a few fun things.....

So for many that kindly ask, yes, the house is very, very quiet! I've almost reached the point where I can talk about the kids without crying. Almost. It's been 2 weeks today since they left, but in many ways almost seems like it was much longer. It has been nice to get back into our normal routine, when the kiddos came, most of life came to a standstill and our regular activities weren't an option. I managed to keep the Pgh Momtourage running, but it was definitely the bare minimum. :) Through some marketing events for the Momtourage, we recently got to preview some fun things happening in Pittsburgh!

Enter: Sky Zone. Sky Zone is the original trampoline park and the one place where it is totally acceptable to have bouncing-off-the-walls fun! Our trampoline park offers open jump, a Foam Zone, 3-D Dodgeball (when available) and the SkySlam basketball court. My kids loved it and I'm telling ya, it was a serious work-out! I played a game of dodgeball with some cameramen & reporters who were there as well, and we were all dying after about 10 minutes. :)

The foam pit was fun, it's actually best for little kids. It was quite funny to see a reporter get stuck in there and seriously couldn't get out for about 10 minutes. At least I thought it was funny. :) It also produced some awesome hair for G!

 Dodgeball/Basketball

And for local friends, there are a few more days to enter my giveaway for free jumping passes! Go here to enter.

 We also have the Pittsburgh International Children's Festival happening here this week. The week includes an incredible line-up of Petting Zoo, Crafts, Face Painting, Al Mazing Magic show, Children's Theatre, Live Music, Weird Eric Magic show, Interactive Musical, Roving Art Cart + so much more. But a big attraction will be the exciting interactive Art Exhibit ~ Exxopolis ~ lit only by the sun! We got to walk through it before it was open to the public and G & E loved it. See more info about the Children's Festival here.

 We took a little walk after to a favorite dinosaur (whose neck gear randomly changes, it was pink tuille today!). They decided to "clean" him with dandelions, hope he enjoyed his bath!

 I love the University of Pitt campus/Schenley Plaza (where the Festival will be held), and such a beautiful time of year with fresh leaves! The kids also enjoyed a noisemaker booth, that should be fun for hundreds of kids all week. :)  

my first { very colorful } 5k

The much anticipated Color Me Rad race was finally here!

It was so much fun. I enjoyed being there with lots of friends and a mere 10,000-15,000 other runners. :) They said it was the biggest CMR race they had ever had. That being said, traffic ended up being a nightmare. While we thought leaving an hour and a half early for a (normally) 30 minute drive was sufficient, we were still sitting in stop & go traffic 2 hours later. But the CMR people were very laid back and cool about it and let everyone run as they arrived. 

Seriously, if this event is coming near you, you should do it!

Our past month has been so full that I barely had time to do any training. Good thing it was only a 5k. I think I had run about once a week. So this past week I called on some dear friends for favors and was able to run both Thursday & Friday mornings. That being said, I was a little sore after running 3 straight days by Saturday night!

So glad I could run with my friend Bethany. :)

 The "paint" is non-toxic, gluten-free colored cornstarch. During the run they had 5 stations set up where volunteers pelt you with the powder. 2 of the stations were also spraying colored water which was interesting. The course was much more hilly than we anticipated, but hey, I guess it is Pittsburgh. It would be hard to find a course anywhere without some hills.

I was amazed at how many kids participated. There were lots of strollers being pushed and since kids under 7 were free, there were a lot of them! One of these days I'll talk Graham into getting dirty. I'll probably have to wait for Eden.  :)

The finish line was the blue station which is why I think most people ended up looking blue.

 Like father like son.....I don't get it. And don't touch me. =)

 This girl of course wanted in on the fun.

 I'm not even sure how this happened!

 If you have to be stuck in traffic for 2 hours, it might as well be with these people. :)

{photo credit: Graham}

He comes out with the camera: Get togeder, guys.

 photo credit: CMR

 

Yep, I will do it again next summer hopefully!

Who's with me?

Check out their race schedule here.

cross it off the Bucket List

Several weeks ago my friend Sarah posted about The Color Run and I loved it. I was sad to see the closest one was 1.5 hours away and didn't think it would fit into our schedule for this year. Fast forward a few weeks and I see my other friend Sarah (both of whose hubbys happened to be named Stephen!) posted asking for joiners for Color Me Rad, right here in Pittsburgh! So we immediately jumped in and signed up. I seriously can't wait. First of all, I used to love running, but since my first baby arrived 3+ years ago it has become very hit & miss.

But I am ready to get back to it for reals.

So there, now I've posted it for all the world to keep me going. =)

I have never run a race before and figured a 5k is a good place to start. And an awesome one at that.

I also need some serious motivation to put my running shoes on consistently!

So we're gathering a little team of church friends, mom friends, some new friends, and hopefully we'll also get to run together some throughout the summer!

So what is Color Me Rad?

How it works:  Start out as clean as a newborn babe, and throughout the run, you'll coat your chaffing thighs with blue, green, pink, purple, and yellow until your face, shirt, and body come out silkscreened like a tie-dyed hippy on the other side.  Each section of the run adds a new explosion of color to your clean, painter’s palate until you cross the finish line into a final blitzkrieg of color.

{I love how these people do not take themselves seriously at all. If you want some real laughs, read their FAQ's here.}

Well, basically while you are running a team of people pelt you with powdered paint (or to be more specific: non-toxic, non-rash-inducing, Kroger branded, colored corn-starch. Subsidized by the government and processed in the good ol’ US of A, these blasts of starch will change your color, and your demeanor, but never your level of wellness.)

Thus you end up looking like this.

Seriously, I love it.

I am also figuring that you'll be so disracted by being pelted that you won't even notice you're running. At least that's what I'm hoping for. :)

So if anyone else wants to join us on August 25th for an event unlike no other, let me know!

ROOTS.

7 years. 3 States. (MN,VA,PA). 4 houses.

That's been our story since we got engaged.

After we got married, we moved to Va Beach where we spent a lovely 4 years. Made many great friends there, but we always knew that God had something else for us in the future. 

Following Andrew's graduation, we moved to Pittsburgh to help with a church plant. Thus began our transplantation to Pennsylvania. We really loved living in Pittsburgh. We met a lot of great people, found so many fun things to do, established the Pgh Momtourage and loved that it was not only a very affordable city, but a great place to raise a family. This past summer, after moving across town for Andrew's job, Andrew began looking to pursue a place of vocational ministry.  As we sought God's leading for our lives, He led us to a church that was only about 2 miles from our house, Three Rivers Grace Church. In a very short time we felt our hearts very knit to so many amazing people and found great encouragement & refreshment as we began to form friendships. Unbeknownst to us, this church has actually been looking to fill an assistent pastor for over a year. They had several possibilities, none of whom ended up working out. {hmm, a little Providence?} But as Andrew & the pastor got to know each other and he began to learn the direction we were heading - ah-ha! Talks, interviews, conversations began happening........and this past Sunday the church officially voted to approve Andrew as a part-time Associate Minister! We could not be more thrilled & excited at how God so clearly was directing, long before we could have even guessed what He had in store.

I recently saw this quote...............

The providence of God is like Hebrew words--it can be read only backwards.

~John Flavel

So we are excited about this new path. There is one challenge: The church only can afford to pay someone part--time, so for now Andrew will continue to work full-time at his current job and just work a few hours each week for the church. His first immediate task will be to oversee the worship services (the job description they sent could easily fill a full-time job!). As time progresses, he may look to find another job which would allow him to give more hours to the church. And of course the hope of us and the church is, that the church would continue to grow and thus allow him to come on full-time.

So I think that's as concise as I can be.....so much more that could be shared.
We are so thankful for this church family, how kind and welcoming they have been!

We praise God for His kind providence in our lives and I am now officially planting my first garden. How's that for roots? :)

hello first snow.

august is rushing by

wow. 2 weeks since my last post.
Well, no one seems too worried. =)

We have had quite an eventful last few weeks and will continue for the next 2 weeks. After that, I believe things are going to slow down a bit. Of course I always think that will happen and I'm not sure that it does.

 Many things to be thankful for {namely: some perfect weather, a long stretch of healthy kiddos, several date nights and good times with friends}!
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Also very grateful for my kiddos who remain their
happy-slightly-crazy-selves always. :-}

One of Graham's recent favorite things is to pull out his drum full of instruments post-lunch-pre-naptime and we have music time. Eden's faves are the maracas, tambourine, and clacker. Graham likes the cymbals, triangle, and anything he can beat with a drumstick. It's a noisy half hour. =)

Andrew & Graham are also loving the Home Depot workshops that happen on the first Saturday of every month. If you have little ones, you should definitely check it out!

Graham is doing a little better at playing with Eden.
 i.e., not just pushing her over for fun. :-/

and yes, she is wearing shiny, satin pink shorts on a Monday, because that's how she rolls. :)

But some of the brotherly torture will always be there.

borrowing Mr. Potato Head's specs.

We've had a few cool, fall-ish days, which felt amazing.

Playing outside with a little hat & jacket was perfect.

We've spent a lot of summer evenings

hanging out on the front porch!
Apparently it was a brown kind of day.

And who took this pic? Kristin?! :)

Our local riverboat cruise line asked me to come check out one of their kid's cruises

(to promo for the Momtourage).

Why, certainly!

So we headed on board for the Macaroni & Magic Cruise!

We had the most perfect weather!

I love summer evenings!

I have seen my husband express a lot a wisdom over the last few weeks and I love him even more for it.

the plan was that she would fall asleep.

 

9:30pm. hmmmmmmm.

We had a great time ~ enjoyed a yummy buffet, and fun magic show!

Definitely recommend the Gateway Clipper Fleet when you're in the 'Burgh!

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We did feel the earthquake this week. Very thankful it didn't end up being destructive.

Thinking of our beach friends this weekend as Hurricane Irene moves in. 

And hoping that it doesn't damage the condo that we're headed to in OBX next weekend! 

And that's the latest.
Happy weekend to you all! 

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boys nite out

We have a serious sports fanatic in our house!

I think most boys seem to really be drawn to playing with balls, but somehow I feel like Graham has a serious passion! Andrew & I obviously love sports and both played multiple sports through high school & college and then mostly did tennis & running once we were married. But since having kiddos, we have not played much of anything! Andrew enjoys watching sports on tv, but doesn't even have the chance to do that on a regular basis. However, all it takes is for Graham to see one game and he is hooked! He watched one of the World Cup soccer games (that was 6 months ago? more?). It was the only time he's ever seen a soccer game, but somehow knows exactly what to do with a soccer ball. He recently saw a tennis match, so that is a new love. He watched one round of golf and now has to wear a visor (his "golf" hat) every time he is "playing".

His typical morning involves asking me to play golf, baseball, soccer, tennis, bowling and maybe frisbee with him. Is this the case for other moms?!

The Steeler & Pirate Stadiums are along the river here in Pittsburgh and every time we get close to the river he begins talking about them! Since our move, we drive past both stadiums quite frequently and he loves it! I get asked non-stop if we can go to a game.

Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeease???

(where did he learn that?!)

Andrew & I took him to a game at the beginning of the season and he just loved it. So Andrew came home yesterday and announced it was game night for the boys!

Daddys have to wait so long for their kids to be able to go and do fun activities with them. I know it's a hard wait and that they love when it can finally happen!

Graham was very excited about his backpack. :)

calling for a ball. he calls guys "the manz".

He told me the manz were throwing the balls. :) 

 watching the "tv" as he calls it.

offering to share his snack with daddy

he did have to go to the bathroom 4 times.

 welcome to my world, honey. =)

 

Andrew said it was a perfect night!