Pages

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Ohio on my mind

Well that was a quick trip. 
We're back.  We made the most of a three day weekend. 
The kids and I took off in pouring down rain on Thursday and brought the gloomy weather with us to Columbus.  Clouds and rain didn't spoil our time though.
We fit in as much as we could. 
The kids were super stoked to stay at Aunt Kathy's. 
They remembered the toys the she has (UNO attack and Jenga), they remembered where they get to sleep and they remembered that when in Columbus we usually eat out ALOT.  And we did not disappoint.  The drive was long in the rain and the dark, thanks to the days getting shorter, and mommy had to listen to Christmas music to stay awake til the wee hours of the night.  Yep, Silent Night is playing in my head as we speak.
I am glad the kids slept in Friday morning because mommy needed an extra hour of sleep. 
The kids woke up ready and eager to go!  They were so excited for breakfast. 
Apparently if you buy the same foods (cinnamon toast crunch, bananas, and 2% milk) but eat it in a new atmosphere it is the "best breakfast ever!" 
Maybe it is because they got to eat on bar stools and watch Phineas and ferb while eating cereal.
That's why they call it vacation. 
Kathy and I took the kids to a park and watched the kids play. 
They ran off some energy. 


On Saturday, the weather outside was pretty cold, rainy, and miserable, a normal Ohio fall day, so I had to be inventive on what we were going to do to have fun inside. 
I took the kids to Tuttle Mall to play on the indoor kids area. 
I accidentally called it a playground and was informed it is NOT a playground because there is no swings and no monkey bars. 
Rosie announced that the "play area" was for babies and she was bored. 
When did she get so old? 
She walked into Justice to do a little browsing and played some Macala and Checkers on my iphone but quickly wanted to be done with the "play area". 
Then her eyes happened upon a girl with a Build a Bear box in her hand. 
She immediately asked if we could do Build a Bear. 
To her surprise I didn't suddenly say no. 
We rounded up the troops and made our way over to the Build a Bear store.   
So it's been many years since I have been in a Build a Bear store. 
The last and only time was in college when Nate took me there for date night and we built a bear together.  Awwwww, so romantic.  (add the gagging sounds now Neil.)
In fact Rosie actually has him in her room.  His name is Rufus and he has little glasses and wears a golf outfit. 
So taking four kids into this store was a little bit different of an experience.
The kids each picked out a stuffed animal to make their own. 
They each are so different in personality so it was no surprise that they all picked completely different animals. 
They each got their hearts pumping before putting them in the unstuffed shells of soon to be cuddly bedtime companions.
The place wasn't busy at all so we were able to enjoy the experience and all the kids got to be apart of creating their pal. 
Rosie's picked a special Shake it Up bear with a shake it up theme song in the paw. 
Mommy sure is a sucker.
Bubba picked a very traditional bear..... until he dressed him in a Jedi outfit.
The two other girls picked a bunny and a monkey. 
There are no pictures between the air bathing of the animals to walking out the store. 
Because there was only one momma and 4 children running around picking outfits and accessories for their bears and then the whole process of naming them and making a birth certificate, there was no time for momma to snap pictures. 
When the chaos was done and we had our bears all ready to take home then I remembered that we needed to snap a picture to send daddy. 
Daddy's first response was "how much did you spend?"
Oh daddy.  You just aren't any fun.
The kid's new companions go as follows:
Rosie -- named her Shake it Up bear,  CeeCee
Bubba -- named his Jedi cloak wearing bear appropriately, Anakin
Gigi -- named her butterfly halloween costume wearing bunny, Magenta
and Lil Miss named her monkey. Bananas
They did good. 

After the mall and a stop at Graeter's Ice Cream we headed to my brother's to watch the game and eat more food.  My sister in law Dini is an awesome cook (she is seriously my idol in the kitchen) and whipped up appetizers, chicken wings, chicken noodle soup and mashed potatoes. 
We were munching all night.  

These two babes each have a birthday this week.  
Lil Miss took a liking to Uncle Scott. 
I thought for a moment she might also take a nap with Jacob but that was short lived.  
And of course we had birthday cake for dessert.
....and presents. 
Then it was time to say good bye. 
The visit just wasn't long enough, but we were missing daddy.
 This morning we packed up our stuff and headed out bright and early. 
Of course the bears were all dressed and ready for the 7 hour drive home. 
The trip home was so much better in the sunshine.  We made great time and came home just in time to carve our pumpkins.  Daddy had them all washed and ready to go on the table.

I roasted the seeds the last couple of years but couldn't get the kids to really even try them. 
So I didn't go through the whole process of cleaning them and baking them this year. 
Maybe next year.
Lil Miss was very interested in what mommy was making.  She could see Elmo's face on her pumpkin.  This made it a little more difficult for me to cut out the stencil with her latched around my neck.
When I wasn't looking she swapped a piece of pumpkin and taste tested the pumpkin right out of the shell.  It must not be that bad because she sure enjoyed it.
There was alot of concentration going on as each child worked on their own pumpkins. 
As they get older it is amazing how much they can do themselves.  Pretty soon they won't even need me.  :-(  Then maybe they will let me do my own pumpkin.

Lil Miss's Elmo pumpkin
Uncle Scott and Aunt Beth got Lil Miss a rock star Elmo for her brithday.
She couldn't be happier. 
I see a future of lots and lots of Elmo ABC's and Elmo's World songs.  Good thing there is an off switch. 
It's good to be back home. 
Our own beds, my own pillow, a night without a daughter kneeing me in the back. 
Oh sleep is going to be good. 
Speaking of that .... I am going to bed. 
Night Night.
Going to have sweet Ohio dreams....

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Birthday Cake!!!

So last night we celebrated someone's second birthday. 
We celebrated a day early because the kids and I are traveling to Ohio for the weekend and we wanted daddy to enjoy some cake too.
Mommy made the cake and we put a Sesame Street theme together. 
 Lil Miss was a big part of helping make the cake. 
whe helped me pour all the ingredients into the mixer and watched it spin around.
When it came time to crack the eggs she even got to crack them. I will just say she is a very good egg cracker. There was only one tiny piece of shell in the bowl. 
 
 Look at that tiny piece.  What a good job Lil Miss!! 
I think her favorite job was scooping out the batter out of the bowl, though.
She enjoyed every cake covered spatula mouthful she put in her mouth.

Lil Miss was over joyed.  SO much that when she saw the cake and Abby Cadabby sitting on top she went for it. 
Hence the big hole on the top of the cake.  Oh well, it wasn't going to stay perfect for very long anyway. 
 
 She is at the age where she could sit there and listen to us sing Happy Birthday to her and then we when we said blow out the candles... she did just that.  Like she has been doing it for years! 
 The kids made her a ton of cards. 
Nate estimated at least $10 worth of envelopes were used. 
But Lil Miss took care to open each one up, even if there were 9 from Gigi alone!!
 Lil Miss's birthday surprise was waiting for her downstairs. 
A homemade tee pee (that mommy had been slaving away on the past few weeks and a bonfire complete with white felt marshmallows. 

 {taking a breather inside the teepee}

{a few pillows I made to lay with in the teepee as we read}
I see us enjoying and playing around this all winter. 
Who wouldn't like to be roasting marshmallows inside come January. 
 The big kids love Lil Miss's gift too.
They were showing her how to roast the perfect marshmallows and they know to make mommy's just a little bit burnt.
 
 Check out this girl cooling her fake marshmallow off before she devours it. 
That's what I wanted.  There imaginations to be at work.
Lots more fun to be had with the new gifts.
 Oh and did I tell you between the eating of homemade pizza and opening of gifts and eating birthday cake we made it to our church's fall festival last night as well. 
Lil Miss was so happy to see horses and we went on a wagon ride. 
What could have been better?
 The kids ran around with some of their friends from school and played games and made a craft. 
It's a good thing they handed out glow stick necklaces to all the kids so we could see them in the dark.
It was a very busy day!
This morning we woke up before birthday girl, and Bubba and I made french toast.
Not just any french toast.  Big Bird's favorite peachy baked french toast from our "B is for Baking" cookbook.   We sang Happy Birthday to the girl at least a dozen times and had a lunch date with daddy. 
Now I have the van packed and in less than an hour we head to Ohio to see the family. 
What a great way to spend a three day weekend.  Sorry daddy we are leaving you at home.  :-( 
See ya soon!