Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

Local parade

 

What could have been a nice family picture...

Not a bad place to sit

"ICECREAM!!!!"

May or may not be chocolate ice cream on her face

Drive-in

You know, the old fashioned drive in movies...maybe I shouldn't say "old fashioned."  Anyway, our children's director had a fantastic idea of having a drive-in movie for the preschool age children at our church.  However, their cars were to be made out of cardboard (or a wagon, laundry basket, etc).  It was SUCH a fun idea!  We worked hard on our cars the day before (maybe too hard).  You know us Nordine's always have to go over the top on this type of stuff (i.e. pumpkin carving):)  It WAS extremely fun for the kids though and we had a good time too!  It was a Veggie Tales movie that they showed, complete with popcorn (real popcorn machine) & lemonade.  After the movie they had the Kona Ice truck come, which was a special treat for all!  

The finished product

The girls made their own license plates

All ready for the movie to start

 

Audrey

It's like a dream come true when your close friend becomes family.  This is what happened to me when I married Lee and my dear friend, Audrey, became family as she is Lee's cousin.  Audrey and I met in the 9th grade.  Her parents were missionaries to Colombia and at the time they were on furlow for a year in the U.S.  Her family went to my dad's church and we were in math class together in school.  That year developed into a lifelong friendship.  Over the years we haven't lived close.  We get to see each other about once a year, but when we do it's like we've never been apart.

When the opportunity arose for me to go and be a part of Audrey's 30th birthday celebration I jumped at it.   What a celebration/fiesta it was!

Klara's first plane ride

Aunt Audrey

Cousin Abby & Klara

Pool fun..."look at the camera...here...here...here":)

Loved the pool!

Now that's a birthday donut...TX size

Birthday donuts!

Featured on the Travel Chanel for their donuts!  Yum!

I love you Audrey!  Happy 30th Birthday!!!

Visitors

You know those times in life when you are anticipating something - A wedding, a birth, a vacation, visitors, etc?  It seems like you wait forever and then all of a sudden they are over with.  For months we have been anticipating Lee's parents visiting, and now they are gone, and they are missed.  What a wonderful week we had with them though!

The girls were SO excited to see them.  They arrived late in evening after the girls were in bed.  The next morning they could hardly contain themselves for them to wake up!  It was Klara's first time to ever meet them.  What a special moment that was for us to introduce her to them! 

First time meeting Lolo & Lola

We had some special adventures, some hanging around the house (I'm pretty sure we played every game we own), and of course some yummy food.

Special Mother's Day having both of our mothers around

 

Her shirt says "Jelly Belly"

 

Ana Banana

LOVE, love, love Jungle Jim's.  Such a fun place for all.

"Down by the river side"

Only the coolest thing ever.  In Isabel's words, "It was Awesome Mom."

 

My new favorite ice cream place.  Orange Leaf...YUM!

First time for the girls playing miniature golf.  Fun!  Ana only got 2 hole in ones.

She grew up this past week.  Time to lower the mattress and move everything within reach.

The girls received several new books from Lolo & Lola, in which all of them Isabel now has memorized and likes to
"read"...including a new joke book:)

"It was awesome Mom"

 

We saw the Hamster water balls last year, but never did it.  This year, we saw it and said, "why not?"  Poor Ana wanted to do it, but they said she had to be 3.  So guess what she wants to do for her birthday coming up in July?  Later that evening she asked if her birthday was tomorrow.  Isabel had a blast.  It was fun just watching her.  After awhile she got the hang of it and could crawl pretty well all around the pool.  Fun times!

Summer break

SO proud of these two kiddos who completed 2 years of preschool!  You can read more about it here.  Excited for summer break and kindergarten in their future! 

Flying Pig Recap

A friend of mine suggested to do a recap of each mile of the race while it's fresh in my mind.  So I think I will:)  Here it is.  There are things I wish I had been more ready for mentally or would have done differently, but it was my first half-marathon, I learned things, and this is how it went and the things I'll remember.

DONE!!!

Mile 1: Started out strong.  Lee asked me if I heard a gun shot or anything.  I think I did, but since I was in a corral further back I just had to wait until everyone started moving.  Finally after about 5/6 min. we got up to the start line and I was off.  The first mile seemed really good.  I was excited and ready to go.

Mile 2: Started on the first bridge and out of the corner of my eye I saw a friend from church that was cheering people on.  I called out her name and gave a wave and she cheered me on.  This mile was all on the KY side.  Still felt good.

Mile 3: Started to head back to OH.  There was a girl in a bright pink shirt that seemed to be at the same pace.  I tried to stay with her.  She eventually took off though and so I was left alone.

Mile 4: We ran past this bread factory and the smell got to me.  It was not what I wanted to be smelling while running.  I also noticed it started to get hot.  I hadn't stopped for a drink break yet, so this was the first mile I did that.  This is also when I noticed I was probably going too fast.  I wasn't going to be able to maintain that pace for the rest of the race.  It didn't seem fast at the time.  I was just going with the flow.

Mile 5: This mile in downtown Cincinnati.  I knew my dad, Lee, and the girls would be on this main street somewhere to cheer me on.  So I was scanning the crowd to find them.  I wasn't sure what side of the street they would be on.  It's also when I decided to take my Gu.  There was a big, I should say HUGE hill on mile 6 and I wanted to be ready for it.  I thought my family didn't make it down because I didn't spot them.  I finally saw two friends from church, and then eventually did spot my family!  It was great to see them!  I gave a quick high-five to Isabel & Lee and then took off.  Someone was also passing out ice pops and I took one of those for hydration.   

Mile 6: Oh yes...mile 6...the dreaded hill.  It was long, it was hard, it was hot.  This is where I saw the first person laying down with medics.  I also saw the 1st half-marathon leaders headed back the other direction (downhill) which to be honest was a little discouraging.  I was like, I want to be headed back.   

Mile 7: Still uphill.  The song "The Next Five Minutes" by Steven Curtis Chapman came on my ipod and was encouraging.  Tried to keep the next five minutes in mind.  Towards the end of this mile I started walking.  A lady came up behind me and was like, "Come on, you can do it."  She was so encouraging I started running again. 

Mile 8: I was starting to get tired AGAIN.  I took a walk break, and got re-hydrated.  Towards the end of mile 8, the split came where the half-marathoners go one way and the full-marathoners go another way.  They had lines of people before the split giving high-fives.  I thought...why not?  I went and gave them all high-fives and that was encouraging.

Mile 9: Right as I turned the corner to head into this mile my dear friend Cydney jumped out and started running with me.  It was an encouragement because I was expecting her, but not until mile 10.  Unfortunately, I was feeling more and more tired.  I told her I needed to walk.

Mile 10: For some reason this seemed like the best of the last few miles for me.  The route started to go downhill.  I still was so tired though.  I kept telling Cydney, "I'm just so tired."  For some reason the race seemed SO much harder than my training.  I decided to take more Gu.  We also saw half-marathon walkers that were just headed up mile 6 (the big hill) and I was SO thankfully I was "on the other side."  Cydney would read me signs people were holding up.  One said something like, this is easier than child birth (or something like that), in which I replied, "yea, but at least I can get an epidural." 

Mile 11: Almost home, but it seemed like an eternity!  I saw friends from church again who cheered me on and that was encouraging.  Later they told me, "you didn't look so good.":)  At one point I told Cydney I wanted to walk again and she was like, "well, I'm going to keep running and you're just going to have to keep up with me."  Which is what happened.  I remember yelling, "don't leave me."  I told her at one point, "I need you to tell me to just keep going."  In which a lady it front of us said, "just keep going.":)  

Mile 12: I was done.  I just wanted to be done.  It seemed like it would never end.  I walked, ran, walked, ran, walked ran.  I heard people yell, "you're almost done" or "It's the last half mile."  In my mind it seemed like it would never be done.  The crowds got bigger coming into the home stretch.  The home stretch...3 different families I knew I heard cheering me on.  It was encouraging and humbling!  I saw the mile marker for 13 and then the finish line.

Mile 13: I saw my family!!!  I just had .1 to go.  I ran towards the finish line with my arms up and then grabbed Cydney's hand too!  I heard the announcer say my name!  It was finished!!!  My official finish time: 2:35:31.

I was hoping to finish around 2:15, but it just didn't happen.  Nevertheless, at the age of 29, I completed my first half-marathon!  The only one in my family to ever do something like this.  All throughout the race I would pray for my sponsors and pray to God that he would sustain me to get me through it, and He did!  SO thankful for the family and friends who encouraged me along the way, and thankful that Austin & Martha are one step closer to being able to help the people in Haiti!

1st time seeing my family after the race!  So excited to see them and just be done!

Dear friend Cydney who encouraged me to keep going the last 4 miles of the race!

Two racing friends, amazing runners!

So thankful for all my sponsors!!!

Flying Pig Half-Marathon 2012

More to come, but here's a glimpse of me running the race.  One of my favorite moments.  Seeing my family around 5.5 miles!

Mama Mia!

A nice evening out with old friends to see Mama Mia on Broadway.  Made me miss my days of acting back in the day.  Amazing talent!  I apparently didn't get the "wear black" memo:)