Do what the locals do

I really like finding new things to do in the town we live in. 

Sometimes I hear about something someone did over the weekend, and 

think "Man, I wish I would have known about that!"

I am not in the know on most things but thanks to Facebook, 

my love for Google, and my ability to listen into other people's conversations

(Oh, you know you do it too!) we have found lots of fun things to 

do in the Quad Cities.  

 This past weekend we ventured over to Illinois to go to the Balloon Festival.

I love hot air balloons.  They are so colorful, and I LOVE color!! 

When we lived in Ottumwa, the first weekend we moved into our house was the 

balloon races weekend.  Saturday morning we woke up to start painting and there was a hot air balloon landing in the field behind our house.  How awesome is that! 

 The kids were excited to see the hot air balloons.  

We grabbed some fresh kettle corn and lemonade shakeups from the food vendors and 

plopped ourselves on the grassy field to watch the balloons fill up with air.  

The kids wanted to get a closer look, so we casually walked over to one of the balloons.

This one happened to be my favorite.  

The kids were asking all kinds of questions to the crew there and then one asked if they would like to get in.  Both Bubba and Gigi got to hop in the basket.  

 I was shocked how loud the flame was that fills the balloon up.  

When the sun set, the balloons put on quite a display at the glow. 

There were lots of ooohhhs and aaaahhhs from the kids. 

On Saturday, Hubby and I got away for a date night with friends. 

We tried a new babysitter and she was awesome, and we even tried a 

new date night place, The J Bar.  It's a brand new restaurant in town 

and had a beautiful patio and great ambiance.  

It was a fun night out and have I mentioned we stayed out past midnight?

Yes, midnight people.  I told the babysitter I would definitely be home by midnight, because we never stay out that late.  Then I check my phone at one point and it is 12:15 am.  Yikes! 

Good thing she didn't mind.  

 It was a great and colorful weekend! 

Date Nights!!!

So in the past few weeks, I have had my share of night outs.  

I am not complaining.
It is really nice every once in awhile to do things we don't normally do.  

On my last blog post I shared that each child received a date out with 

one of us for good progress reports at school. 

While, Gigi was the only one who picked me originally... after our fun date 

then the other two wanted to switch to mommy's side.  

I wasn't complaining! 

So last weekend I took Rosie out for a day of pampering and girl fun. 

I know she really wanted to do everything I did with her sister but I wanted 

to make each child's day special to them so we did completely different activities.

We started off at the Mall and tried on some Christmas dresses then 

we headed to get a pedicure.  

I totally luck out on these dates because during Gigi's makeover I got my eyes made over and 

for Rosie I had my feet done too.  Yeah!! 

After relaxing and enjoying our pedicures.  

We walked to some of her favorite stores in the mall. 

Claire's, Justice, Bath and Body. 

She was happy as a clam. 

Then we went out to dinner.  

She originally wanted to go to Chili's like Gigi, but I asked her if she could eat anything what would she want? Her answer..... Cheeseballs. 

SO we went to a local restaurant called The Filling Station. 

We ordered a few appetizers including cheeseballs and chit chatted about school, friends... and everything under the sun.  I don't really have to do much talking when I am with her. 

We ended our night with a trip to Mommy's favorite store Target. 

She wanted to make sure she spent MORE time with me than her sister. 

We are a competitive family. 

On Wednesday Night, I went out with some of my girlfriends that I don't' see nearly enough. 

Lexi is about to have her third child and I hadn't seen her since this summer when she wasn't even showing!  

When did a night with Vino Van Gogh, which was super fun. 

The instructor lead you step by step on how to create a very cool piece of art and it was amazing on how different everyone's art was.   We all used the same colors and same brushes, but they turned out so different and cool! 

Here's my finished product.  

It is now proudly hung in the bathroom since it needed something fun in there.  

The paining isn't perfect but I like it.  

Then this past weekend I took Bubba out for a mother son date.  

For all the dates, I snuck in some much needed shopping like shoe shopping for Gigi and dress shopping for Rosie, but for Bubba he needed a suit for first communion in the spring and I thought this was a perfect time to have him try some stuff on.  

We headed to the Mall once again, a place he has been very rarely. 

He had never been in a dressing room before, so that was a new experience for him. 

When I told him we were going to try on suits, he knew exactly how he wanted it to look. 

Black suit, white shirt, black tie.  

Just like a person on Shake it Up. 

Gotta like a guy who knows what he likes.  

We found a suit, that fits him big so he can use it a long time, and he tried on 7 ties.  

And wanted to wear this look to school. 

After trying on suits AND black dress shoes, we got snacks at the food court (key is to reward them after they try on clothes makes the trying shoes on and suits go more smoothly). 

While walking through JCPenny's to go to the bathroom, we accidentally walked through the lady's lingerie section.  Bubba mouth hung open and he couldn't contain his giggles and laughter.  

He couldn't say "underwear" without breaking out in contagious giggles.  

The best quote of the day is when we finally made it through the section 5 seconds later (which was the longest 5 seconds ever!!) he turns to me and says, "that was so awkward!"  Yes, honey it was. 

Bubba requested we go on the escalator... so we rode the escalator up and down 3 times. 

I worked really hard to find some cheap fun for all the kids and so Bubba and went to Walmart to 

play a few video games in the arcade they have there.  

he had fun gong to the coin machine and getting quarters and playing the games.

After that, we made an unplanned stop at Gamestop so he could look at all the games and start a Holiday Wishlist.  He scoured the aisles looking at everything and then started playing one of the games up front.  I kept checking my watch and wondering when I should have him move along so we could go to dinner but he was having so much fun.  NOW I know how men feel when they have to sit at a store while we, ladies, shop around.  I was really bored.  

I tried to find something to look at but there are only so many times I can read the back of a video game I have no interest in. 

After 30 minutes in Gamestop.... I was watching the clock.. we headed off for dinner. 

Bubba suggested Old Chicago and that sounded good to me, so away we went.  

We sat on the same side of the table so we had a good view of the football game on tv, I can't tell you who was playing, but Bubba is really starting to love watching sports so he was in heaven.  

I loved these little dates with my guys and gals.  

I learned more about them... some stuff like which boys/girl they like, I wish I didn't know... but I feel privileged that they trust enough to confide in me. 

I am going to have to plan more "dates" soon because I really liked getting all dressed up and going out.

Hopefully daddy doesn't mind.  LOL

Mommy and Me Date

Saturday was a special day.

Gigi cashed in her "mommy time" coupon.

For parent/teacher conferences a week ago, we told the

kids if we got good reports that they are trying their best and

working hard on their grades then they would

get a date with either mommy or daddy.  

Gigi automatically picked me. 

The other two picked daddy because he is more fun.  :-( 

I was bummed, but they don't know how much Mommy can be. 

We took off on Saturday afternoon. 

First stop on our date was lunch.

Gigi picked Chili's, so we had a good girl talk while we waited for our food.

After lunch, we headed to a shoe store. 

During her basketball game that morning I noticed she was slipping and sliding down the court with no traction on her school tennis shoes, so we went shopping for shoes for basketball. 

What girl doesn't like shoe shopping?

Our last stop was JCPenny's.

I was trying to think of things to do on the dates that didn't cost a bundle. 

The important thing was the time together not the money we spent.

So we went to the Sephora counter to get an Express Makeover. 

We both had our eyes done and Gigi was in HEAVEN!!

The lady had her at purple glitter! 

Gigi came home with a lip gloss we purchased and I also got a few small things for Rosie's

birthday coming up.  Daddy is not so happy.  

I loved having the time with her to talk about school, friends, and

any else that she wanted to without being interrupted by her siblings. 

What a special day!!   

Yesterday ended up being a perfect Fall day!!

We worked on some things around the house and were outside

as much as possible. 

We have one corner of the backyard where the neighbor's birch tree drops the perfect

leaves on our side of the fence.  The kids spent hours raking them into a huge pile and then jumping in it, only to do it over and over again.   

I found traces of the leaf pile strewn all over the house today!  

 Then Daddy came home with more brown bags and our fun was done.

 

Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!!!

Because I love you

So our nontraditional Valentine's date was to...

No I couldn't get Nate to join me at a spa.  We went to a shooting range. 

Nate has been bugging me to go to the range with him to shoot his hand gun and

I have avoided it until now.  All the stars aligned with babysitter, early day because of Valentine's parties at school, and time. So I gave in and told him we could go as long as he takes me out to dinner afterwards.  Honestly I wanted to hate shooting the gun. 

The idea of a hand gun freaks me out. 

I have shot his shotgun before at clay targets and didn't do half bad, but the idea of a hand gun scares me.  He has coached me on how to handle it since we got it.  I've held it reluctantly and been told how to add the rounds, load the clip and put one in the chamber. 

But holding it loaded.... never had done that. 

I didn't like the idea of shooting at the targets that looked like people so we shot at the bullseye targets and targets that looked like a golf course. 

It made it more like a game and less like a deadly weapon. 

I expected to feel out of place at the shooting range. 

It isn't a place many go on Valentine's, right?

Wrong.  There were 3 couples there shooting together when we walked in. 

After a few coaching tips from Nate and a reminder not to close both eyes when I shoot, I was actually hitting the paper target.  My first 15 bullets hit the paper.  4 in the black!! 

Impressive showing first time around.  

The shots were so loud!  I wasn't ready for that.  I jumped every time the guy beside us shot his gun. 

Nate might have been a little embarrassed at my rookieness, but after a few rounds he changed his tune.

 {my Valentine}

I like to do new things, and this was definitely a new thing for me. 

 Check out my cool safety glasses and ear muffs.

We finished the night with a dinner at Symposium Cafe.  It was delicious.

It was nice to do something other than go Christmas shopping or a movie while we have a babysitter. 

Spending time with my hubby is the best and do you know how nice it was to have a conversation without an interruption? 

I hope you all found a way to celebrate that was as fun.