Disney on Ice

A couple weeks ago Dan and I took Elise and Owen to go see Disney on Ice. We had never been and thought it was a lot of fun. The costumes were pretty impressive and even the cheap seats were good seats. Owen liked it but was disappointed by there being "SO MANY" princess numbers and there not being a CARS number. Maybe next time... Ellie was in love.

We showed up a little early so we bought the kids a couple of these light up spinners to distract them and keep them happy (at $20 a pop! ugh).

My boy has been a little camera shy these days, not sure what's going on with that!

Not Ellie or mom... we love getting our pictures taken :).

Daddy and his daughter.

A desperate attempt at a family picture (sans Mags who was getting some Grammy attention). We had a good time and think this will be fun again next year. Daniel gets some good deals on shows like these through work so I think we will be able to take advantage in the future.

Turkey Dash 2009

With all the running that's been going on around here, several members of our family decided to participate in the Katy YMCA Turkey Dash. I've been running for awhile now, Ryan has been running longer than I have, my mom has started in the last month or so... so we had a bit of a running group going on! Daniel talked a big game swearing he could beat me in the race only having run a handful of times in the past month. Kim also did great though had to take it easy considering her current condition.

Our running crew.

The girls.
The boys.

My friend Tiffany and I... she and I run a lot together and have done a couple races together now and plan on more this upcoming year.

Dan and I... we look SOOO ready to get out there and sprint past each other to the finish, don't we?

My mom was so awesome!! This was her first race (Dan's too) and it was so fun to be able to share it with those first timers because it really is very exciting (and addictive).

A pre-race picture before we have at it on the race course!

This was the group of us from our church that came to race on Thanksgiving morning. I loved cheering everyone on.

Here's my mom coming in for the finish-- WOO HOO!!!! Since I couldn't manage a decent picture of anyone else crossing the finish, I am happy that I got this shot of my mom!

FOR THE RECORD

Erin won!!!-- I ran the 5K in 23:53 (that's about a 7:42 pace)-- gun time

Dan came in second-- 5K in 25:02 (that's about a 8:04 pace)-- gun time

(stupid chip timing was messed up so you can probably subtract at least 30 seconds from that).

Also, I came in FIRST in my division and Dan came in 10th!! We did awesome!

So, off the block Daniel shot past me and I thought to myself, "Oh crap, he is totally going to beat me and I've been the one training like crazy!!". I was about 50 feet behind him for the first mile... we ran it in about 6:30 minutes! Then, I caught up to him, looked at him, smiled and knew that I wouldn't see him again until I watched him cross the finish line from the other side :). VICTORY!!! It is so sweet.

January 31 I am participating in a marathon relay with 3 of my friends in Waco. 3/4 of us are having our husbands run our legs of the race. It should be fun and I am excited to see if I can still beat Dan in 2 months. I'll keep you posted.

Houston ZOO

On Monday, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had gone the week before, but because I bought a zoo membership we can now go anytime we want. It was a really good investment, we got a 25% discount through Dan's work and we got a supporting membership which allows us to bring in 3 adults and 10 kids every visit. All for about $90, so we will probably go at least monthly, if not bi-weekly or so. Mostly I like it because I don't have to feel obligated to stay when the kids melt down. We go in the morning and about lunch time or shortly after the kids start to go crazy and I know it is time to go home.

This past visit the kids and I and UNCLE PAT (who is home for Thanksgiving) went to the zoo together. The weather was gorgeous and I'm happy we went. Though we did spend a good chunk of the time at the zoo playground, the kids still enjoyed the animals.
We left before seeing the reptile exhibit last time so I was pleasantly surprised home much they enjoyed it when we went this time. They thought it was pretty cool. Ellie was way into the snakes and Owen loved the lizards. GROSS!

Ells bells seeing how her hand matches up to a monkey's hand.

This was a little crazy because she was right next to this HUGE ape (picture does not do him justice)... he did look a little hungry and kept eyeing my children.

The girls.

My brother and I cheesin' it up McPherson style.

This little Magdals... I am thinking about keeping her...snotty face and all.

Uncle Pat!!! Sure wish he lived closer.

Owen was so funny, he stayed in this little tunnel for like a half hour.

Mom and Ellie.

My boy.

Uncle Pat catching Maggie on the way down.

Magdalyn-- this girl makes too many goofy faces.

Owen having a little snack on the playground.

Elise thought it was pretty cool that the hippo was eating her. She kept asking me to go see the hippo at the zoo and I kept thinking that the Houston zoo doesn't have any hippos, but obviously, they have one!

The giraffes were fun as they have two baby giraffes and they are all always so easy to see!

Ellie riding in the choo choo wagon... which was so much better than the stroller I brought last time!!!

I love this picture for some reason. Owen and Uncle Pat. Owen is at this stage where he doesn't want his picture taken so it really is like a miracle when I get a decent one. McPherson cousin pictures are happening this week... should be interesting to see how that works out!

My Magdalyn chowing down on fruit snacks. This girl LOVES fruit snacks (I never have liked these much) and will eat several bags if I let her... thankfully she is also a good fruit eater and loves crackers as well.

Uncle Pat and Owen checking out the Sea Lions--- I told Pat on the way to the zoo that he is playing man to man (Uncle Pat to Owen) and I will play the zone defense. Worked out well I think! Certainly much easier with another set of hands around. We look forward to lots more zoo adventures this year.

Owen Turns 3!!!

Our big boy turned 3 on Friday!!! We were all so excited. I was especially eager for him to turn 3 so people would stop being so surprised that this 45 pounder was still a two-year-old!! A long time ago I saw a great idea for a birthday party, "Puppet Theatre". It was perfect because I had been wanting to get the kids a puppet theatre for them to perform their own puppet shows (they are really into the pretend play right now) so I decided to combine the two and make a party out of it!!

We started about a month ago thinking of ideas and how we wanted to make it happen and I think it turned out alright. It's easy for me to think about all that I wish I had done and didn't or what things I could have done better, but I think it went well! So, here are the pictures for Owen's 3rd birthday-- "RED PUPPET THEATRE"

For food, we did Owen's absolute favorite... hot dogs, but the real show stoppers were the yummy cake and cupcakes my mom made!!!

We did have to put the cake away for a bit because Owen got a little too excited and wanted to have at it right then and there. But we did let him lick the icing with his fingers later on... he was the only one that got to eat that cake :).

... and yes, these were as good as they look!! Red velvet cake with red sprinkles!

The red food bar.

Flags, flags and more flags! I had one mom say, "when you said you were making flags, I thought you were just doing one little string to go across a table or something". Um, no. She apparently doesn't realize my tendencies to go a little overboard!

I also made hats and mini puppet theatres for each of the children but I didn't get any pictures of the mini theatres and they were so cute!!! GRR.

The Puppet Show.

The puppet show, complete with popcorn for everyone, went really well!! Dan and I kind of threw it together at the last minute so it was really surprising how much the kids loved it! I mean, the house was a zoo with around 20+ kids there most the time, but during this show, the kids were eyes were GLUED on the show!! It was great... and it must be said that Daniel and I might have a future as puppeteers.... ok, not.

Getting ready to play games (the front room came in very handy for this sort of thing--- and you can see in the right hand corner the mini theatres... a little anyway).

LUNCH--me making sure everyone has what they need... though I should mention that there were LOTS of moms helping me out and cleaning up too!!!

Someone enjoyed the cupcakes a little too much.

Opening presents:

Owen opened the first present. That's it. Just the one. He wanted to open it and play with it and hardly noticed another gift (until after the party).

So this is when all the kids jumped in to open his presents for him... and this is also when control was lost.... even with 10 moms around.

All and all, I think the party was very successful! We are lucky to have lots of kids around the same ages as our children. Owen loved all of his gifts. It's amazing how every gift was so perfect for him!!! He will be entertained until Christmas for sure!!!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!! We love you so much and are so happy you are in our family. You keep me on my toes and say and do so many fun things. Can't wait to see what 3 has in store for us! (hopefully a mostly potty-trained year).