Tag Archives: friends

Labor Day Weekend

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We’ve had a good weekend!

I took Friday off and ran errands and got my haircut… had some “down” time by myself.  It was a good way to start the weekend.

On Saturday the kids and I went to Rochester to visit my parents.  We also were able to get in a visit (and swimming) with my best friend from junior high who I haven’t seen since probably the early 90s!

Yesterday both kids got some special attention. Chad & I took Maria to Valleyfair and Charlie stayed home with Grandpa & Grandma all by himself. Both kids were very excited!

This was our 2nd visit to Valleyfair with Maria and I have to say it was very different!  As she had grown over 3″ since last summer (and over an inch since May!) and was now able to go on most of the big rides.  The Wild Thing and Monster being her favorites!  Her favorite from last year was not quite what she remembered although she tried to make it fun!  She also declared the Looping Starship (the upside down Viking ship) the most boring ride ever, even though Chad almost got pegged in the head with someone’s cell phone that came loose.

Today is laundry day… 🙂  and both kids are off to school tomorrow – Maria starting 1st grade and Charlie starting preschool! Both are excited!

 
Untitled

Lifting weights at Grandma's

Thirty-Nine

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Next stop – 40!  Yikes. I’m 39.  It was a very good birthday.  Although maybe it was because my day before was just really not fun.

Last weekend, I had a 31 and Shutterfly Party as kind of a way to earn myself some presents, plus spend time with friends and my in-laws brought a cake.

The day before we had cookies at our team meeting.

The actual day of my birthday:

  • I woke up to a lovely card from my husband which also included a gift card to Caribou and Chipotle.  Not diamond earrings or a MacBook, but I can’t expect that every year, right?!  🙂  And we did get new furniture earlier in the week.
  • Free coffee from Caribou on my way into work.
  • More coffee, a new mug and another gift card from my friend Sara, who is a contractor on my team and who usually works from home, but came to work because I thought my day would be more fun with her there.
  • Lunch with Sara.
  • Some work throughout the day.
  • Dinner out with Chad & the kids – Chili’s
  • More Cookies
  • Facetime call with my niece’s Elizabeth & Katelyn
  • PhotoBooth with Charlie & Maria

Yesterday, I spent with my friend Sarah doing our annual tradition of the Christmas Tour of Homes in Hudson and and lunch and shopping.  Plus a quick stop at my brother’s.

Today I got to spend an hour with my friend Karin who also brought me more coffee and gift cards. All Good!    It’s great to start a new year feeling so blessed and so loved!

Photo on 11-15-12 at 7.45 PM #2
Facetime with Maria & Charlie

Shutterfly Party 2012
31 and Shutterfly Party

September Weekend #3

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Last weekend Maria had her friend Lilah sleepover. Both girls were very excited. It was the first time Maria had someone sleepover at our house. And it was the first time Lilah slept at a friend’s house.

I think they both had a lot of fun. And Charlie did too. Unfortunately they did not sleep much! Lilah missed her mommy and they had trouble settling down since they were sleeping together on the air mattress.  They finally fell asleep around 10:30.  Only 3 hours past their bedtime.  And then were up around 6:45.  Needless to say, Sunday School was not fun for Lilah. She was ready to get home.  And both Maria and Charlie needed naps as well.

We might wait awhile to try this again, but I bet if you asked any of them they would still say they had a lot of fun! Especially Charlie who asked where Lilah went on Thursday, even though he was with when we drove her home! 🙂

 
Maria and Lilah's Sleepover

Pillow Fight

Reunion

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Last weekend I had my 20 year high school reunion.  It was fun, although at times a little surreal.   I had a lot of friends in high school, just not a lot of close friends. The people I had classes with and was surrounded by most of the day was not necessarily the people I hung out with on the weekends or went to lunch with.   I am fairly certain I didn’t have many enemies. The reunion was comprised more of the people I did not hang out with outside of school, except for 2 girls and a few guys.

That’s the other thing I realize now after looking through my yearbook and the reunion. I had a lot of guy friends. No wonder my mom was always so curious about me not having a boyfriend, because it’s not like they weren’t calling my house or hanging out with me.  I just wasn’t dating them or not seriously anyway.

It is interesting though how people change and also how people don’t change.  Doesn’t matter though I had fun. Lots of people that I had a lot in common with and also lots of people that I didn’t.  It all helped reinforce that I really love where I’m at in life.

And even though my 20 year reunion seems to really emphasize my age.  (I’m 38 – that’s almost 40!! shhhhh!!!)  it also helped me realize I’m in a really good spot in life and I’m going to dress like I am.  It helps that I ate a lot of salad and ran a lot leading up to the reunion.  It kick started me out of a little frump.  At least for a couple weeks. We’ll see how it all keeps up!  Hopefully I can maintain through Chad’s 20 year reunion next year!

July 4th, 2012

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Our day started off with a hail storm. Right around 6:30.  Of course, it woke up Maria who has her ears on for any sound of bad weather, 24 hours a day.  She was content though to snuggle in our bed until about 7:30 though.

Our morning was spent distracting the kids and getting things set up for our annual party.  Charlie went down for an early nap and I convinced Maria just to lay down and rest. She fell asleep for about 10 minutes, but then again was woke up by the sirens (first Wednesday of the month, 1 pm). So then I spent another 10 minutes convincing her it was just a test, even though we know they worked because they went off 2 days earlier.

Our guests started arriving right around 1:30. We hit the backyard and the new pool by 2:15.  And this is the only picture I took during the party.  At least it’s cute and catches the mood of the day!

4th of July

We had a great spread (thanks to everyone that brought food!) And a good party. No one got too hot and everyone had plenty to eat!

After our guests left and the house/yard was put back in a little bit of order, we went over to the neighbor’s party.  We came home for baths around 8, but never made it back. Maria talked herself out of fireworks and then after stories, laid in bed fearful and in tears that the loudness of the fireworks was going to make it into our house. Poor girl! Although she did see some of the action from her bed through her window, she fell asleep with headphones listening to lullabies on the iPod. Charlie slept through every single firework.

I took them both to daycare/preschool today and all Maria talked about was how excited she is for next year to see the pretty fireworks.  🙂  It’s funny how she remembers things.

My Five Year Old Girl

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Maria turned 5 on May 18th.  Incredible!   I can’t believe the girl that she has become. She makes us soooo proud.  Right now she is all about figuring out reading and writing.  She loves when we read her chapter books at night. Her favorite is Beezus and Ramona. She loves Charlie dearly, whether she admits it or not, he’s her bestest bud.    She is going to preschool 3 days/week and will continue through the summer.  She starts Kindergarten in September and will go all day, every day.  Something our district is switching to starting next year.  I have no hesitations about her being one of the younger ones in her class.  I completely feel like she is ready!

Maria is also quite the talker. In fact, if she isn’t around, we’re always surprised how much Charlie talks!  She has questions about everything.  Well that isn’t completely true, she has answers for a lot of things too.  Her own made up answers.  She asks a question and then responds with the “answer”.  Sometimes it drives my crazy, but other times it’s cute and other times her answers are down-right funny.

We started the birthday celebration at school on the 17th.  The next day, we all stayed home from work/daycare. I took the kids to the zoo. It was a warm day, so we took swimsuits to play in the sprinklers. We saw a lot of the animals up pretty close. One of the best days I have been there.  After the zoo, we came home so Charlie could nap.  Maria played on her new LeapPad.  Late afternoon, we headed to her friend party at a nearby Community Center.  I think all the kids had a great time!

Saturday morning, both kids were up early, but luckily both went down for naps before the party with the families.  We had an Olivia themed party.  Maria wore a red dress (Olivia’s favorite color) and I ordered a cake from Target that we put some Olivia characters on.  We had a pinata and the weather was beautiful so all the kids got to play outside.

It was a great weekend and we had so much fun celebrating!

Her Friend Birthday Partywith her friends

Opening Presents

Cousins
with her cousins

Pinata
pulling the pinata strings (with her “Rapunzel” hair)

Birthday Girl with her Cake

Breakfast Club

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I invited some book club friends over this morning for a play date.  The crowd was a little sparse, but we still had a good time. It sure is harder to find dates/times that work for everyone, even when kids are invited.  Wish I had thought to take pictures. It was a hectic day, as I am in call to do testing for work this weekend, and the schedule was behind, so last night’s testing needed to be done this morning, when I should have been making the egg muffins.  we did get to eat, it was all delicious! and a beautiful day for the kids to be outside!

Fun Playdate

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Well I’m not sure what I was thinking when I organized a playdate for today, because last night when I thought about ALL the kids and people we’d have at our house, it seemed like a lot… but it was a BLAST!

In attendance – Ethan, Isaac, Lily, & Maria  –  all age 2!  Evan, Cole, & Macie (all >1!)  Oh, plus 5 Mom’s (Kristen, Theresa, Kyra, Jane, and me) and one soon Mom-to-be (Carrie)!

I dropped Maria off at daycare for about an hour this morning while I went to the dr and then got things ready. We had 2 pools in the backyard, plus the sprinkler! Everyone brought something to share for lunch (the brownies were a hit with the kids!) and we suffered no major meltdowns!  That is a success!

Maria LOVED it and after her nap (4-5 pm!) she asked about her “friends coming over?”   Sorry Sweetie, hopefully again soon!  And sooner than last time! Maria hadn’t seen any of these friends since she was 3 months old!  Here are a few shots, but more here at flickr. Unfortunately I was not at the top of my game and I didn’t get any shots of the babies or the Moms… just the toddlers.

Pool Fun

Enjoying Brownies

Lily

Sprinkler

Slide in the Sprinkler