about people needing “Easter appropriate” apparel.  I thought for a moment and reappeared from the attic 30 minutes later with a cream colored lace formal that I wore on “The Spirit of Rochester” for a dinner boat cruise back when Rick and I were engaged.  Haley is as tall as me now so I thought we could give it a try.  And it fit!  I’m glad to see that dress have new life since I haven’t fit into it since I had children.  So Haley had the cream color to match the other girls dresses and I had a new dress in solid teaberry, the other color of the dresses, that I got 50% off of a clearance price with some gift money a while ago and was saving for today.  Rick ended up wearing a tie that was also reddish in color.  I was pretty pleased that everyone looked beautiful (or handsome) and we spent nothing, even on shoes!  Fancy church shoes can usually be salvaged to wear on a second or third child.

                            

When we got home it was not raining so we carefully stepped across the wet grass for a picture by our Egg tree.  I had a tough time getting five kids to cooperate for a picture all at once… especially Tristan.  I ended up with a bunch of pictures like this second picture here, where Tristan is humorously trying to save his eyes from the sun glare, Nathan isn’t looking, Lindsay is tired, Kaitlyn is moving or Haley is struggling with a wiggling Nathan.  I gave up and just decided to embrace the madness!  Here they are… my five beautiful children… and I feel like a very lucky Mom.

The Hunt

Easter morning is always such fun for the children, especially the younger ones.  The kitchen and living room smelled of fresh flowers picked from the yard yesterday between rain storms. 

The Easter Baskets were filled and left on the piano by the Easter Bunny.  The eggs were left hidden.

The kids got up around 8 to hunt for breakfast.

Lindsay, Nathan and Kaitlyn found some of the hidden eggs.

Haley and Tristan look for eggs as well and the hunt continues.

Scruffles came to see what was going on.  She is a fast mover and this week has started climbing just about anywhere she wants to go, in spite of her tiny size.  She’s getting quicker and more curious.  Very often I find her curled up with Spooky up on the couch or the bed.  She even ventured upstairs on her own.

Looking for the last few eggs, there are so many good hiding spaces in the living room.  Spooky joined in the chaos… he likes to be in the middle of everything.  We all had to hunt for the last egg but in the end it was Lindsay who found it.

Beautiful eggs with some juice were a quick breakfast.  The basket contents were saved for after church since we were in a hurry to get kids dressed and there on time for the Easter Program where  Rick played some beautiful accompaniment for two musical selections.  It was a fun Easter morning.

Easter Fun!

My kids love the common Easter tradition of coloring eggs.  So on Saturday I boiled 21 eggs to color  with the kit we bought last year for 25 cents.  (Buying clearance items is sort of a tradition too).  After dinner the kids got creative.  It only took 2 minutes to spill one of the cups of dye!  Lindsay was bummed because it happened to be her favorite shade of blue.

Every one got to color 3 eggs. 

Nathan played with the stickers and cardboard pictures.  Haley got serious with the wax crayon.

Wow!  The colors really popped and was a fun diversion before bedtime after a rainy Saturday afternoon of household chores. 

Waiting… waiting for the Easter Bunny to come!  We will eat all 21 eggs in the next day or two after they are found.  We LOVE eggs.