Spring Break Fun

This week J and I have been on spring break all week. This is one of those times that is a huge perk when both of you are teachers! We're lucky to have the same break so we're able to spend a lot of time together and as a family during weeks like this.

The week started out pretty normal with some spring cleaning in the garage and doing some yard work. J and I got to go to one of my favorite breakfast places-the Original Pancake House. The main reason I go there is because they have chocolate chip pancakes. I've never had anything different when we go there. They are the best! Plus, it is the only place I know of that has pancakes where the chocolate chips are actually in the middle rather than just on top. This is very important, you know... So that was a lot about breakfast, but that was really the main point of our day!

Tuesday was a very fun day with our kiddos. It started out with smoothies, which is always a hit. Then we went to Build-a-Bear Workshop and "built" a stuffed animal! Thanks to Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Jake and Cousin Liam, we were able to go there with gift cards A & C received from their third birthday.

This greeting made with Smilebox

As you can see, they had a lot of fun! I loved it too! It was perfect because they could pick their own animal and watch it get stuffed. They also put in the animal's heart. The kids were also able to pick out one thing to put on their animal. A picked a pink dress (of course!) and C chose a Twins shirt. A perfect match for both of them! After that we went to the Rainforest Cafe. Now this is a restaurant that I have been walking by for 10 years, but have never been to. I think part of it is that it seems too "touristy." Pretty sure I just made that word up! When I think touristy, I think expensive and over the top. Well, the restaurant is a bit over the top, but it was GREAT for our kids!!! Ok, and it was great for me, too. Who knew it rained and thunderstormed inside the restaurant?! A & C loved it and were really good, too. That always helps. To end the day we went to Chutes and Ladders which is a play area by our house. This is a place I remember going to as a kid, and it has certainly changed. There are a lot of climbing places and slides. There is one original slide left from what I remember as a kid. We had a picnic dinner and played until sunset. The day ended with a trip to DQ. Whew! What a day!

Yesterday was a good day with J. We went to the Macy's flower show downtown. I love the fact that when you get off the escalators on the 8th floor you can smell the flowers. Mmmm! We ate outside because it was 75 degrees. Yes, March 30th, 75 degrees. Crazy!! After lunch we went to the Linden Hills neighborhood, which we love and wish we could live in, and walked around. We went to Lake Harriet, then back to a local ice cream shop for the best Oreo ice cream ever. I really can't complain about that kind of day!

Today...well, let's just say I could have fallen asleep around 4:00! I took the kids to the Como Zoo to meet up with some girlfriends and their kids. This was the first time I had seen everyone together since October! My how life gets busy when you have kids! We had a great time, enjoying the weather (it got to 81 degrees, according to my car), seeing the animals, having a picnic lunch and catching up with friends. This afternoon it was off to my mom's house to go to the "Red Park" as our kids call it. We met up with some friends-Jodi and her kids Lillian and Gavin. We played and played and played today! I can't believe C didn't nap, but hopefully he'll sleep for a while tomorrow morning. Again...whew!

So, it's been a busy week! But, if you know me, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Busy is what I like because I would hate to look back at this week and go, wait! I wish we would have done that! We'll see what tomorrow brings to end our week. What do you do when you have a week off?

Pictures with a Friend

This weekend we had the privilege of going to my friend Jordi's. She has just started her own photography business called Jordi Lee Photography. She began in the fall, and has been very busy ever since! Jordi has been a friend since college. We've been lucky to stay connected by living close enough that we still see each other almost every month. It's been fun to watch her boys grow up as our kids get older too.

I'm really happy for her that she's doing something she absolutely loves to do! She actually said to me yesterday, "I love(d) teaching phy. ed. I really did! But I love doing this much more than I ever did when I was teaching."

Here's to you, Jordi, for doing something you love! (I hope you enjoyed the sneak peak she gave me!)

Spring has sprung!

If you live where we live, you would know that the snow has melted! We were outside yesterday and it was 63 degrees! No wonder I was sitting outside in a tank top (getting a sunburn, little did I know)! I found these flowers that are starting to come up on the south side of our house, which made me happy!

A worm!!!

I got out my "keep away bunnies!" spray to protect the flowers. Last spring they never came up enough to produce a flower because the bunnies ate them down too quickly! We'll see if I've stopped them early enough this spring.

The kids were out loving the warm weather and loving the fact that they didn't need to have hats, gloves and snowpants while playing outside. C found a tractor in the toy box outside that he hadn't seen all winter. A found the sidewalk chalk and tried to play in the little snow that was left.

One new thing that happened yesterday is that C learned how to pump! I hope you enjoy this new video of him pumping on his swing. He is very proud of himself and can tell that we're proud of him, too!

It was a really fun day outside. I always forget how much I love being outside, and that love increases as the kids get older! Time definitely flies as we play outside in the morning or the afternoon. I can't wait for summer!

Planting Flowers

Here is very short Smilebox of our kids planting flowers at my favorite flower shop, Bachmans!

Free slideshow design made with Smilebox

I see grass! Can I play there?

Since I first wrote this post earlier in the week, we have almost no snow! Hooray! I'll have to update more pictures with less snow to show just how close we are to spring! Yes!

Spring is coming! At least I think it is. According to our kids, it is coming closer and closer. Their indicator is seeing grass. That's all I've heard for the last week. In fact, A just said the other day while we were in the car, "Hey! Mommy! I see grass! Can we play there?" Let it be known that we were on a freeway ramp and she saw the grass as we were going around. Do you think they're ready for spring? Well, look at this picture of C riding his bike:
This was the first day we went out last week without snowpants and boots for the first time before snow. I can't even remember the last time that was...November maybe? Who knows. But, you know winter still isn't over when, at the same time, A can be doing this:
Since these pictures were taken, we have been spending a lot of time outside riding bikes and scooters, with the option of putting boots and snowpants on well, not really an option at all! C is adamant about not wearing all of his snow gear. Let's just hope it doesn't snow again! I'm not sure that our kids will be turning back to winter again until next year. It's raining now, so I think that's a good sign. Maybe we'll be seeing more and more grass as the week goes on!

You know you're a teacher when...

...you use glue to fix your shoes. Really! I did that today. Crazy. It was a piece of my shoe I was either going to rip off or fix with glue, because that's all I had. So, out came the Elmer's glue and I glued it back together. I had to do it again later in the day because it came undone, but now I think it's set.
My friend Stacy had another thing to add to the list:
You know you're a teacher when you use marker to fix your necklace. She had to use an orange marker to fix a spot on her necklace that was coming off. So, she colored over the part that was missing the orange color and all was right!
There are bound to be other things to add to this short list, but I just had to share, because I'm assuming it doesn't happen very often during other people's days!

Sleepy Boy

Tonight we went to watch J bowl for his Thursday night bowling league. He doesn't bowl very often-only about every 5 weeks, and we haven't been to watch before. We stayed as long as we could (only 45 minutes or so before our kids got restless) and headed home. Well, by the time we were in the car, it was about 30 minutes past A & C's usual bedtime. Most nights this isn't a big deal, but tonight C fell sound asleep about half way home.

We got home and I got A in the house and I went back to the car to get C, thinking he would probably wake up. Wrong! He slept through taking his jacket off, clothes off (I thought about just leaving him in his clothes to sleep!), getting him in the bathroom, and almost didn't wake up to go to the bathroom! I got him all set for bed and put him down-he was OUT! I never heard from him! It was my first experience with having him completely asleep through the whole process! We had one tired boy tonight!