Sleepovers

Last week we had Aurora's friend Presley over for a sleepover, which was very fun for the girls.

The very next day, Grandma Nancy made her way to Austin and stayed in Aurora's room as well. She took Aurora to a Daisy troop meeting, enjoyed the luau, and we went on a little road trip to Driftwood, TX to eat at the Salt Lick. They have a Kid's Ranch, which was a hit. And the food... well, there's a reason I never came here as a vegetarian.

Nancy had a nice visit (and more BBQ) with my parents - and just as she was heading back to Arizona, my folks also left for a trip to Florida. Aurora won't have time to be sad about all her grandparents leaving because in just a couple days, we have another house guest coming! The adventures (and sleepovers) never stop around here...

Aloha

Happy Birthday to Aurora! Today was her luau party and it was jam packed with family, friends, games, food, and all sort of fun. Grandma Nancy came to town and together we did the limbo, hula danced, busted open a piñata, had tons of cake, and the party kept going after the kids left as a few of my friends came over for presents and pizza.

Awesome to have both grandma's here taking part in the festivities! I think everybody had a good time, and I'm pretty sure everybody's exhausted. I know I am...

My Job

Last week Aurora went on a field trip, and lots of moms went along as chaperones. She really wanted me to go, but I had a busy day at work and couldn't take the time off. She asked me if I ever go on field trips with my coworkers, and I told her... yes! In fact, earlier this week our team took a field trip to Peter Pan mini-golf for our spring picnic.

Today Aurora had a chance to come on a field trip to my office for Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day! We had a fun afternoon aimed at teaching our kids what we do individually and as a team at the Foundation. It included session of LIVESTRONG at School, a painting project with the creative team, recording a thank you video, learning about global telecommunications (by having a video conference with the parents in another room); the kids went through an obstacle course, colored, had snack, laid in the hammock, made new friends AND got a great goodie bag.

I do have a fun job, but Aurora must think I have a REALLY fun job!

Easter Treats

I know you were all hoping Clark would have a chance to meet the Easter Bunny, right? Well, a super creepy EB hopped into his classroom last week and I'd say Clark must have a high level of trust with his teachers at school... they sent me these pictures. Sweet boy.

Today we did all the normal Easter stuff and the kids had a great time. They woke up to an egg hunt in the living room, had all sorts of sugar for breakfast, then Grandma & Grandpa came over with more treats and we decorated eggs before heading off to a church service, which... probably wasn't the best place for two small children hopped up on sugar, but we worked it out.

My parents stayed over for a few hours so Chuck and I could go to the movies, which was a nice treat for us, and we ended the day with a few boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, another treat we'd been looking forward to for awhile. Our favorites were black pepper and vomit, and the worst (by far) was rotten egg. Happy Easter, indeed. Hope yours was just as nice!

Birthday Girl

I usually try not to do this, but it can't be helped. I'm going to be blogging three days in a row. Yes, life is just that exciting right now! While yesterday was Aurora's actual birthday and we did are fair share of celebrating, today may as well have been her birthday because she kept her birthday hat on and we kept on celebrating! First, a family breakfast at IHOP - birthday girl's choice.

I wasn't going to have the wait staff sing, but a little girl at the table across from us was celebrating her birthday and once Aurora heard them sing, we had to make the request. Who knew IHOP was such a popular birthday destination? She sure loved it.

Next, we met up with friends for a play! The Scottish Rite Theater was playing Stories from Frog & Toad, and it was adorable. We even got to meet the actors.

Aurora's a little confused about her party being next weekend, but it's so much better this way. The last few days have been exhausting with car repairs, house repairs, yard work, and there's so much more to do - plus, this way Grandma Nancy can come! Oh, and Easter. More fun to come!

Good Friday

Every Friday is good, but today was especially good. It was Aurora's birthday! Good Friday is usually a school holiday, but today was a make up day for winter weather and in my mind I figured it was a make up day for daycare too, but... I was wrong. I didn't notice until Wednesday that daycare (and therefore Aurora's after school program) was closed. So, I went to work as planned while Chuck worked from home, my parents watched Clark, and Aurora's best friend brought her home for a playdate. The best part of the day? It was Fresh Fruit Friday! We're not supposed to bring cupcakes or sweets for birthdays, but every Friday a parent volunteers to bring a fruit or veggie afternoon snack to school. Today was my turn and I brought all the fixins for strawberry shortcakes. They were a hit!

The birthday girl got to wear a crown all day, though I hear it broke and when her teacher made her a new one, it was too big. Oh well. We didn't have cake tonight, but Aurora did get to open presents.

She absolutely loved everything! Thanks to everybody who sent such great books, clothes, cards, and cool accessories. This is just the beginning of a long week+ of celebrations, gifts, treats and fun. I can hardly believe our big girl is SIX.

Bunny

This weekend was fairly low key. We went shopping, did laundry, went to the park, played with friends... the usual. During Clark's nap, Aurora and I went out to a candy store to see the Easter Bunny. I knew she'd enjoy it, but I felt kind of bad getting pictures without Clarkie.

Oh well. I sure do love having a picture with just us girls! Clark will have his share of Easter festivities. We'll see if he meets the bunny this year or not...

Magic

Aurora lost her second tooth ever at school yesterday. It had been wiggly for awhile and her big tooth was already growing in behind it, so it was time. She got a little plastic tooth necklace to keep it in and wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy asking for a toy instead of money.

The request had me a little baffled. I do have a little stash of birthday gifts, but nothing quite right to go under a pillow. Then I remembered something I had tucked away that would be perfect - a Harry Potter journal that I bought nearly 15 years ago! It comes with stickers and cute notes about the first book, and I've kept it in mint condition. The Tooth Fairy left it under Aurora's pillow with a note that said she doesn't usually leave toys, but she knew Aurora was reading Harry Potter and thought she may like it. Just this weekend we watched the first Harry Potter movie and both kids were way into it. In fact, they insisted on turning all of our broomsticks into Nimbus 2000's.

So yes, it was a hit! Aurora's been so happy all day, just smiling and writing notes in her journal. On our drive to school she told me all about how they use magic wands in Harry Potter's world, and the Tooth Fairy has a magic wand, too - but it's a different color and has a star or a tooth on top. "Some people don't know if the Tooth Fairy has a wand, but I know she does." Yup, it was magic!

Painting

As you know, this year we're bringing date nights back! So far we've gone to a concert, saw Wicked, and this weekend we headed to Pinot's Palette for some wine and painting. We worked together to paint a Starry Night scene on two canvases and it was really fun. It was a popular date night and they took a group photo to prove it (I grabbed these pics from their Facebook page).

The kids love having their grandma & grandpa over, and since I don't have to pay a babysitter my goal is to splurge a bit and make each date night unique. Dinner and a movie is fine but there are so many fun things to do! Chuck said he'd like to have an unstructured date night, but that just doesn't make sense to me... I told him he'd have to plan that one. Painting was great and I'm thinking next we might go to a comedy club or perhaps try making our own wine. I'm open to ideas!

The other highlight of the weekend was taking Aurora to Amelia's baby shower, where she did some painting of her own - decorating bibs! I think Aurora made three, and I'm sure Baby Braiden will look adorable in each of them.

What a fun weekend! Now, to find a place to hang our paintings...

Weeknights

Weeknights are too short, often fussy, and usually feel fairly rushed. We come home, Clark acts like he's starving, we cook, eat, watch TV, read, then head up for bath and bedtime routine. Lately the weather's been so nice that I've been trying to get the family outside to play instead of watching TV. We just dusted off the water table, restocked the bubbles, and got some new-to-us patio chairs, which is really nice. We also head across the street or over to the library whenever we can. This week we went around to the back of the library and found a whole field of bluebonnets! It's bluebonnet season here in Texas and wildflowers are everywhere, lining the highways, roads, parks and businesses. Aurora really wanted to stop on the side of the freeway for pictures with bluebonnets AND indian paintbrushes, but I thought this was a bit safer...

Here's Clarkie playing with his best bud, Will. We were lucky enough to have him over to our house the other evening, which was sweet.

Last week I spent one night out for an event and the kids hardly noticed I was gone because it HAPPENED to be the very night that our Frozen DVD arrived. Phew! And yesterday Aurora came home with her very first homework research project. We spent some quality time looking up information about fireflies online. Her report turned out great! I'm sure I won't always be this enthusiastic about homework, but for now it's kind of amazing just watching her work.

They're learning about flowers and bugs right now - perfect for spring. She came home with this project yesterday as well. I'm so impressed with her writing and drawing!

Weeknights are fine, but I must admit, I'm pretty glad it's the weekend...

No Fooling

Believe it or not, April Fools' Day was completely uneventful around here. Parenting fail? Maybe. Aurora said she fell for one joke at school when a friend called out that there was a mosquito and she looked, but it wasn't there. Crazy, I know. Clark's school pictures came in today and no fooling - he is seriously the cutest little boy EVER.

Check out those legs! At 20-months old I still have him in 12-month clothes, mainly because our supply of hand-me-downs dried up. We do have a few bigger outfits but honestly, he doesn't seem to mind. I just snipped the tip of his wubby and he actually doesn't mind that either. I was sure it would seem like a cruel joke. He can't suck his paci anymore, but he can still bite it and hold it, snuggle and sleep with it, and that seems to be good enough. Seriously, no jokes! Maybe next year...