Check Out This Giveaway!

Hey guys, head on over to this really cute blog, Mom vs. Marathon and try to enter her sweet giveaway for compression socks from runningskirts.com. Also, read her blog, it's super cute!! And if you don't mind, please send some happy energy vibes to my girl SJ and her little guy who has a nasty ear infection...why do sweet little babies get sick? Grrr.

Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend!

Race Recap

Does anyone else wish that the weekends lasted....well, forever? Seriously, I had such a great 3-day weekend, that it was physically painful to wake up Monday morning.

Here's my weekend recap...on Thursday I ran the Thirsty Third Thursday 5K, I started out the run with my husband's co-worker, Marci, and after the first mile we parted ways. After a 9:30 first mile, I ended up passing a ton of people (which made me feel really fast!) I finished at 25:39 and even got to sprint it out at the end.

The Livster and Mommy pre-race

We got to spend some time with our friends SJ and P and their adorable baby Logan on Saturday. It was Pete's birthday last weekend and since we didn't get to see him then, we wanted to stop by and wish him a happy birthday this weekend. Happy Birthday Pete!!

Of course we dyed lots (and lots and lots) of eggs this weekend. The girls loved it, and asked me several times already this week, when we can dye eggs again...


Saturday was my Mt. Penn Mudfest 15K. I woke up on Saturday morning with a swollen ankle (I had fallen at the grocery store, ha!) and had to run to the grocery store in the pouring rain to get a wrap for my ankle. It rained up until 9:30 and cleared up just in time for the 10am start. Needless to say it was definitely a MUDFEST complete with 50 million hills and 3 stream crossings. It was cold, it was wet, and it was a blast! My friend Charlie ran it with me and finished 24th overall, his dad placed for his age group as well! I finished 245 out of 700 or so, so I was pretty happy with my results.

Post-race

On Sunday we had an egghunt...the girls had such a great time! Here they are with granddad and their baskets.

Lana, Granddad, Little Monster and Livvy


The family all dressed up for Easter (baby monster ruined her outfit right before this photo...honest, she's usually wears clothes!)

Yesterday, my middle monster turned 2! Alana, you are an amazing, happy, beautiful, little girl! I can't imagine my life without you! You bring joy and love to everyone around you...happy birthday baby! We took the girls to the park and bought them a happy meal for their special treat for the day. Somehow, mommy ended up with the worst sunburn tan line ever. That'll look great in my bridesmaids dress in a few weeks....

Happy birthday middle monster!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend and enjoyed spending time with their friends and family as much as I did!

Goal for this week? Convince my chunky hunk to run more than 2 miles with me...just kidding! Actually my goal is to get a 6 miler in on Friday followed by a swim on Friday night, since I've been majorly slacking on my swimming.

XOXO bloggie bffs!

Triple Tangent Tuesday

Where the heck did the time go, it's already time for TTT! Well, since I'm short on time, I'm just going to jump right in to triple tangent Tuesday!

1. I love to cuddle. I sometimes bring baby monster into bed with me just to cuddle with her, and middle monster has a habit of coming into our room at 6am and climbing into bed to cuddle with her daddy. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

2. I have a serious sugar problem. This glorious dessert/candy bar is at my girlfriend, E's, bridal shower from a few weeks ago. I would have eaten this entire this if I could have. Thank goodness there were others there to curb my insane candy cravings.

3. My favorite healthy "diet" food is Greek yogurt. It has such a healthy punch of protein and calcium, what's not to love? My girls also happen to love it, so I must induldge secretly...during naptime :)

Hope everyone has a fabulous week, and congrats to everyone who ran the Boston Marathon yesterday!

Pancakes, Running, and My Blogging Buddy

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! It's raining like crazy here, but I'm cuddling with my little loves, so I'm a pretty happy camper. Since my daddy-o can't train for the warrior dash that I'm running in June, my chunky hunk has offered to run/do the obstacle course in his place...which means that a few days a week I'll get a running buddy, for a few miles anyway. In preparation for our run on Friday, we decided to make a quick and light breakfast...pancakes, mmm.

Middle monster enjoying her pancakes

Yes, it is completely necessary to make a pancake as large as my head :)

Who needs syrup when you can top your pancake in almond butter?

Old-Fashioned Pancakes

-adapted from allrecipes.com

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

4 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 c. low-fat milk

1 egg

3 tbsp. melted butter

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Add in milk, egg, vanilla, and butter and mix well til combined.

Heat a lightly greased skillet and pour batter with a large spoon or scoop into heated skillet. Brown on both sides (approx. 1 min per side) and serve hot. Top with butter and syrup, or for more protein top with a nut butter and drizzle lightly with blueberry syrup (pictured above.)

About 2 hours later my hunk and I were off running. Since this was only his second time out, he ran my warm-up with me, about 20 minutes. I went back out for a total of 4 1/2 miles and it was a beautiful day to be outside.

Since I've decided to test my body and see if my knees are physically able to handle the training miles of a marathon, I planned to do an 8 miler today. However, nature had other ideas and after work it was pouring. Usually, I'm not such a pansy about running in rain, but this wasn't rain, this was a full on aquatic assault. So anyway, I decided that, as much as I despise the treadmill, I would have to do my run on that. 8 miles and an hour and 15 minutes later, I was finally finished. That puts my weekly mileage at 23.5, yea! In case you were wondering what I eat after my longer runs...

Chicken, veggie and noodle bowl

And here's my favorite little blogging buddy...

Fit Mommy and baby monster blogger!

Everyone enjoy the rest of your weekend, I have to go ice my shins!

WOOO!

Hey bloggy bffs! (All 3 of you <3) Go check out this supercute and super awesome blog for a sweet giveaway. Personally, I want the cupcake shirt, duh! :) But a garmin wouldn't hurt either since I've been bugging the chunky hunk about it for my upcoming birthday (in 3 months, haha.) And my WOO is....I've lost 20 lbs since the New Year! Yay! All that hard work and careful eating has certainly paid off. Happy Thursday!

Cutest Babies in the World and TTT

Happy Tuesday bloggy buddies! Hope everyone had a great weekend! I certainly enjoyed mine and even got a kick butt workout in on Sunday...6 speedy miles of running and 23 HILLY miles on the bike...needless to say I enjoyed a HUGE burger, a massive amount of raw veggies, and some fro yo afterwards :)

I have fabulous news, this weekend, it was confirmed that I have one faithful reader! Shout out to my good friend and one of the cutest mommies I know, S! :) Speaking of this pretty lady, we spent a good part of our Saturday together...did you know that when the two of us get together it is very likely that we will shatter a small dog's eardrums? Seriously, you should hear us gush and baby talk...we're pros. Why? Well, look at these cute stinkin' babies!

My baby monster, PJ, and the cutest Log Man!

It would be too much to ask if all the kids looked at me at the exact same time, haha.

Now it's time for me to introduce, Triple Tangent Tuesday! TTT is where I share 3 completely random tidbits about myself. I stole this from quite a few of the many blogs that I read. Please feel free to do the same on your blog or in comments...just so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself :)

1. I ran cross-country in middle school and high school and qualified for states my senior year. I wasn't super speedy, but I certainly loved it. I was even the team captain my senior year.

2. I cannot survive without coffee. I set my coffee maker to brew it for me in the morning and have a cup immediately upon waking. Even my kids know about my caffeine habit. In the words of monster O "mommy can't start the day without her coffee." I blame my father for this shameful addiction.

3. I am kinda obsessed cupcakes. I love baking them and I love eating them. I can't help myself either, when I see any article of children's clothing with a cupcake on it, I'm compelled to buy it. I'm sure by now my friends are sick of me force feeding them my cupcakes, haha.

Oh, and I want to give it another go with the whole weekly goal deal, I find it gives me lots of motivation to post my goal online. My goal this week is to run 20 miles and swim twice this week. (Losing another pound wouldn't hurt either...)

Hope you all are having a beautiful (rainy) day!

April Fool's Run

Hi all, happy weeeeeeekend!

Just got home from my first post-babies 5K! I had a blast and even got some shiny new bling to boot! Yahoo! 1st in my age group (25-29) and 4th gal overall. My time wasn't stellar, but my goal was to break 25, and I did, 24:07. I even got to run with my super cute cousin Shay at the start.

And check out my super rad (and adorable) cheerleaders...

Hope you all had a great week!