2015 Week Thirteen | March 23 - March 29

One of the problems with working on project life spreads later than the actual week is that you don't realize you only have a few photos for the week until it's too late.  The good this is that the week of May 27 will have a lot of pictures; fear of having another week with so few pictures causes me to grab the camera and get snapping.

Apparently all the spring break shots wore me out, because this week I have pictures of an Easter egg hunt at Boy Scout camp, a Husker baseball game, and Annaliese, who's always asking for her picture to be taken.

Sunday after church we headed to a Boy Scout Camp in town for an Easter egg hunt. 

The best part was the eggs were hidden in the woods.  They had easier spots for the younger kids, but after those were found and they sent us out again, you really had to traipse around the woods to find them. 

Not sure who had more fun on the hunt, this guy or me, when it came to hunting for ones that may have been overlooked. 

Friday night Darrin was able to win suite seats from work for the Husker baseball game. Luckily Marlena and Noah were able to keep the kids overnight so we had a proper date night.  You could tell we were newbie, however, because we assumed suite meant indoor seats. Little did we know they'd be outside in temps right around 50. It was just a bit chilly... We joined one of Darrin's co-workers and his wife for pizza after the game at Yia Yia's.  Not sure I've been out that late (10 pm), especially for dinner, in a long time.  

This girl. Should I be worried she likes to pose and have her picture taken?

2014 Week Twenty - Five | June 16 - June 22

This week we spent a lot of time together with friends, but first we had to make it back home. Monday we ended our visit to our parents and headed back home, but not before a bit of play time. The kids love playing with my Little People sets, and Annaliese convinced Darrin to play with the park and pool this morning. 

We stopped for lunch at Arby's, where Ian got his first grown up meal deal and not a kids meal. He ate his regular roast beef and fries all gone.  He needs to stop growing or I have no idea how I'm going to feed him during his teen years. 

On Tuesday we had the inspection at our new house.  The day after they accepted our offer, they received baseball-sized hail.  Everyone had been asking what it looked like, but we were too scared to go see. This is just a small portion of the damage. Luckily, these were the only three windows damaged. 

We had been told the pool was beyond repair, so were very surprised when we showed up and it was filled and functioning just fine. The kids were super excited, because we had told them that we would no longer have a pool, and now we will. 

On Wednesday, we met Walter and Henry at the library to see some of our absolute favorite book characters- Piggie and Elephant (Gerald).  Mo Willems is one of my favorite authors, and if you've never read any of his books, you're really missing out. They're super entertaining to read as an adult, too, so it doesn't get boring having to read them over and over to the kids like some other books do. You should really check them out!

After the library, we headed to get groceries, but Annaliese was throwing such a fit, we never made it through the second set of doors into the building. We got home, she got sent to her room, and she quickly fell asleep for 2 hours.  I woke her up at 5 so she'd at least go to sleep at a decent time that night, carrying her downstairs and standing her on the floor in the living room. I started to make supper and noticed it was really quiet. I walked around the corner, and found her, sound asleep, on the steps.  Apparently she REALLY needed that nap. And of course, when we went to bed at 10:30, she was wide awake in bed.

We always check out lots of books when we got to the library (at least 15 it seems like) and I found Ian reading one of his to Annaliese on the steps on Thursday.

The library branch closest to us does an Around the Town story time every Friday. This Friday was an ice-themed one and took place at one of the ice rinks in the area.  For attending the story time, we got to go skating for free. They had little walkers the kids could take out on the ice. Annaliese was able to push hers while skating, but was still falling more than she wanted and would whine every time she fell.  Ian had trouble keeping his skates under him; his ankles were at weird angles and his legs were spread really wide. We tried smaller skates in the thought they weren't tight enough to support him, but he still had trouble, and he couldn't get the walkers to go. For most of the time, he hung out near the wall. It wasn't til I had had enough of their complaining and I said we could go that they both started doing really well on their own.  Figures.  I think we'll head back again sometime when Darrin's along, as it was hard to help them both on my own.

Saturday was a busy day for us. Ian was invited to a friend's birthday party at a spray ground. Turns out there were like 12 girls there for the party and he was the only boy, so instead of hanging out with the girls, he made some new friends and did his own thing at the spray ground.

Ian's in the blue shirt dead center.

We stayed for the party and brought Annaliese along as well. Though unlike Ian, who preferred the spray ground, she preferred the regular playground it was next to, or more specifically, the large puddle of water and sand at the playground. 

She had to clean herself off in the spray ground, and then she confiscated her towel I was chilling on in the shade, along with my sunglasses, to rest by her daddy. Adorable!

After a quick run home for showers, we dropped the kids off at Walter and Henry's for a sleepover. Marlena so graciously provided me pictures, knowing I'd want to scrap what they were busy doing while they were there.  They made pizza, Ian read Walter lots of books, and then they watched the movie, "Up".

 

While the kids were there, Darrin and I went to 7M Grill to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. I had coconut chicken and grilled bananas with a really spicy sauce on top and Darrin had a steak with potatoes and mushrooms.  It was really yummy. After dinner, we grabbed some dessert from Cheesecake Factory. And the next morning, loved not having to wake up early!

On Sunday, we returned the babysitting favor, watching the boys for a few hours.  It's been awhile since Darrin and I had responsibility of a 15 month old. Our house is definitely not baby proof anymore, so we had to spend most of our time within arm's reach of Henry. It was exhausting! Even though, it was fun to have them over for a few hours and the kids definitely had fun together. 

 

Go Pack Go...

even though they lost.  It was supposed to be an awesome get-away weekend for Darrin and I to KC for the Chiefs/Packers game.  We should have known by the way it started that the outcome wouldn't have been what we expected.  The hotel, which was supposed to be awesome, was less than sub-par.  Supper took over an hour to arrive at our table. Parking was outrageous- we spent a total of $40 on parking this weekend. And the game, it was so awesome to see them in person, just wish we wouldn't have witnessed their first loss.  We had fantastic seats for the show, though- row 33, right behind the goal post.  And even though they lost, I can't wait to see them play again. 

View from our seats

And it's game time!

Rodgers hands off to Grant

Rodgers under center

We scored our first TD on this play.

A fairly decent self-portrait

I'll return tomorrow to posting our advent activities. It was a bit crazy around here with my birthday, work coming to a break, and the game, but I'm off now until January, so I should have no excuse not to post tomorrow. 

While the kids were away...

the parents (especially me) did play. Darrin had to work most of the time the kids were back in Iowa visiting their grandparents, but I had time to do a little crafting and cooking.

I made some Fudge Island Bars (no recipe link, it's from an actual cookbook) shortly after the kids left. Why I made a jelly roll for just Darrin and me is beyond me. Needless to say, some of these ended up going in to the freezer for later.


As the week started, I was all set to make foods that normally send Ian in to a tizzy at supper time. One of them we tried was a chicken and veggie lasagna. I was even surprised Darrin said it was okay to make this past week as he doesn't eat most of the veggies in it. But he ate this dish, and had seconds. Even took the leftovers for lunch the next day. I just wish it would have been creamier. There wasn't a lot of cream to it.


The rest of the dishes I thought I would make didn't end up getting made. Turns out we're not as hungry or consistent about staying on schedule when the kids aren't around. The fruit in the fridge doesn't get eaten as fast, either. Doesn't help that we went out and had several "Date Night" dinners.

The best date night we had while they were gone was to see Wicked at the Orpheum. I HATE the Wizard of Oz, so I was a bit skeptical of the musical, even though everyone I talked to assured me they weren't much related. Well, they were right. I LOVED the whole thing: the story line, the songs, the costumes, and the lighting effects. Oh how I wish cameras had been allowed.


I spent some time the week they were gone quilting. I made the two blocks for the May friendship block quilt exchange. The first is a "Wonky Square-in-Square" for Jenn. It was totally outside the box of what I normally do, but I enjoyed this. It was so freeing not to worry about cutting everything evenly.


The second is an "Eight-Pointed Star" for Trish. Thankfully Jen shared paper piecing for this with all of us, which was a huge help, as the directions on quilter's cache didn't make much sense to me.


I also finished quilting and binding a blue monochromatic quilt. As with every other quilt I've made, it wasn't done by its deadline, but hopefully it will be loved by its eventual recipient nonetheless. Even though the pictures don't show the colors the best, from the lightest block to the darkest, they are some type of blue shade. I quilted it in an all-over meander with a Sulky Blendables in blue.



Then there was a bit of scrapboking, too. These first two pages I have had sitting nearly done for the longest time and finally I put some journaling and titles on them. The last one are some pictures and paper I've had for awhile and just finally got it put together. My goal this summer- a layout each week for both kids. We'll see if it happens...

A Comparison of Two Saturdays

What a difference a week makes. Last week we were running around so much we barely had time to catch our breaths.

That morning, we went to St. Olaf for the Uff Da Daze parade and lunch. Turnout wasn't the greatest (probably because the weather was crap) but that meant more candy for Ian!



After that, it was off to the wedding of my cousin Maureen and her now hubby Jim. Beautiful wedding (though I spent quite a bit of time trying to keep Ian in the pew and quiet-apparently difficult to do with tractors involved, so I missed parts of it). Her dress was GORGEOUS!!! Just about every time I go to a wedding, I want to get married all over again, because I want to wear another wedding dress.

After the ceremony we hopped back in our car and headed to the reception for Darrin's brother and his wife. They were married last month in Jamaica and we were unable to go. Annaliese was so much better than we anticipated, as she had been fussy all week. Turns out she had an ear infection. As long as she was held, she was fine. Ian barely left the dance floor once he got on it. He had a great time dancing with another little girl, and towards the end of the night, he only wanted to dance with Jodi. He became her little shadow.



Today, however, no parades, weddings, or receptions. Just yard work, cleaning the house, and date night tonight (dinner and movie) for Darrin and I to celebrate our 6-year anniversary.

It's Amazing

what one can accomplish in a weekend. I don't know if it's the impending due date (six weeks) or Ian's impending birthday party (four weeks) but this 3-day weekend saw us get a lot of stuff done around the house AND have time for fun. Fun stuff first...

Darrin and I had probably our last date night before the baby is born. For Christmas he gave me tickets to see Little House on the Prairie the Broadway musical playing here in Omaha at the Orpheum. We went out to eat first at a restaurant called Taste. We never would have ventured there had it not been suggested to me by two friends on Facebook. It has a very contemporary atmosphere, which is different for us, but the food and service was fantastic. I had a salad with coconut-crusted chicken topped with a strawberry-pineapple puree. I wish they would have served the puree in a glass, because it's the closest I've come to a strawberry daiquiri in awhile. Darrin had an 6-hour roasted pork roast and it was yummy, too. The service was so fast that we got downtown early enough to stop and grab ice cream from Ted and Wally's. The show was pretty good. Not as great as The Lion King, which I'd seen there, but it made me laugh and smile, so that's good. It's been awhile since I've read the Little House books, so some things I remember didn't match up with the show, and that frustrated me.

On to the productive weekend...

I got the center for the baby quilt done this weekend. All it needs is the borders on before I can sandwich it. This is a miraculous event if you ask me, considering I didn't even buy the fabric until Thursday. Saturday the girls came over for sewing, and I got the blocks 2/3 of the way done. Finished them up yesterday, and pieced it today. I've always wondered how people get some quilts done so fast, and now I know- you must choose the right pattern. Apparently I've been picking out waaaayyyy to time-consuming of patterns. This pattern went together so quickly. I could see myself using it over and over again. And to think until earlier this past week I had given up the thought of even having it started before the baby's arrival.

That's about it for my productivity this weekend. My goal was to get the first week of lesson plans written for my sub, but I was too excited thinking I could actually get the top pieced that I didn't get them all done. I did force myself to finish MOST of the things on my school to-do list before I worked on the quilt. Darrin, however, had an even more productive weekend. Our microwave went kaput on Friday, so he installed a new one for us. We've had really bad ice dams with all of our snow, and they finally melted off the roof, so he climbed the roof and glued down some of our shingles that had been lifted. And he installed a new closet system for himself (during the middle of the night a few weeks ago while we were sleeping, we heard a noise. Turned the light on and his closet shelves had just pulled right out of the wall). I like it so much I'm hoping he can do mine next weekend. He has been very handy lately, and I've been very impressed.

I'm wondering if all this productivity may have nothing to do with the impending dates, but instead the gloomy weather we've had. No snow, but no sun. Just fog 24 hours a day. The only neat thing about it is that it's really pretty when it freezes to the trees at night:

And, just because no post for me is really complete without a picture of Ian. Here he is after sledding down the hill in our backyard. The snow was very crusty on top and he wasn't heavy enough to indent it at all, so he FLEW down the hill. He probably would have crashed head-first into our house had it not been for the snowdrift in front of it (over his sandbox). He went feet and head first into it, and decided that was enough sledding for the day. As adventurous as he is, I doubt we get him back on the sled at all this season...
He also claimed Darrin's closet as his "house", and was a bit disappointed to see it get filled up with clothes.