Life, Love, and Marathons: Mother's Day Weekend 2016

What a great weekend we had and celebrating Mother's Day was just icing on the cake! On Friday, I took Lucy to Powell's Touch-A-Truck event at one of the parks in Powell. We were able to walk from our house and spent a couple hours checking out all the different trucks and vehicles. That evening, Todd & Lucy started working on a cake for Mother's Day. Todd started the tradition last year with a Brown Butter Layer Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling & Rich Chocolate Buttercream and this year he made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeye Cake.

Lucy waiting in line for the school bus at the Touch-a-Truck event

Riding the zamboni

Riding the garbage truck (this was her favorite)

Climbing the ladder on the tree removal truck

On our way home..."I just running, Mommy!"

Helping Todd make the peanut butter cheesecake part of the cake

Mixing ingredients

On Saturday morning, we went to Polaris so I could run the MommyMile 5K. I had won a free entry from Social Moms Around Columbus and couldn't pass up a chance to run a 5K with baby girl #2. It was a fun race, despite not being an actual 5K, and there were lots of booths and activities set up that kept Lucy occupied. Afterwards, we drove over to Worthington and walked around the farmers' market, the first outdoor one of the season. Todd finished making the cake during Lucy's naptime and we did some housework and then relaxed the rest of the day.

Right towards the start of the race when I saw Todd & Lucy for the first time

After the race

Todd putting on the peanut butter frosting...

and adding the chocolate peanut butter ganache to the top

This cake is massive...and delicious!

There were several layers....chocolate peanut butter ganache, peanut butter frosting, chocolate cake, and peanut butter cheesecake

On Mother's Day, we went to church and the grocery store and then Todd got lunch ready for a picnic he planned at the Topiary Park near downtown Columbus. Neither one of us had ever been there before and it was a beautiful park where the topiary was a representation of a painting. Lucy loved walking around and checking out all the different shrubs and bushes to see what they were supposed to be. Her favorite, of course, were the dogs and the monkey. She was a little disappointed there wasn't a playground at the park so we went a few blocks over to let her ride the carousel at Columbus Commons. We ended our weekend by taking my parents out for ice cream at Graeter's to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.

This plaque shows what the topiary is supposed to represent

Part of the topiary

More of the topiary

Todd & Lucy during our awesome picnic that Todd put together (he made my favorite Japanese Chicken Salad!)

Lucy & I

Todd & Lucy even surprised me with a giant card (that Lucy picked out) and a present

Lucy helping me open the present

They went to Marcy's Clayground and Lucy picked out this ceramic house to paint that you can put a candle inside of; she was so proud of herself when she gave it to me