He's Got the Keys!

Today was a very exciting day for us because Jason closed on our house in Kentucky! I stayed home with the kids in Sacramento but Jason flew out this weekend for the closing. It all went smoothly this morning and Jason spent the afternoon relaxing in our new home before he had to leave to catch his flight. Jason took some photos of the yard and it is so much greener and prettier out there right now than when we were there in March. I can't wait to turn that key myself! Until then, I'll just keep packing =).

Looking at the backyard from the bike path behind our house

Looking at the backyard from the back porch

The bike path that is on the opposite side of our back fence. The kids are going to love having this here! It leads to a playground about 1/4 mile down.

We are all flying out together on July 1st to make our big move (except for the cats -- they are taking their own kitty transportation). We'll actually be living at the Marriott by the Med Center the last week of June after our furniture is shipped off to KY. We'll have a pool at the Marriott so that should be fun since it'll probably be 130 degrees in Sacramento by that time =).

It still seems surreal that we are making such a big move and I don't even like thinking about moving so far away from my family but it's exciting that Jason has a great job lined up and that we have the opportunity to explore another part of the country and meet new wonderful people. Besides, I've been a long time Southern Living reader so this must have been part of my destiny =). Who would have guessed that after moving back to California from Maryland I would meet a guy in California that is from Minnesota (where my parents are from) and that we would leave California together with our two kids and move to the South? Kind of crazy!

Other stuff going on with us .....

Last weekend Jason surprised me by taking me to see Wicked for Mother's Day in San Francisco. I really wasn't expecting anything like that and we had a fabulous time in the City. After the show we went to a nice Thai restaurant and enjoyed some great food together. On Saturday the kids and I went to Fairfield to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and sister. We had a nice lunch at my parents house and beautiful weather that day. Anna and Ben always have a blast playing in my parents backyard (with Grandpa Jim of course! ).

Anna made this bouquet for "Mother's Day". She really loves flowers (and her mommy ... I'm so lucky!)

My niece Maddie -- all grown up looking! She's an official teenager now!

Anna with a caterpillar -- one of her favorites "friends" =)

Last week we had a nice little family outing to one of our favorite shopping centers where we can walk to Chipotle, Cold Stone and the grocery store. We went to Chipotle for dinner then walked to Cold Stone for ice cream. Ben is guilty of eating both his and Anna's ice cream! Anna was more interested in the flowers and ladybugs outside then her ice cream =).

Ben looks like he just realized he ate too much ice cream. Guess we should have tried to stop him but anyone who's been around Ben eating ice cream knows that could be dangerous!

Here's Anna and Ben playing dress up a couple of days ago. Someday Ben will be embarrassed of this photo I'm sure =)

Anna with her "babies"

Anna and I have had fun baking lately. We made a yummy new banana muffin recipe that she loved because she could pick the toppings to load on top of the muffins before baking. Here's the recipe:

"Chunky Monkey Banana Muffins" (Anna named these =) )
Ingredients (we cut the recipe in half)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 cup cream or 1/2 and 1/2
  
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup granola
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• Dried banana chips, granola, and shredded coconut for toppings
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't over mix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, and coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

These are REALLY tasty!

Anna the Model!

Anna had her picture taken at school and we were shocked when we received them back. They look nothing like the school photos I took growing up when the photographer took one snapshot and half the time my eyes were closed! Now in 2010 the photographer offers a disc with multiple photos to choose from -- why, how times have changed! I wasn't with Anna when she had her photo taken but she sure looks like she was having a great time!

Ben wasn't at the school for photos but here he is looking cute as ever. What a handsome young man!

On Saturday I ran the American River Half Marathon in Sacramento. It didn't turn out quite as glorious as my 30 seconds of fame at the Fairfield 5k but I finished! I trained well for the race, slept well and it was a beautiful day except for being a tad warm for a 13 mile run. Jason dropped me off at the race and met me in the middle so he wasn't able to take many photos. I've done the best with some other photos so you can feel the experience:

This is how I felt waiting at the start line:

About 30 seconds into the race an alarm went off in my head when I could feel everything I ate and drank for breakfast bouncing around in my tummy like the Energizer Bunny:

What I was saying in my head:



Me at the 10 mile marker:

At the finish line:

What was thrilling was that Mary (Anna and Ben's sitter and friend of ours) was a total Rock Star and she sprinted through the finish line looking like this and this was her first half marathon!

Okay, so I really don't look that bad in this photo of Mary and I right after the race but if you notice my medal is backwards. I think the volunteers have a secret code for people who look like they are about to be sick so they marked me to warn others to stand back!

The other fantastic thing about this race was that the weather was warmer than all of my training runs and my feet swelled up so much that they were rubbing raw in my shoes that felt like shrinky dink. Anna nursed my feet with a lot of Scooby Doo band-aids!

All kidding aside, I love running and it has been great for me. I love having a goal to reach for and I've come along way. I remember when I ran a 5k after having Ben -- it felt like the longest run on earth! After I got beat up at my half marathon on Saturday I was crazy enough to register for my second 26.2 marathon in beautiful:

I will be running with Jason's dad Lee of course. I am hoping I can keep up with him and feel victorious on October 3rd. I'll just make sure not to drink 32 oz of Gatorade before the race!

Love from us all!