Chickens and Gardens

We've been very hard at work in the backyard for the past two weeks. Our chicken coop arrived and Levi and I spent the better part of a day putting it together. Last week, Randy made the final modifications to the coop, including a really nice roof and created a litter bed for the chickens to use. They spend as much time as they can outside of the coop in a large run. 

 We finally have grass growing this year and hope to keep it going through the summer!

 I got sick of the hosta plants in our front yard, so I dug them all up and put in some new flowers. The kids and I had planted tomatoes and peppers and a few other veggies out there too. The raspberries are looking very healthy, so we hope to have another good crop this year.

Kids Cook

Caleb and Adelina had the idea to plan and cook a dinner for the family, so we got to enjoy that last weekend. They planned to have an antipasti platter, caprese pasta, and cannoli for desert. 

The wrote out the shopping list and took the lead at the grocery store and I supervised their cooking. They chose some nice components off the olive bar and then made spiced olives and glazed almonds for appetizer. They did all the chopping of tomatoes, basil, garlic, and cheese for the pasta entree. For desert, we bought cannoli shells, but they made the filling and helped to pipe it in. It was a fun and tasty evening! 

Hoover Talent Show

The Hoover had their annual talent show last Friday (May 13th) night. It was a packed house, with at least 225 people in attendance. Caleb was inspired by his most recent Celebrity Series concert and decided to play a ragtime piece for the occasion. He didn't enjoy the piano, and the audience was a little rowdy, but he did a great job nonetheless. I think it's safe to say that people were blown away by him. Now all attention is on preparing for the June recital. 

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a very special Mother's Day weekend this year because Aunt Beth, Uncle Matthew, and causing Oliver came to visit! On Friday morning, I took my first post-marathon run and had the opportunity to run a little with this turkey! 

Of course, we took advantage of Uncle Matt's camera skills.....

 ....and enjoyed every second of Oliver!

 It was so great seeing the cousins play together. It was very sweet.

On Saturday, Randy, Caleb and Matt ran the Marine Corps Honor Run. Caleb finally broke 21:00 and Matt ran a PR by refusing to let Caleb beat him! It was a fun race! Unfortunately that afternoon our hot water heater went down, but we managed to survive the rest of the weekend without it. 

 On Sunday, Adelina and ran our 3rd Mother's Day race together and had a great time. It was a wonderful weekend, enjoying our wonderful family! We miss the Robinsons a bunch!

 Adelina had Matt photoshop this image of us!

Pittsburgh Marathon

After 16 weeks and 570+ training miles, it was finally time for the Pittsburgh marathon! I flew to Pittsburgh on Saturday May 30th and was excited to finally see an old high school friend's art installation at the airport. Dad picked me up from the airpot and we headed straight to the Expo for packet pickup. 

I'd been worrying about the weather for weeks, but it ended up not being much of an issue. We had some showers during the first half, but I felt good and strong. But somewhere around mile 11, I noticed something going on with my foot. I stopped to retie my shoes, but the pain continued. By mile 15, I was off my pace by quite a lot and was happy to visit the medical tent for some advice. I was quickly seen by an orthopedic surgeon who told me the pain was due to tendinitis, not a stress fracture. I was really heartbroken to see my time goal be lost, but I was determined to finish the race. In some ways, being forced to slow down and dig deep allowed me to take in the Pittsburgh Experience more fully. I definitely earned my Runner of Steel medal that day....and now I turn my sights to recovery, strengthening, and Chicago!