Memorial Day Twins Game

We decided last minute to take the older two to a Minnesota Twins game. This is the third year that we've had an outdoor stadium,  and it's kind of nice to be able to make last minute plans based on the weather. It was a HOT day with very little breeze.  Lots of Gatorade, ice cream and maaaaaybe a little beer was had by all!

Summer is Here!

I never thought this day would come, when daycare would be over with and I would be able to spend my days with just my girls.  It has, and we are enjoying it to the fullest!  Last week was spent in Wisconsin Dells at the Kalahari Resort.  What a blast, ours days were spent doing water slides, laying in the sun and sipping fruity drinks.  The weather was perfect (as you can see) and we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.  Lets just not talk about the car ride home, and how Brad and I were ready to pull our hair out, shall we?  *Most* children would have slept the whoooooooole way home, but not our beauties!  They were revved up the whole FIVE hours.  It was so fun.  Not.  

We came home Saturday night, and spent all day Sunday painting the family room.  That was my daycare room, and I am SOOO excited to be able to decorate that space.  We ordered new furniture for down there, Brad wasn't thrilled about spending time on the furniture we have down there now, with all the snot nose, leaky diapers and drool.  I know right?  Sounds appetizing.

Today was a leisure day for us, I went to the gym for the 8:00 body pump class that two of my girlfriends go to.  Neither one of those suckers showed up.  I survived the class, but I will not be mobile in a few hours.  The class kicked my rear end, I'm so scared to wake up tomorrow!  This afternoon the girls and I are going to the local library for a kids event, should be fun!

Easter

With this being Holy Week, I am really trying to incorporate something everyday to teach the girls about what all transpired this week for Jesus. I found this great blog last week and loved how she incorporated a daily Bible reading and a craft to teach kids about Holy Week.

Ok, so this first picture is not from her blog, but I found this bunny craft on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun one for Alayna to make for her teacher. We will fill it with candy and give it to her tomorrow. And because my child can't sit still and do one thing for longer that 30 seconds, she decided to staple some scrap paper together to make the letter E. She also got the paints out and painted a picture and then got dried beans out to play with. This was all within 5 minutes. Seriously. Summer could be a long three months....

Here is what we did for Sunday and Monday. Very simple crafts, but it makes the Bible readings more real for the girls.

We also decided to make prayer eggs. I had the girls write down several prayer requests and folded them up and put them inside the eggs. Everyday we opened one or two eggs and then the girls would pray for the requests. It's so fun to hear the different levels of praying that each of them have (especially for Alayna who wanted to pray for her bangs because they were going to get cut...) and how much they have grown!

Spring Randoms

With this craaaaazy amazing spring we've had, there have been a lot of fun outside happenings going on! Rachel is big into football right now, and man can that girl run and catch a football! The group that she plays with at school (during recess) makes her be the running back, which is a riot! I know the picture quality here is exceptional...

The two trouble makers posing...

And Alayna gearing up for a hit!

Looking forward to spending our summer evenings at the softball field. The girls have such a blast, and I have so much fun in the stands watching them play and cheering them on. And maybe drinking a beer or two...while getting the latest breaking news from other moms. Just keeping it real....

Rachel's birthday, what we've been up to and I quit my job

My sweet oldest "baby" (she'd kill me if she saw that) celebrated her 11th birthday March 14. Her theme (although at 11, we don't call them "themes" ya know) was volleyball and instead of having a big ole party with her friends, her and I got pedicures and went out to lunch. We did have our family over to celebrate, and enjoyed a gorgeous warm March day!

She decided to also make cupcakes, and decorated them. We are big fans of "Cupcake Wars", so Rach came up with her own design for her cupcakes. They were vanilla cupcakes with a caramel center, frosted with a cream cheese frosting she found on Pinterest, drizzled with caramel and them she melted white chocolate and added some food coloring to add to the top of the cupcake. Brilliant!

We have been thoroughly enjoying our warm spring with being outside playing softball, volleyball, and just hanging out on the patio. I am especially excited for this summer. After 10.5 years of doing daycare out of my home, I have decided to hang up the hat. I will be done with daycare June 1 and plan on taking the summer off to hang with my girls. I cannot tell you how overjoyed I am about this decision. This fall I will find something part time, as all three girls are in school. Doing daycare has worked so well for me to be able to stay home with my girls, but I'm ready for my new "venture" in the job world!

Kid Lunches

My kids are *pretty* easy to feed. Kind of. Rachel (the oldest) will pretty much eat anything, or at least try anything), Emma (the middle) will try anything, and eat most nothing. Just kidding, but she is a bit of a picky eater, she's not a huge fan of meat, but will scarf down double helpings of pheasant wild rice hotdish. I know. Strange kid. Alayna will eat any and all fruits/veggies, but is also not a fan of meat. She is also the one who needs to eat frequently, as in every half hour. Add in the hubs who has gut issues anytime he eats cream sauces, pasta and breads and it makes for a super fun time planning meals! Fortunately I am not the type to make different meals for each kid (hubby included), what I make is it, you can eat it or be hungry.

Now, lunch meals I feel a bit differently about. I make sure they get a nutritious breakfast, but unless I pack a lunch, I am hoping that they eat what the school serves. We are pretty lucky to have a *semi* decent lunch menu. However, with three kids in school, it gets spendy. I am going to try and make most of their lunches, and have now become completely obsessed with these bento type lunches. How fun are those? I love the idea of making the lunches fun, which (I think) encourages them to eat more.

So here was today's lunch:

I know, fancy right?? (umm, no) I had these muffin liners that work great for keeping foods separate. So today she had a hard boiled egg, summer sausage and cheese cubes on toothpicks, goldfish and fresh veggies. I had a separate container for ranch (which I am going to start making from scratch) that I also put in her lunch bag. There are sooooooooo many super cute and fun additions you can add, like little picks, egg molds and of course super fun cookie cutters to cut out fun sandwiches of course! I have a whole pinterest board now full of these fun lunches, and I am excited to get more ideas and stuff to get going!

Snow Day!

We got our first big snow storm here in Minnesota! Yes you heard right...first storm this winter! Crazy right? It has been an extremely mild winter which can only mean we will get slammed the end of April. Oh well...We thoroughly enjoyed our snow day!

Brad took the girls snowmobiling, and only a few minor head traumas ensued...

A snowgirl was made, after having Alayna melt down from not being able to put the freakin carrot nose on...*sigh*...

And all over fun had by all...well, after me threatening to take all their toys away unless they go outside with their sister...

All in all, it really WAS a fun day! The morning was spent decorating shoe boxes into mini dollhouse, I have more strands of hot glue than I thought could be possible all over my floor. But they spent hours and had so much fun making them. I did take pictures, but I was instructed by the oldest to NOT post them online, so I won't. But she doesn't know these ones are here...shhhhh...