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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Tuesday of Spring Break

At the beginning of every single break, or even a long weekend, Mark will say something to the effect of,
"Now don't pack so much into this break so you're exhausted and regretting at the end."

Tuesday was the perfect example of cramming a whole lot into one day.

It was the one day I brought the kids to daycare, therefore, wanted to accomplish everything I had to do without them. 

I dropped them off at 9am.  Then had an eye appt at 9:20.  I was at Sam's Club ordering new contacts and lenses by 10:15.

Next, I headed off to my secret birthday mission of surprising Olivis for her birthday.  Tuesday, the 15th was her actual birthday.  I surprised her by tiptoeing and whispering in her library with flowers and balloons. I swooped her off to Chammps for lunch.  There she received her bday present. An 8 foot banner that said, Hip Hip Hooray It's Olivia's Birthday.  I think everyone should own one! Unfortuntely neither of us thought to take a picture there.  So weird for us two photogs.  I guess that just shows what a fun time we had together and we were really in the moment.

After I dropped back off I headed back to downtown White Bear.  I was early for my second lunch date, so I headed into Goodthings and found a straw that sings Happy Birthday when liquid passes through.  I think I should have bought them all.  Very cool.

I met my friends Amanda and Shelly for lunch at Rudy's Red Eye Grill.  Since I had literally just eaten I sipped a water and some soup broth.  But boy oh boy, am I glad I went.  There was lots to talk about!

From there I immediately headed to my third (and final) "lunch" at TGIFridays with my brother in laws former girlfriend.  This is her first year of being a teacher and we had tons of catching up to do.  We had a total blast.  I didn't want to leave.

It was a day packed with activity but so worth it. 

I guess it's no wonder I stayed away from all restaurants on Wednesday.

Monday of Spring Break

Monday of Many Birthdays

On Monday morning we headed out to Hammond, Wisconsin to celebrate Jack & Shauna's birthdays.
Since they were unable to make it to Christian's birthday party, we also celebrated his birthday.


We enjoyed a lunch of pb&j and chicken nuggets.

The girls are adorable together.
Victoria wanted to make her laugh the whole time.

Maya apparently didn't want to get her little fingers dirty.

I've known Shauna for a long time now. We taught together nearly ten years ago. We got engaged and married within months of each other.  I'll never forget the day she told me she was pregnant with Jack.  I was going to tell her I was pregnant with Victoria that day.  She told me first and she was soooo excited I didn't want to take away from her so I took her to get a pedicure and waited a couple weeks until we hung out again.  (It was in the summer.)  What an amazing experience it was to go through our first pregnancies together.  Daily sharing our worries, ultrasound pictures (we actually went to an ultrasound TOGETHER!) first kicks and finally birth stories.
She is one of my closest friends in my life.  Having shared such an emotional and momumetal time in our lives I think we'll always have a bond.  Now, we talk husbands, marriages, kitchen tables with leaves,  preschoolers,  eating issues (the kids' not ours), potty training, etc.  There's never a lull in our conversations.  However, we don't get to converse nearly as much as we'd like too.


Jack loved this Thomas game we gave him.  Christian also loved it.  He saw it sitting on the counter waiting to be wrapped and kept saying he wanted to play it.  Luckily, Jack was all for us opening it and playing it.

The boys with all their Thomas birthday gear.   

I don't remember what Christian and Maya were looking at out the window. But I do remember running for my camera because they were so cute right there.

It was the perfect way to kick off the official start to spring break.

Sunday of Spring Break

On the first Sunday night of spring break we headed over to Mall of America for some rides.


I love to see the kids choose to ride together.  Christian is on the inside of the truck.  When it's not busy these trucks are the first to close, so we were happy to get on them.  I see a lot of MOA coming our way this summer!