Category Archives: holidays

The Long Weekend – 4th of July Style

It doesn’t need to be said, but I’m going to say it anyway. I love a 4 day weekend.  It’s even better when you really only have a small portion of it planned.  We knew we’d be going to the carnival on Sunday, but that was it. So, I started our Saturday day off the best way possible. I took the kids to Costco.  Not my best idea, but it needed to be done and we got a TON of water balloons.  The kids decided we needed to have a water balloon fight at some point.  They were not on their best behavior, however, so we ended up heading straight home after to Costco.

The kids could not have been more excited for Sunday to arrive, and it actually worked out really well because the carnival wasn’t nearly as packed as it is on the actual 4th of July and it was wristband day, which meant that for 5 hours the kids could go on as many rides as they went.

Phoebe wasn’t quite as adventurous as last year, but Enzo was even more so, which wasn’t the end of the world, but at times made it difficult because each kid wanted to be on different rides pretty much every time.  We met up with my brother and sister-in-law like we usually do and their two boys, which is always great for the kids, but I think we were often split up most of the time. Ha!  It was also surreal getting this glimpse into the future when our kids are even more independent than they already are.

It’s nice right now because neither of them really care whether or not they have to go on a ride by themselves, but I admit it was nice when one of them requested that we join in on the fun.  All too soon they’ll be off on their own and not want us cramping their style.

We did have one scare (which thankfully I didn’t find out about until afterwards) where Phoebe wandered off.  I was in line/on a ride with Enzo and Aiden and Josh and Steve were watching Malcolm and Phoebe when apparently Phoebe wandered off in search of me. Steve and Josh split up to look for her and thankfully found her quickly when Steve found a woman who was bringing her to Lost and Found.  I think it’s time we have a set game plan and a long talk with both kids on what to do if one of them gets lost.

Back to the fun!

As we were getting ready to leave, this little robin wandered a little too close to the little kid rides and not surprisingly small children started chasing it, so Josh ran and rescued it from the fray and took it somewhere safe.  I was about ready to adopt it, but after calling the Humane Society the woman assured me that our little friend should be flying in a few days and since we had no idea where his nest/tree was, the best bet was to take it a little away from all of the chaos of the carnival.  So cute!

On Monday, I blissfully found myself alone at Target and it was quiet and empty and magical.

I later found myself at IKEA where they were temporarily out of the bed I wanted for Phoebe (boo!), but they had a fantastic cabinet almost 50% off for my office!  Score!!

We also cleaned Bowser’s cage.  (Not all of the lights are in use on top of the cage… they’re to keep Vega off.  His new home should be arriving around the 14th next week and then we won’t have to worry about it!

Okay, time to wrap this up!

Spoooooky

Every year on my birthday I prep the house for Halloween. The kids get a kick out of the decorations, which I try to add to each year and there’s just something about this time of year in general when it comes to feel in the air and the lights and just overall fun.  Next year, I have big plans.

tasteofhalloween1

tasteofhalloween3

tasteofhalloween2

Not at all Halloween related, but it was a treat for myself for my birthday. Ha ha!

tasteofhalloween8

tasteofhalloween6

tasteofhalloween4

tasteofhalloween9

tasteofhalloween7

tasteofhalloween5

I have more stuff scattered throughout the house, but didn’t get to taking pictures of everything.  Part of my plan this winter is to declutter a lot, so that way when I do decide to decorate there’s more room to do so and just less clutter in general.  I’ve always been the type of person who sort of collects, but I’d like to find some balance between minimalism and what we’ve got going on now. :p

State Fair

This year we realized we hadn’t been to the State Fair since before Phoebe was born, so I figured it was time we gave it another try.  There’s nothing wrong with the State Fair, it’s just usually very hot and very crowded and neither of those things are our favorite. The kids were excited at the prospect and I was looking forward to some tasty food, so we figured it was a win/win.

20160902_085028

The kids were thrilled when we decided to take a bus. It’s absolutely the little things. Our day started off slightly rough, however, when we arrived at the Fair only to realize that neither of us had grabbed the tickets, our coupon book or ride tickets (all pre-paid and therefore much cheaper).  SIGH.  Oh well.  We got in line, got our tickets and since the kids were already starving, got cookies because there’s no other way to start the day.  The kids were really only interested in ice cream and rides, so we made our way there.

20160902_095845

For some reason, Phoebe was only a fan of the rides if they weren’t moving.  As you can see from the picture above… let’s zoom in a tad… she didn’t fully enjoy the rides, which is odd because she had a blast the last time we went to a carnival.

1473785259730

20160902_101413

20160902_120315

20160902_115317

We did at least manage to talk her out of the mini Ferris Wheel, which we knew would freak her out.  Instead, Enzo had a fun time riding it by himself. He’d try to look as stoic as possible and not acknowledge us and then you’d see him fighting back a smile when we’d wave and make faces at him.

1473785662235

We did get the kids to go to a few other things here and there and we continued to snack on things like cheese curds and deep-fried Tacos.  We each had a beer and were glad we went on a Friday rather than a weekend. It was still busy, but definitely not has bad as on a Saturday or Sunday.

20160902_110722

20160902_110800

20160902_111245

We decided to just bring one stroller and the carrier this time, and it worked out really well.  Enzo rode in the stroller for a bit and Phoebe at one point very happily napped in the carrier on my back for at least an hour. The weather could not have been more perfect and no one got too hot, which was a surprise for this time of year.

img_20160905_150023-1

Overall it was a fun and exhausting day.  We had some hits and misses with food – the maple glazed bacon donut sliders were a sad let-down, and now I want to make the version I had pictured in my head – but the bunnies and babies never let us down. The kids did great with all of the walking and being out and about all day.  I think they could have kept going, but by late afternoon, Josh and I were DONE.  We probably won’t go every year, but it’s fun to go to every 2-3 years – maybe more frequently once the kids are older and don’t have to be carried around. 😉

 

 

Gingerbread Architects in the Making

We’ve never made a gingerbread house before, so we decided to start out small and easy and I picked a super easy one up from Trader Joe’s.  Okay… we once attempted to make an enormous gingerbread creation years ago, but that was a huge mistake for multiple reasons. The first was that I had never even made gingerbread before, and mid-baking we realized that the oven we had was too small for our largest cookie sheets, and it was at that point I threw my hands up in the air and admitted defeat.  So, perhaps next year we’ll attempt something homemade, but from a box worked just fine this time around.

GingerbreadHouse1

The kids also had Hot Cocoa cookies to eat since they wouldn’t get to eat the gingerbread house and asking children this small to not eat something made of cookies, frosting and candy is a pretty tall order.

GingerbreadHouse3

GingerbreadHouse2

It was a lot of messy fun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  It’s always fun to watch the kids be creative and this was no different. They started out just randomly sticking pieces on the house, but then Enzo especially would start to look at it more critically and slowly place his candies. Until he realized Phoebe was just putting on as many as possible and then he had to hurry to make sure he got as many on there as she did.

GingerbreadHouse4

GingerbreadHouse5

Another project to cross off our “Bucket” List.

GingerbreadHouse6

Let there be snow!

I’ve never actually wanted snow as much as I do now. I’m not a fan of cold rain and would take snow over sleet any day. Plus, everything is just dreary and mucky right now. Where’s the snow, Minnesota??  I’m crossing my fingers that we get some before 2016, ideally over our 4 day weekend. We’ll be spending lots of time with family and hopefully hanging out playing games, relaxing and attempting de-stressing before the year comes to an end. I’m going to try and get as many snuggles as possible from my two munchkins this weekend. While it’s great that Phoebe loves her new big girl bed, I’m not gonna lie… I kind of miss waking up in the middle of the night with her snuggled up next to me.  Enzo will sometimes come snuggle, but he’s super squirmy. Ha ha.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Holidays, everyone!

BoardGames2

BoardGames1