Happy Easter

With Easter being so late this year, we actually had a chance to wear great spring dresses, sandals and no sweaters or tights!! It was a great weekend weather-wise and the girls were glad to have 2 extra days off from school surrounding the weekend. Gary hung out with the girls on Good Friday. They even ventured down to my new office at ALSAC to join me for lunch. The girls loved the Kay Kafe that is in the actual hospital across the street from my office. When they saw my office, Caroline's comment was "this is big, but lame". I guess I will have to have her back when I have more office decorations. They loved the huge white board I have on the wall and quickly added their own flair to it. My girls love to "keep it real."

On Sunday we chose the 10am service at church. Of course this was supposed to be the most crowded service, but it worked out well with the rest of our plans for the day. Mom and Dan joined us for the church service, which was fantastic including the beautiful music and then we had lunch at our house. The girls hunted for eggs when they woke up and enjoyed their treats from the Easter bunny.

After a quiet afternoon, we ventured over to Dad's house for a yummy dinner with my sister and brother and his familly. All in all, a great weekend. We are so blessed!

the girls looked cute in their matching kelly's kids dresses....only $5.99 at the warehouse sale. how much long can i dress them alike?

sweet girls

the zyrieks dressed and ready for church. how tall is anna these days???

the girls with mimi and papa

Egg Hunt @ the Botanic Gardens

By Easter weekend, we had missed most of our usual Easter Egg Hunts. We were in New Orleans the weekend before due to Gary's Ironman race (not sad we missed the 40 degree temps and rain!!) and so that was the Hope Eggstravaganza. Soccer games on Saturdays also threw a kink in our plans. Luckily, we heard about the Egg Hunt at the Botanic Gardens. We are members and thought it would be something new and fun. So glad we went. They had a "family egg hunt" with prize eggs....ninety of them....after 90 minutes and no egg, we moved on!! Not sure where they were but I know the staff had a map. Think getting there 20 minutes after it started may have cost us. Oh well. Had to cheer up the girls, so off to get some Italian ice for a cool snack and then staging for the age-specific egg hunts. The girls were excited. Caroline strategized and she ran fast. At first, she only picked up pink and purple eggs but that strategy changed quickly. She ended up with many, many eggs. Anna's hunt seemed to be more spread out and with fewer eggs. She had a goal of 10 eggs but ended up with nearly 20. They had a great time opening them up to find tattos, candy, stickers, silly bandz, and other small trinkets. The weather was perfect, the girls had a great time and we managed to get in an egg hunt. Will gladly do this one again next year!

enjoying the view after having a cool snack

showing off her loot...she definitely scored!

anna did great as well

a lesson in counting....did you know that 20-10 means 30??

fun family times at the gardens

69.1???

Gary has been training for months and months for his first half ironman event...a 40th birthday present to himself. He has been a slave to the pool, bike and road and i have been so proud of his dedication, determination and enthusiasm for the event. The half ironman consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run (half marathon). We all know that Gary is an awesome cyclist and has been for the entire 18+ years that I have known him. What really amazes me is that after being told by a doctor in town that he should not attempt to run and having knee surgery years ago, he has trained for a half marathon and done so with speed. I quickly learned that I could not train with gary on the runs while I was working up to my half marathon. He was being nice to run with me but it was not doing him any benefit.

Gary turned 40 last week on the 13th and we loaded up for New Orleans on the 15th. The girls stayed behind with my parents and this came at the end of my 2 weeks in between jobs, so perfect timing all around. We made it to New Orleans and noticed the strong winds upon arrival. On Saturday we met a friend of mine from Deloitte, Kathleen for brunch. So great to catch up with her. She, too, commented that the winds were unusual. We got to the race site, Gary checked in his bike and then headed out to see the waters of Lake Pochatrain. It was rough and choppy and scary he said. Turns out this was only foreshadowing the decisions the race officials would make the next morning.

We enjoyed a nice dinner with all the race teammates from Memphis and turned in early as 4am comes oh so early in the morning!! We were up and dressed and headed out to transition so Gary could go through all that was needed to prepare for the race. Not too long after we made it to the transition area did the race offical make the announcement that there would be no swim. NO WAY!! All those hours in the pool...practicing in the wetsuit and becoming very quick in the pool for naught. Gary was a wreck. I got back to the car to text his swim coach Lesley. She had already heard. I tried to encourge Gary but I could not truly understand the flow of emotions he was going through. He took his time getting back out to transition....the race would be delayed and they would start the bike in numerical order by waves. After the initial shock wore off or at least waned, Gary got his race game on and I was so excited for him to race. I think I texted Lesley about 50x that day giving her the best updates I could. She could see live results online but it was slightly delayed.

Gary did so well. While his bike time was slower than anticipated, the wind was brutal but he did very well. His run was awesome. I could not be more proud of his finish time. He would have made it under the 5 hour goal he set for himself had he completed the swim. In fact, he would have crushed it. Now for the journey to find another 70.3 to complete so he can say he did the entire race and not just 69.1 of it!!!

So proud of my husband for his early morning training sessions, great attitude and determination to finish this race with an amazing time. You are my hero!!

all checked in and ready to go!!
this is AFTER the swim was cancelled...trying to be happy!!
off on the bike...they started 2 at a time by age group waves

all smiles on the run....that was a GOOD sign


at the finish!!! awesome job!!!!

gary and jeff at the finish line

all smiles at the finish...so proud of gary!!

my iron man!!

Lordy, Lordy look who's 40!!

Gary turned the big 4-0 today....he's been dreading it but I've been trying to help him celebrate it...after all, 40 is the new 20, right?? Gary's big wish for his 40th birthday was the opportunity to compete in a half ironman triathlon. He scheduled that for New Orleans on April 17th and started training back in the fall. Lots of training and lots of encouragement during the past few months.

I was able to sneak up to Gary's office the last night and with the help of some co-workers get his office all decorated as a surprise. Lots of confetti (which is not Gary's favorite), streamers and other decorations were there to greet him on the big day. He was surprised and enjoyed it. He took it in stride. The girls and I brought Muddy's cupcakes for his office after school was over. He even indulged in a yummy treat (too bad for me it's still Lent!!).

All in all, a nice day with family and friends. No big celebrations as the IronMan is right around the corner. After New Orleans Gary wants to celebrate with a trip to Carnival Food and indulge in some real treats such as cotton candy!! Can't wait to see that happen!!

fun 40's in the door to Gary's office
gary was a good sport

bringing by the muddy's cupcakes! YUMMY!!

All I want for my birthday is.....

ALL Anna requested for her birthday was to get her ears pierced. Of course when she first approached us about it she told us she was the ONLY one in her class without earrings. I quickly squashed that by chaperoning the 2nd grade field trip to Lichterman Nature Center and carefully noting that the girls in her class were about 50/50 with pierced ears. March rolled in and Kennedy got her ears pierced and Anna asked every.single.day about it!! I had originally said 12 years old because that is what I did but when she kept asking and asking, we decided it would be fine. Anna had seen a friend get her ears pierced after a party at Sweet and Sassy. She understood what was involved and still seemed ok. I made an appointment for her at Merle Norman (where coincidentally I got mine pierced) for Monday after school. She was thrilled and so ready for it. Gary, Caroline, Mary and I accompanied her and she was awesome! She picked out the silver earrings and never looked back. They looked great and she cannot wait for the 6 week trial period to be over so she can wear some new earrings of her own choosing!

Birthday weekend pics

The earlier post really was about Anna's birthday party, but we did get some other pictures from the weekend. Gary's mom was in town....birthday breakfast....and some family pics. Thought I would include those here as well to remember the fun weekend!

waking up as an 8 year old!

birthday donuts on the birthday plate!

excited to get a gift certificate to have ears pierced

me with my 8 year-old!!

the zyrieks, with ally trying to get in the picture!

gammy with her girls

daddy and his girl

Happy 8th Birthday, Anna!!

I am not believing that Anna is 8 years old!! She has grown up into a sweet and sensitive girl in no time!! Gary and I always get nostalgic around Anna and Caroline's birthday thinking back to my pregnancies and their births. Anna rolled in 3 weeks early and surprised us but it was the best surprise I have ever had!

Anna had her birthday party with all her friends at Art & Soul, a paint studio. The step by step painting parties and classes have become so popular and am glad this studio allows kids parties. Anna and her friends had such a great time and all their paintings turned out as masterpieces!

Anna's only request for her birthday was to get her ears pierced. She had been asking for weeks...it had become a popular present for girls in her class. We did not let her know until her birthday that we had made an appointment for her to get her ears pierced on Monday after school. She was thrilled. She did so well and never cried or even flinched!!

All in all a great birthday for a great girl!! Happy 8th birthday Anna!!

getting started on her masterpiece

fun souvenir for anna from all her friends at the party

cute birthday cake!

the whole crew with their pieces of art!!

What to do, what to do??

I started my two weeks off in between jobs this week and have enjoyed having no commitments, no reports due and no crazy emergencies to address. I used this first week to do the following:

1. Got a much needed hair cut
2. Got an even much more needed pedicure....now bring on the flip flops!!
3. Shopped for some new clothes for my new job.
4. Ate lunch with Caroline and enjoy some time in her classroom.
5. Prepared for Anna's birthday and Gary's mom's visit.
6. Kept the pantry stocked and the laundry current.
7. Switched out the girls's winter clothes for summer clothes and transferred the winter clothes to the attic. This is usually a long process for me,so it was great to get it done in 1 afternoon/evening.
8. Saw sports medicine doctor about my knee pain during the later weeks of my half marathon training. Relief was in the form of a cortisone shot and scheduled visits with the physical therapist.
9. Worked out at the gym.
10. Enjoyed myself!!

Looking forward to Anna's birthday....Gary's birthay....Mary's visit....and one more week with it all wrapping up with Gary's half ironman in New Orleans!

Run Lisa Run!!!

So excited that I completed the Germantown Half Marathon on March 20th!! I have not run a half in a LONG time and was determined to train for "something" alongside my Ironman training husband. I was running zero, zilch, none at Christmas and started the following week and was amazed at my progress!! How I found the time to fit in working out/running during busy season at work and while Gary was training doubly hard I have no idea but I did and am so proud of myself for completing the half marathon. I was inspired and hope to continue the running this spring and summer and keep going all the way to the St. Jude half marathon in December. Will be fun to be an employee of Alsac/St. Jude during the next half in town!! My goal was around 2:15 which would be around 10 minute miles....the first 8-10 miles were great. My half way point was just over an hour and I was really feel great. The temperature at the startline was 60 degrees but by the end it was 80 degrees! Miles 11-12 were tough and I just kept going even though I knew I was losing time. Gary and the girls made a HUGE sign for me and I first saw them around mile 5 and then again across Wolf River at mile 8. Laurie DeSouza and her girls were at mile 6 outside Houston High School and that was a fun surprise. Uncle Blair was a fun surprise in Cameron Brown Park at a water station. Mom and Dan were at the finish....I think they were amazed I was still upright!! It was definitely warm. So glad to finish, get my medal and bask in my accomplishment. I finished in 2:19...would have loved to be faster, but that is for the next one. Caroline was upset I did not "win" as Gary's friend Lesley rocked it and finished in 1:31 and got 3rd overall female and more than just a finisher medal.

my fun sign!!

at the finish line!!! all the zyrieks....great cheerleaders!!

so proud i did it!!