Happy Birthday Nathan!

The Meissner cousins got together today to help Nathan celebrate his 2nd birthday while Steve and Megan are in town.

Nathan had to push Karl out of the way to get to his cupcakes.

Some silly kids on a swing: Emily, Aly, Nathan, Laura, and Karl

Get Your Rear in Gear

This morning we all got up super early and drove to Southdale to meet Angie, Jason, Colin, and Justin at the "Get Your Rear in Gear" 5k and fun run to benefit colon cancer. It was cold, drizzly, miserable weather, but that only made us feel more like the tough runners we are.

The 1/2 mile kids' race was first. Laura, Karl, and Colin all turned in very respectable finishes. (Look! They all got medals!)

Angie and I ran the 5k next. Since Angie recently had a baby, it was the first time ever in which I was pushing her to run faster (I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life)!

I think we'll all sleep well tonight in our warm comfy beds.

Jesus Digs Chipotle

Happy Easter everyone! After an early-morning Easter egg hunt, and after we got dressed in our Easter best (Laura likes her dress because it reminds her of the bubbles printed on her shower curtain) we headed off to church (and since the choir was to sing, we had to get there by 7:30!). It was there that we learned the little known fact that Jesus favored tasty foil-wrapped burritos. Heresy, you say? Well, check out the evidence hanging in the church sanctuary:

It's clear that Jesus is holding a Chipotle original.

After church, I got to work making a cake to bring to the Easter festivities at my parents' house. Do you know how long it takes to arrange chocolate chips to look like sunflower seeds?

I was so happy when it was done that I took a picture and went downstairs to upload it right away, leaving the cake on our kitchen table, which is exactly nose-height for a certain dog of ours. Yes, today we found out that Penelope has a taste for Peeps! I came back upstairs and discovered that the bottom section of Peeps was missing, along with a huge chunk of the cake. I was still determined to bring it, though, so I just cut away that section and we ate the rest of it after dinner.

Here's a final treat: Karl dancing along with the silly bunny he and Laura got this morning.

Taking off the Training Wheels

We took off Karl's training wheels today, and voila! Now he's riding bike like a pro.

We even have video footage! (It's shaky at the end because Matt was filming while riding a bike himself.)