Ready for another week?

Hello...another good week for the Dorias.

Saturday was my friend Kelly's wedding shower. This is Jenny, Abby, Kelly, me and Sydney. Kelly is marrying Steve, a good friend of mine that I met freshman year of college. Kelly is great so she and I have become good friends and Seth and Steve are good friends now, too. Their wedding is May 2. Seth is going to Chicago for Steve's bachelor party in Chicago in about three weeks. They are going to a Cardinals-Cubs game up there. Hope they all return safely!

I tried Adam's Easter outfit on tonight to make sure it fit. Doesn't he look cute? :)

It snowed in St. Louis this morning so this is what Abby wore to Sunday School. I had to take a picture because I don't think it could be any more apparent that she is adament about dressing herself these days. She actually said this morning, "Do I look like Hannah Montana?" Her friend/neighbor, Ashlyn, who was here, said, "Uh, no." It was kind of funny.

Adam fell asleep on the couch the other day...

Cute.

I mentioned that Jennifer and I took Sarah and Abby out to lunch last week at Applebees. Here's the picture from that. Aren't they cute?

A couple weeks ago Abby had a Girl Scouts event where they taught the girls about safety. This is Ashley, Maya, Sarah and Abby.

I am preparing for the 5K April 5 and the 10K on April 25. I ran 4.5 miles Saturday and it went pretty well so I think I'll be ok. The trick is that running outside is much harder than running on a treadmill so hopefully I can get some outside runs in before April 25. I'm feeling good about it though.

Abby has softball practice again tomorrow. I'll have to take some pictures of that to post. I'm going to miss her first game April 6 because I'll be coming home from Alabama that day. Thursday is back to cheerleading. Her big cheerleading showcase is coming up on April 18, which should be cute. My mom's birthday is Friday (65 - I can't believe it because she looks great. Mom, I know you'll be reading this, but it's true!) so we'll do something for that. Saturday, Abby has Girl Scouts day camp so we will be with several hundred other Girl Scouts at Camp Tuckaho on Saturday - rain or shine. Let's hope for shine. And then Sunday is the 5K, Sunday School and getting ready for a 5:30 flight to Birmingham, Ala. for work. I'll only be there for 20 hours so at least it's short and sweet. Here's to another great week!

I don't work all the time...I took a day off today :)

I took off today so I could hang out with the kids while Abby was on spring break. But before I get to that, I got some pictures off of my mom's camera that I wanted to share.


I love this picture! My grandma, who is 90, and Adam, who is 2, have the same birthday and this is them together on their birthday last year. How cute is that?

This is Abby and Adam at a park in St. Peters.

Abby and Adam at a park in St. Peters.

My mom with the kids at Thanksgiving.

Adam and my mom on Christmas.

Now to our adventures today... Seth worked from home today so I was able to go to the gym without the kids. I am on a training schedule to be able to run a 10K (6.2 miles) on April 30. So I had to run 3.75 miles today, which I did. It was a little rough in the beginning, but I got into a pretty good groove after about 1.25 miles. Tomorrow, I have to run 2, Friday 4.5, Saturday 2 and Sunday 4.5. Then rest. There's supposed to be an extra day of rest in there, but I am not going to do that this week because I skipped a day earlier in the week already. Next week, my long run will be 5, the following week 5.5, etc., until I'm up to 6. We'll see how this goes. Kind of intimidating, but I never thought I'd be running 4 miles at a time and here I am.

My mom came over around lunchtime today and we took the kids out to eat at Applebee's. Then we went to The Painted Pot and did ceramics. It was cute and the kids enjoyed it. A little pricey, but it was something different we hadn't done before.

Here is Adam getting ready to paint his car with blue paint.

Abby painting a heart-shaped box pink. See the pink barettes in her hair? This is what we're doing while her bangs grow out.

Abby painting.

Me and the kids.

Adam painting. You can see that Adam painted orange on top of the blue, making a nice gray-brown color, and then green on top of that.

Adam and my mom.

The finished product...the car. I added numbers to it and his name on the back at his request. He said this car was "Speed" (also known as Lightning McQueen from Cars).

Abby's box. Hard to tell here, but it's supposed to be pink and purple speckled. Once it's fired, the colors will be bright and shiny. We pick it up next Wednesday.

And now we're at home. Abby is playing My Little Ponies and Adam is napping. Seth is working and I'm messing around on the computer. We're going to cook a nice dinner and try to have a relaxing evening. I have a little bit of work to do tonight for a management training class I have to go to tomorrow at Wash U. It never ends, you know. :)

Relaxing weekend...I think?

Given how busy this last week was, it was so nice to have a relaxing weekend. Although it's funny that my relaxing weekend still contains a lot of running around.

First, an updated on this past week. Abby had her first softball practice on Monday. The coach, Coach Paul, is the dad of a girl from Abby's soccer team (Cecilia). The assistant coach is her former soccer coach, Coach Brett, and his daughter, Maddy, is also on the team. Abby hit off the tee great and ran the bases. I think she had fun. There are 14 girls on the team and it is coach-pitch so watching Abby figure that out should be interesting. I'm sure she'll do ok. The next practice is Monday and they'll practice hitting pitches then. The first game is April 6 and the season runs through the end of June. Should be fun.

Girl Scouts Wednesday night was an event to teach the girls about safety. Abby thought it was boring, but I think that was because she had had a really long day and was tired. The event didn't start until 7, which is late for her because Abby and Adam usually go to bed at 7:30.

The NCAA tournament started Thursday. This is Seth's second favorite holiday after Thanksgiving. Yes, he treats it as a holiday. He took off work Thursday and Friday and my living room was full of his buddies for two days. I guess he enjoyed himself although I don't think his bracket is shaping up the way he had hoped. He was also not too happy that the championship game is on April 6, which is Abby's first softball game, AND I'm not going to be in town. I'm going to Hoover, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham, for work - I leave on April 5 and won't be back until late on April 6, which means he's going to have to deal with both kids and the softball game by himself and miss the game. Thank goodness for Tivo.

Today, my mom was sick with the flu so I brought her jello and crackers this morning. It felt like a weird covert exchange because I just left them on her porch, rang the doorbell and left. She didn't want to get me sick and I didn't want to be exposed so we just did a handoff. After that, I went to the gym and ran four miles. I was quite proud of myself. After that, I went home to get Abby ready for swimming. After swimming, Jennifer and I took Abby and Sarah to lunch at Applebee's. The girls enjoyed it. Then, Abby and I went to Wal-mart and then went to get her hair cut. She just got a trim, but we are going to try to grow out her bangs to try something new. We went home after that, but then I left again to get a pedicure (first of the year, I felt so bad for the guy doing it because I forgot to shave...ewwww...) and then to a different Wal-mart to get some stuff for Easter for the kids. We made chicken sandwiches, mushrooms and asparagus for dinner and got the kids in bed. Since then, we have been catching up on tv on Tivo. Lost and 30 Rock to be precise.

So...aren't you jealous that I lead such an exciting life? And this is how I relax. The pedicure was pretty nice, though.

Photo Phest

I have been crazy busy lately, but I have a ton of pictures that I wanted to share. Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what we've been up to. Hope everyone is doing great!

Adam was sick a couple weeks back. This is him getting a breathing treatment or, as he says, breeding tweetment. It looks worse than it is and he's pretty content as long as you read him books during it.

Abby listening in.

Jennfer and I (Jenn is my friend my grade school and high school) organized an eighth grade reunion and tried to get in touch with as many people as we could for happy hour a couple weeks ago. A couple of these people I hadn't see since 8th grade. It was fun.

Abby started swimming lessons two weeks ago. This is her and Sarah, Jennifer's daughter, who coincidentally was signed up for the same class.

Abby and Sarah.

That's Abby swimming.

Abby swimming some more.

Last weekend, I had a "slumber party" at my house where some of my girlfriends and their kids spent the night so that the kids could enjoy the slumber party and us girls could talk and stay up late. This is Brianna (Becky T's niece), Abby, and Hanna (Johanna's daughter).

Adam and Calvin (Becky S's son).

Adam, Abby, Brianna and Hanna. Adam was all about being with the girls even though they were waching, "Enchanted." I offered "Cars," but he wanted to be with the girls.

I was in Las Vegas for a conference last Wednesday - Friday. Here is my view from my room at Wynn Encore, the newest hotel/resort on the Strip (nice window but not the nice part of the Strip).

My room was 600-something square feet. It was ridiculous. Probably the nicest room I've ever been in. How nerdy, but I took pictures.

The bedroom area.

Bathroom.

Bathroom. Notice the tv built into the wall on the right.

Me standing in the Wynn Las Vegas right when you walk in the main doors.

Cool lion.

This was kind of artsy I thought. The Wynn Las Vegas.

The Wynn.

Encore. This is where I stayed.

Paris.

The fountains at Bellagio. Pretty cool.

Fountains at Bellagio.

Fountains at Bellagio.

Me in front of Bellagio.

This is a restaurant inside Encore overlooking a reflection pool and a waterfall. We didn't eat there, but we did eat at a brand new steak house inside Encore called Botero. I had a $60 filet with Argentinian spices cooked to perfection. That is definitely a lot of money for a steak, but nothing in Vegas is cheap and you only live once, right? Recession, schmesession.

And finally, this was Adam playing with my sunglasses. He thought he looked like a superhero.

Work this week doesn't look to be quite as busy as it has been (which is good because it has been insanely busy), but it will still be a busy week. Abby has softball on Monday (not t-ball, mind you, but coach-pitch softball - eek!), Girl Scouts on Wednesday and cheerleading on Thursday. Busy as always! Hopefully I'll have some more pictures next week!

Sheesh....I've been busy lately.

You can tell I've been busy by my minimal and barely-there posts. Don't stop reading! It will get better. :)

This weekend was a bit busy. Seth went out with his friends Friday night for a couple drinks, while Adam and I went to my friend Abby's so Adam could play with her little boy, Cooper. Abby had a slumber party at my mom's house (or at least that's what she calls it when she spends the night at my mom's). That was only the first or second time Abby had gotten to spend the night by herself there since Adam was born. She thought that was pretty special. Adam was a little sad he was left out, but had so much fun with Cooper he didn't even notice. He'll get his turn soon enough I'm sure.

Saturday was busy, too. Abby had a birthday party for her friend Jack from school at 11 so I picked her up from my mom's and took her straight there. It was at Brunswick Lanes, which is a neat bowling alley for kids that is smoke-free and really kid-oriented. She had a blast. We hadn't been there since December 2007, so we'll definitely have to go there again.

After the party, I dropped her off and met Dawn and Jennifer (friends from high school) for lunch. Then Jennifer and I went shopping (first time I've gone shopping with a girlfriend since college probably). Then it was my turn to have drinks with my friends, Brian and Abby. Brian and I have been friends since we were 18 and he is Abby's godfather, but some of our guy friends were giving him trouble for taking out the wives on a date (Abby is our friend, Kevin's, wife and a good friend of mine, too). It obviously wasn't a date but it was nice to just hang out like we used to before our husbands came along. :) It kind of turned into a whole day for me to get away, which was nice and appreciated. It was nice for Seth to be with the kids all day, although I certainly do the same for him (i.e. Mardi Gras last weekend!).

Sunday, Abby had Sunday School at church, but other than that it was a day of catching up and getting ready for a new week.

It is so cold here and work has been so busy that I am so looking forward to Disney in June already. I am going to Las Vegas for work next week and Birmingham, Ala., a couple weeks after that. Hopefully it's warm there. I can't wait until Disney!