Spring Choir Concert

This is a photo from Brie's spring choir concert, what a sea of colors as the kids were so excited to be able to wear jeans!!! They sang one of my all time favorites What a Wonderful World - it's what they had playing in the operating room when Conner was born, Peanut, you sang it so beautifully and we are so proud of you!

Disclaimer, no video clips because this blog only allows files up to 100mg, well my video is way bigger than that (500+) and this lady doesn't have time to trim it down..... Sorry you'll have to come and watch the long version at our house!!!!

Jenna & Seth Birthday Weekend!

A Seth & Jenna weekend invasion at the Reese's! Actually this year we thought that since we do not get entirely enough time with our amazing niece and nephew that an idea of having them come for a weekend of celebrating their birthday's was born. We had so much fun, look out Mom & Dad, we're hoping to do this again next year, and the year after, etc.....

One of the many adventures we embarked upon during this weekend, a meal at Conner's favorite restaurant, Space Aliens. Above is a shot of some of the "loot" they walked away with after playing games for tickets.
With all the tickets he earned (around 150 I think) Conner chooses this plastic pirate eye patch for 20 points and leaves the rest for his sister, he's done! That was easy!

The three musketeers took much longer to decide.......

Seth playing games....

Conner at a fish game, no surprise there...

They had some luck with this one...

The "girls" side of the booth....

The rowdy boys side.....

Each of the girls' pretty toes after their pedicures!!!!

We stopped by Mommy's office building since it's close to our next stop Charming Charlie's.. this was taken in the atrium in the middle of the building...

A little about CC, it's a jewelry extravaganza! Easily one of my favorite places with chandiliers decorating the celing along with a ton of beautifully displayed, jewelry, purses, scarves, sandals and much much more! It's actually overwhelming at first and you kind of get a little shell shocked, but not by the prices, by the sheer quantity of stuff to choose from. Jenna was able to nail it down to a couple items for her birthday but we all agreed a return trip will definitely happen!

A peek through the hall windows into my office, maybe they can take over my job, would love that!!!

After the pedicures we had to pamper our tummies as well, Olive Garden here we come! More importantly bread sticks and alfredo sauce here we come! Jenna's first experience at an OG and this Auntie laughed when she was picking through the dessert menu, like we ever get that far! She understood after our entrees came, they were so full they hardly took 5 bites! Little birds they are....

Waiting patiently for the polish to dry/harden

Put two giggly girls in a hand/foot dryer with a bowl full of suckers and candy in front of them, recipe for disaster!!!!

Brie lovin the massage chair

Jenna's pretty toes, she loved her first pedicure, they both had such a great time - hint hint, great idea for future b-days!!!

Jenna with her feet in the bubbles

Of course we regret to inform you that while this day was spent the girls going one way and the boys going the other, this meant that no photos of the boys' day exists as Uncle Steve is just not an avid photographer, not yet at least! Seth, Conner & Steve spent the morning at their home away from home, Cabelas where Seth hit the jackpot and found a steal of a deal on a fishing rod. He was so excited and the beaming smile on his face was just awesome to behold! Uncle Steve helped fill more of his tackle box with lures and now Seth is ready to take on any fish that swims his way. They also took to the lake and if I'm not mistaken, Seth might have out fished his Uncle Steve. Well that's how I remember the story, depends on who you ask though :)!

Friday night we watched Avatar, Saturday was adventure day, Saturday night we had a pizza party and watched The Green Hornet and Sunday was Church (more fishing for Steve & Seth) and then Space Aliens. Overall it was an awesome weekend, stayed up way too late, but had such an incredible time. A big thanks to Bill & Sarah for letting us spoil their kids for a weekend, we loved every second of it! Until next year.........

Art As You Like It

This would be considered our 2nd annual trip to the Art As U Like It studio with Brienna and Olivia. It started with a gift certificate and an idea for the girls to do something fun as a Christmas present and I for one think we'll continue to do it and make it a tradition. It's like the fun place that Aunt Em introduced to us while visiting them in WA state a long time ago. We had so much fun painting pottery with her and seeing the finished product, it was a wonderful memory that's now attached to a great keepsake. So I was extremely happy to find something similar in MN!!!! The girls love it, they pick out their pieces, grab an apron, and off to the paints for selections galore! It only takes a week to get the piece back from firing and it's always a surprise to see the finished project. They also have a glass blown jewelry section that we're going to do on our second visit later this fall! A very fun place and it comes highly recommended by these two girls below!

It's a long process deciding what piece to paint.....

Brienna carefully and patiently painting her unique bowl.... can't wait to see it all done!

Liv deciding what color to use for the inside....

Conner tagged along with us this time (Daddy had fish to catch), he wasn't interested in anything but the toy/play area, that is until about 5 mintues prior to leaving, then he very much wanted to paint something! No surprises there!

Spring Band Concert

They've come along way from the fall concert, no one dropped their instruments and they even attempted songs that the director said were reserved for 6th graders! We never thought we'd enjoy band concerts this much! We're proud of you Brienna, keep practicing you're doing a great job!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This was our second Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event and it was just as magical as the first, only we were in way better shape last year :)!!! I can't think of a more special way to spend the day and that I get to do it with my daughter makes it the best! I won't give up on having the whole family participate so next year the Reese's Pieces will be there, all four of us! We'd love company!!!

Heading for the starting line...

Conner having a little breakfast before the race starts!

We woke at a very early 5am and arrived at the MOA bright eyed and ready to roll. We warmed up inside and then made our way to the starting line. This year it was a sunny 56-60 degrees at race time which was so much better than the 31 degrees we had last year. We were a lot smarter too, & made sure we were towards the front of the pack, way too hard to squeeze through the crowd to keep pace when you start at the back. We finished in 37 min's which wasn't even close to our 29 minutes from last year, Brie was so funny & said that next year we'll do somewhere in between!

Our proud supporters cheering us on at the starting line. Conner was cold so he "cuddled up" in Daddy's lap, Conner you are so adorable, you make my heart so happy - thank you Sherri for capturing this moment for me!

The racers, which were supposedly 8,000 in number this year which is up from the 5,000 from last year.

Brienna, me, & Sherri (co-worker & survivor) at the start of the walk, what a sea of people. Saw all kinds of inspiration, tutus, beads, hats, leg warmers, balloons, sun glasses, etc.... We'll definitely have to get dolled up for it next year!

Nearing the finish line!!!! Incredibly one of the most touching moments was when we came upon a whole fire department dressed fully in gear, including helmets and tanks on their backs. One of them said that this was the one day out of the year that they loose 70 pounds in one day, he was quite the joker but with the warmer temps they definitely lost a lot of weight. How inspirational and awesome to see them all there doing this together for such an amazing cause. The clouds just started rolling in at the end and the rain drops stayed away until after it was all finished, thank you Lord for such a beautiful day!

The kids & my wonderful hubby treated Mommy to some yummy Olive Garden afterwards. Once home everyone took a well deserved nap, trying to shove a concert (Yep we had a blast the night before with Luke at the Sugarland concert and didn't get home until 12:30) in the night before and expect to be ready for the alarm clock to go off at 5am, not a good plan. Happy Mother's Day to all the unbelievable Mom's in our lives, you are extremely important to us!