Summer come early...

So today was our first REAL day in the pool!The water was 82 degrees and absolutely GLORISOUS!! we spent a fulll 3hrs out there and loved every minute of it!!
I've come to learn that Erika tans just as well as Megan so I'm going to have 2 little babies who look like their half black by the end of the summer!-So cute!!
I love having the pool here, it is awesome!

Megan and Steve doing their traditional yearly "Dunk for the Camera"

Megan can swim with out her floaty this year.....she swims about 10ft at a time!

Erika LOVES the water but also loves to just sit and kick her feet, she's pretty fun!!

"The Wagner Girls"

LOTS of Jumping going on today!

I love this Picture of Erika, this was when she was first getting in...she actually LIKES to wear her hat and sunglasses! she had them on for almost the entire time!

She's saying "cheese", now we just have to get her to look at the camera:)

Cute little A.J-what a poser for the camera! he was LOVING the pool today!

Lyndsey and Becks...he also LOVED the water!!

I LOVE THESE TWO PICS (top and bottom) they are so cute with their momma's

Could you have a cuter smile???

awwwwwwwwwwww

Here is everyone at a glimpse!

Pump me up!

So, I'm planning to run this half marathon in 5wks and i'm a little nervous.
I'm hoping that having my Ipod with some great music will distract me and help me finish the race.
SO...I need suggestions for songs for my Ipod....anything with inspiring words, beat etc. doesn't necessarily have to be a fast up beat song...some of my favorite running songs so far are :

Hook by Blues Travellers
If I were a boy by Beyonce
Paralyzer by Finger Eleven...

so you can see I have no rules when it comes to running music...
So PLEASE give me your suggestions!!!!

thanks:)

Bed Time blunders......need ADVICE!

So this week we took the leap to start putting Megan and Erika in the same room at the same time at bedtime. Normally we put Megan in our room til we go to bed and then move her over into her room with Erika.
the first night they were excited and took almost 2hrs to go to sleep.
the rest of the week has been better....usually 30-40min.
HOWEVER, the mornings are getting terrible. Megan is waking up around 6:30am for who knows WHAT reason? ugh....and Erika is gettng VERY overtired.
Last night Megan woke Erika up just as she was falling asleep and then Erika didn't fall asleep until 8:30pm!!! (which is VERY late in this house!).

Megan knows the rule is no coming out of the room or getting up til atleast 7am! she has a clock. This morning at 6:20am I go in and Megan has the LIGHT ON and is saying, "Oh Erika, i'm going to let you sleep in. " YEAH RIGHT! fat chance now! Erika is crying and is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired!

I was seriously FURIOUS!!!!!!!!!!! I told her to get into my bed, among another few choice words and I swear I was shaking I was so mad......i'm now PRAYING I can get Erika back to sleep but chances are unlikely. (Plus, now I'm wide awake at 6:30am and am SO tired and need to work all day! ugh!!)

What do you do???????????? how and WHEN will I get these two to co-habitate without disrupting everyone else? I'm mostly concerned about these mornings...they both need more sleep!!!
I know there are mothers out there who have 2 who have gone through this, so PLEASE give me your advice!

There are no pictures of me face on coming into the finish b/c Steve didn't see me!! lol...I keep joking I must have been running too fast! haha...but seriously, even though I purposely wore a bright pink shirt he said he never saw me til I was running past him...oh well! so here is a picture of my arm! haah...

Last weekend I ran my first 12K run around Lake Oswego. It was a 7.44mile "challenging" race around the beautiful lake. I never found out til the week BEFORE that this was a challenging route with LOTS of hills so I was a bit scared...we had only trained on flat terrain but I surprised myself and I was really proud of my results.

I had told myself I would be happy with 74 min ( 10min mile) and when I was coming up to the finish line and it said 64minutes I was SO excited!!!! It was hard, I pushed myself HARD the whole race but I was so glad in the end:)
My official results were:

64min 02 sec / 8min 35 sec mile
It always surprises me....well at least with the 2 races I've done so far that I can run so much faster during a race than I do when I train. It must be my adrenaline.
I placed 89th out of 369 women
and placed 19th in my age group -which was 83 women between the ages of 30 and 34yrs old.

I'm really hoping to improve on these results and eventually (and I mean EVENTUALLY) be able to run these races at a 7 min 30 sec mile:)

I have to say the most rewarding part of all this running I've been doing is feeling like I'm getting back to my roots. You know how you look back to when you were a kid or a teenager or in college and wish you could do some of the things you did then?? well you can!!! In high school, I played all kinds of sports but my MAIN sport was ALWAYS running. Since I was 6yrs old I had been running and ran my first competitive race at 8yrs old. I love that I feel like I'm getting back to do what I LOVE! and I LOVE running!!!!!!!!!
To make the weekend even better, my mom and Jeff came down. AS I was running down the home stretch, I heard my mom yell "Go Nicole!!" she was so cute and it just warmed my heart!! I had a big smile and I didn't care who thought it was silly that some mom was cheering on her 30yr old daughter, it made my day!! Thanks MOM! and Jeff for coming:) love you both!!

Anyway, here are the photos!!!

busting my butt to get across the finish line!!

do I look happy or what ? lol...I think I was smiling at the girls when I finally found them!!

and now onto my running partners!!!!! Here is Valerie, she's run a marathon and half before..she's great!!

Here is Natalie!!! she's my friend and this is her first race...I think???she's done so great!

Here is Sabrina (she's waving to her little baby boy), she also has run multiple marathons and halfs before. Her and Valerie are my inspiration!!!

Go TEAM US!! LOL... that's "US" not "U.S" haha...we have fun together, I think we make a good team, we are great at encouraging each other.
I love them all!!!

Here is my mom and Jeff!!

Me and my babies!!

The loves of my life:)

and of course "The LOVE" of my life. Steve has been so patient with me with all my running and watching the girls etc, thanks honey!!

I didn't get pics of the others with their families, but here is Sabrina, Kevin and cute little Kaleb:)


We are now planning to run a half marathon on July 4th so stay tuned for those pics too!!

Mothers Day part 2

Oh my gosh, I had to post these. Megan brought her digital Camera into Subway the other day and while we're standing in line, Steve and I look over and here are the two monkeys taking pictures of themselves at the table!! does it get ANY cuter???

Happy Mothers Day

Today was a Great Mothers Day......one of the reasons being MY mom was here!! It was so great that she was here today, it's been YEARS since we've been together on Mothers Day and my mom has made some major changes in her life lately which just made the visit all that more special:)
Steve took these beautiful pictures of us yesterday after I did a little makeover on my mom-which was a lot of fun-she felt so pretty :)
We went to church together today and then I laid on the couch and we all just hung out while Jeff ( my mom's Fiancee made us a roast beef dinner!mmm-SO good!).

I woke up this morning at 9am (woohoo) and Steve and the girls had planned a "Mothers Day Hunt". Yes...like an Easter Egg Hunt but different.
There were 7 gifts for me to find, according to Megans instructions:) and the first ones I found (also my favorites) were home made plaster imprints of Megan and Erika's hands and feet:) Sadly, they were practically the SAME size so Stevie had to label them accordingly:) He also got me a 12lb vest to wear while exercising at home, a Yoga mat and a Pedometer:) it was fantastic!! Thanks Honey!!!




























On Friday when they arrived we went to Cannon Beach. here are just a few pictures from that day of My mom and I:)

-Sharing a special moment on the beach...I hardly noticed the secret camera man taking this pic *aka: Steve.






















I was teasing my mom about how short she seemed. Really it was just b/c we were on a hill but I took full advantage of it!
haha.
















Us with the Mooshy









Us with the girls.
















Happy Mothers Day Mom, I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!

Photo post from last MONTH!

So, I'm REALLY behind...I just found all these pictures I forgot about!! oops.


1. We went to the new pool:

Megan: the Brave one. goin' under!

Erika was not as impressed as we thought she'd be.

she really loved standing on the side lol.

But....of course, Mommy could get her to laugh;)

I love this one!

she has this thing lately about rubbing water on her nose. Not sure what that is all about.

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2. Erika just playing:

She loves the little people. She lined them all up here one day.

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3. These are my snuggle bugs.

my girls LOVE to climb on me and hug me and I must say I really don't mind. they are so cuddly and cute. I love them!

her Mooshy has Me AND Megan tickling her back! little stinker.

well that' s all folks...just playing catch up:)
til next time....;)