"my sista's birthday extravaganza!"

Happy Birthday Donna!
My sister and I are very similar alot of the time. If we wait around for someone to "make us feel special" on our birthdays..................we will still be waiting and probably be disappointed! So we decided to do a "girls night" for hers this year! With no kids or husbands! It fell on the week of spring break so we just tagged it onto the last weekend. We decided to go up to Portland and stay the night at the Marriott on the Willamette River with a view!
So we booked it! Her family was gone anyways and I was still on vacation.........
So off we go! She was definately the Princess!

So to make her feel "special"..........I went all out. Made us goodies bags. Bought wine. Got pink princess decorations for the hotel room! A tiara and a magic wand. Birthday banner.Even decorated the water bottles. Everything I would want to feel "special" if it was my birthday! Got her a "D" initial wine glass and fun gifts.

I packed it all up with us!

And I special ordered her a cake. Lemon...........yum!

I bought cute plates etc....................but the cake didn't ever make it to a plate. We just ate it with forks............hahahahahahaa..............

So we worked our way up north. We were both excited to get away and just chill. Relax. Have some time to ourselves that we didn't have to do anything! We stopped in Salem and ate at this yummy restaurant in downtown. After we spotted a cute little boutique and bought jewelry and Donna treated herself to a new pair of jeans (silvers)!

Had to stop at the Wilsonville goodwill. (after we found it!)

Finally we made it to Portland (a few stops later). We were ready for our jammies. Wine. Wifi. and magazines. Seriously.....................who goes to Portland to stay in a hotel............and STAYS IN? We do!

Our plan was to order room service and drink wine and just visit.

Oh........and eat cake. And surf on our laptops.........and read magazines. I hung the birthday banner up.............and realized on our way home.............I forgot to take it down!

When she booked the room she said it was cheaper to book the "romance package". ha! It included a bottle of champagne. Free parking and free breakfast! So funny and we joked about it all night. Is that why they looked at us kinda weird when we checked in? And I remembered to take the KNOME! He is still naked tho.............

We got OJ for our champagne for mimosas!

The Princess is in the building!

And everyone will be proud that the KNOME participated in the shinnaneghens!

The cake was really good.

We can so easily entertain each other! We stayed in all night and laughed and ate and were silly!

Our view off our "spacious" balcony.

This was my "date" for the night! Magazines. Laptop.Blankie. Snacks. Lots of pillows! Yes please!

I think Princess Donna enjoyed herself! Perfect birthday!

We debated about going down to the bar in the hotel............but decided jammies and lounging sounded better~!

We slept in. Ordered room service for breakfast and finally left the hotel around 12:00 noon. So to finish off our "experience" we talked about going to get VooDoo doughnuts down by Burnside. I've been there and know they are just glorified doughnuts. Donna wanted to check it out and we had already promised to bring our kids/families some home. Of coarse the line was long! But we decided to park and brave it. Of coarse it started POURING down rain. And was cold! We sacrificed an HOUR in line in the rain for doughnuts. Was kinda fun tho watching people and we were all waiting for the same thing. And Donna was nice and gave her umbrella to a homeless kid that was using cardboard to stay dry.

It was a fun birthday extravaganza! And great sisterly bonding time! And the knome was happy to attend the party. See..................I'm not a totally bad knome-mommy!

We had invited some others but we had no takers.............................and they missed out! so we decided this should be a semi-annual event. Or birthdays? or just when we need to get away?????

"Foster Lake 5k....(part 1 of my weekend)"

Let's start off Saturday morning with a 5k!
(we just sign our kids up and tell them we paid for it and they are going with us! hahaaa) Foster Lake Dam Run 2011.

Nicole and Drake are official running buddies (even tho Nicole says SHE slows HIM down. he is a fast little man.)

What a beautiful morning. Sun was out and warm!

We got to my sisters house in Lebanon at 8:00 am and headed up the Sweet Home/Foster Lake.

We had to walk about 3 miles (maybe a little exaggerated....) to get to registration and then walk across the dam to get to the starting line? So we decided this was our "glory shot" running....(the race hadn't even started yet!) hahahaaaaaaaaa

I wasn't sure what our route was yet.............a little nervous........

And taking pics along the way incase we didn't make it. hahaaa......and got a pic of my sis playing with her butt. Pictures don't lie............I told you I was going to post this one! (I think the sillier the pic, the better........shinnanaghans!)

We waited around an extra half hour for the race to start! Was getting hot! And we were already tired. I didn't eat a proper breakfast (10 almonds and a 1/2 cup of coffee didn't quite cut it). And we are off...............Ummmmmmmmm....no one told me their was a hill???? The kids were in front of us (by quite a bit! Nicole in the green shirt and Drake in the red shirt). Going down is ok........but we will have to come back up!

This is where my sweet sister ditched me (on the uphill side). hahahahaahaa........

I think she kept this pace up for the rest of the race............nice knowing ya! (really, it's ok)

The kids made it back up the hill..........I wasn't so thrilled about it (but then today I went on a 10 mile bike ride....what am I thinking??)

We all beat are times from the last 5k! yay!

And we saw Brandi there too!!!!!

We did it!!!!!! Another 5k under our belt!!!!! Good job sista!

And my awesome daughter got 2nd place and a metal for her age division! (last 5k she got 1st place!)Good job Nicole! So fun that we can do this together and you are such a stud, you are collecting metals!

And we are headed to the Strawberry Parade in Lebanon and all decided to wear our numbers all day (cause we are cool like that) and Nicole should wear her metal all day too...........

"where's Donna?......."

Like an episode of Where's Waldo? hahahaha.........
My sister and I have become quite close in the last year. Which makes me extremely happy! And being sisters, we are WAY more alike then we would like to admit!
We think alike. Like the same foods. Have most of the same hobbies. Love a good bargain! (sometimes will buy the same greeting card in a totally different store!)
So Saturday morning goes like this............(we text each other alot....it doesn't really matter who the text is from because we both think the same!)............"Good morning"................"have you walked yet?"..........."yes, just finishing up" (this one is actually my sister cause I have rebelled and taken a week off)........."can't wait to have my coffee"........."what are your plans today?"..........."we could sort thru pictures"..........."or read".........."or go to St. Vinney's and the Goodwill."..............."and the fruit stand"................"ok, I'm easy" (that could be either one of us, lol).........."well I need to shower still"............."me too".........."but I don't want to do my hair or makeup"..............."me either, so we will get "semi" ready.".............ok, see you soon...."
And in the mean time we had a 5 hour power outage so why not go shopping!
Another weird quirk we have in common.............the way we try on clothes at Vinney's and the Goodwill.............right in the middle of the store...........over our existing clothes..........She did end up buying this shirt.......but at this moment she was trying it on!
Got some great bargain! All clothes and books were 50% at Vinneys! Between the Goodwill and Vinney's she got 4 shirts and 3 skirts for $28.................love a good bargain! *(and the next day Nicole and I went back to Vinney's and she got a pair of designer jeans, designer capris, a skirt, Under Armor workout pants, an American eagle dress, and shorts all for $31) I got a pair of Nike workout pants for $5 and we bought 7 books for $7.23)* And I thought it was funny (I think she was laughing too?) that I took pictures of her everywhere we went (weird quirk)...........Now we are at the fruit stand! That's and enjoyable place.

Made it to the Goodwill........

And I found her wandering around the Goodwill in this shirt to show me....hahahhaaa. We are weird!

More shinanigans at work last week................I'm not sure what possesses us to be so silly............it was Friday and we were all tired. And it was the afternoon........and we were just plain silly. I laugh at this pic because we do this crazy stuff when we have clients! (see Becky's client sitting patiently in her station)..........hahahhahaahhaaaa

And last night I stayed up until 2:00 am finishing my book! Have lots of new ones to read so wanted to finish it and move on to the next. It's nice to have Nicole as a reading buddy. Today she said "Mom, let's get all our chores and cleaning done so we can lay out in the back yard and read!" Now we need to get it done and the sun needs to come out........

"my first 5K!!!"

About a month ago........I get a text from my sister Donna.... "Do you want to do a 5k on May 7th?". I respond back "SURE! Sign me up! ". And then I figured I should ask some details. Paid my fees and told her to make sure we ordered shirts! Was held at Cheadle Lake outside of Lebanon on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 9:00 am............... So a couple of days later my sister texts me again and says "I signed up the kids to do the 5k with us.". Great! The more the merrier!!

Of coarse I was rainy and cold on race day! We didn't mind. We made sure to get lots of pics. And of coarse the kids were whining.............."Why are you taking so many pictures?!". Our response was "because we are your mothers and that's what we do!!!" We got there around 8:15 am to pick up our race packets, shirts and numbers...........We felt so cool and official having a race number. hahaa! And had lots of time before the race so we took more pictures....hahaha

My sister is getting so skinny!!!! And she looks GREAT! Keep up the good work sista!

There were 217 racers and my sis and I came in about the middle of the pack.

And if you notice I have never said we RAN the 5k!!! We walked.....................someday we will be runners! The kids all ran it and did great! Was so much fun and we plan on doing it again next year. Just started a new tradition with the kids!

Gunner started off with us but decided we were too slow, so he took off running. Nicole and Drake took off from the start line.

Drake placed 52 nd......with a time of 31.02 (with a pace of 10.00 min. mile)

Nicole placed 56 th.......with a time of 31.17 (with a pace of 10.05 min. mile)

Gunner placed 72 nd....with a time of 34.30 (with a pace of 11.06 min. mile)

Donna and I placed 125 & 126 with times of 48.21 & 48.22 (with a pace of 15.34 min. mile) and we walked, so that's decent times!

(Drake and Nicole)

Once we rounded the corner and could see the finish line.....We stepped it up and took off running! (and I decided that we really needed to finish before the lady with the baby stroller in front of us........so we passed her!) And for some odd reason my sister told me later that she just didn't want to finish last place. Come on sista..........we would never let that happen! And we did great!

Yay!!!!!!!!!! We did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great time. I'm so proud of the kids too! For participating with us and for getting great finish times!

And my darling daughter WON 1st PLACE in her age division! Good job Nicole. (she beat her 5k time from a run last year by over a minute!)

The rain held off when we first got there but by halfway thru it was pouring buckets!!!! But we didn't mind. We had some awesome family bonding that no amount of rain could put a damper on............

Good job Gunner, Nicole and Drake......(Tyler wasn't interested so we left him home in bed! lol).

We finished and got our ribbons. And they announced our names and times as we crossed the finish line. That was kind of cool.

Nicole with all the WINNERS! So proud of my girl............

So we head back to my sisters and the kids had other things to do. They were headed to a baseball tourney to do concessions. So all 3 of them piled into Nicole's car and took off.........Really???? When did that happen? So Mark and Donna took me home. All 3 of us adults were in one car and all 3 of our kids were in another car.........without us.............still so strange to me! Donna and Mark were kind of shell shocked too. How/when did OUR kids get that old? They all made it home safely so I guess that's all we can ask for.........

Well sista..............I had a great morning! Thanks for the fun and the memories (and the buttocks workout!). Maybe we will train for the next one and actually RUN IT!

My adorable (runner) friend Erin sent me a text about 1/2 hour after we finished and said "you look cute even after walking 3.1 miles in the rain." I texted her back and said "how would you know???? we just got done and I haven't posted any pics yet?" My sister had already posted a pic on facebook :) And since everyone knows I don't do facebook...........but I'm glad she posted our accomplishment.

And my adorable friend Erin is RUNNING a Half Marathon today (you go girl), so good luck to you! And when we talked Friday I told her we were only doing a 5k, she was sweet and said "you've got to start somewhere!" I see how it could become addictive. And for some reason most of the new people I have met recently are RUNNERs. I mean full on marathon runners. Crap..........am I going to have to start running? hahahaha...

Good job sister. I love ya and had a great time and can't wait to do it again!