Memorial Day weekending

Memorial Day weekend this year was a family affair!  Ella and I headed to Worthington on Friday afternoon after Ella got out of school.  Jay headed north to Morris on Saturday.  We were in Worthington for a first birthday for Ms. Lexi, Ella's little cousin, and Jay was in Morris for a wedding reception!  Too bad it rained on and off for all of us, but we were still able to get away and have a little fun.

Kaila and Ms. Lexi before the birthday party got in full swing!

Have you ever tried to get a bunch of kiddos to take a selfie?  Well....it was more difficult than I thought it would be....

 So just smoosh all of the above pictures together and you get each of them looking at the camera!!  HA!

Because it was a holiday weekend, there was a car show in town!  My dad showed his corvette so we headed out to check out all the festivities!  We even got to check out the Spomer Motors  garage with all kind of super cool memorabilia.  Took this picture of the kiddos with a car more their size!

It was a busy but fun weekend!

Fieldtrip - MN Zoo

I was able to chaperone Ella's kindergarten field trip to the MN Zoo in May.  We had a small group, so we were able to move throughout the zoo pretty easily and got to see almost everything!  We started the morning with an all-kindergarten viewing of a film in the IMAX about the Galapagos Islands....umm...I wouldn't recommend it, especially for that age group.  I thought it was kind of boring, and Ella started crying in the middle because it was scary when they were showing birds eating crabs.  Lovely.

But after that, it was a great day!  The weather was perfect and the girls in our group got along well and had a good time too!  The highlight was the farm, which is ironic considering we all live in Farmington and can drive around to see farm animals pretty easily!  But, other favorites were the penguins and the Gibbons!!  (those are the creatures that we all think are monkeys in the Tropics Trail that like to make LOUD calls and entertain us all!)

Whoo hoo!  A fun day at the zoo!

A lot of catching up to do

It's been a long while since I have updated this blog.  Lots of things have been going on, and that is partly the reason I haven't really had a chance to sit down and pull together a post.  The month of May has been a whirlwind.  We lost a family member on Mother's Day, which has been a shock to all of us and getting used to a new normal.  It is a reminder of how precious life is and to spend good quality time with those you love.  

Let's switch gears and talk about some lighter things shall we?  

We got together at Ella's elementary school late April to attend Ella's Kindergarten Program!  She practiced her songs for weeks and loved every minute!  They did great and it was fun to see all their hard work pay off!  Trying to get a good picture was a disaster, so this is what I got!

After the program, we all headed to Ella's classroom for a snack and to visit!  

Grandma Deb and Grandma Jolyn came along with us!

And then it was May 1st!  May Day!  Ella got a little "basket" with a sweet new water cup and some fun outdoor toys to enjoy this spring/summer!

She is growing up!

 

We had a neighborhood garage sale somewhere in the beginning of May and Ella had to head out to search for some treasures!

She went to a princess birthday party at our dance studio for her good friend Julia.  They had a great time and it was fun to get dressed up at Elsa and have an "Elsa" braid!

Our tree in the back was in full bloom and was gorgeous in person!  

The wind picked up a day after I took this photo and then most of the blooms were gone!

For Mother's Day, it was a really low-key kind of day as we were all a bit down and tired.  We headed out to lunch at a local spot because I wasn't up for heading anywhere fancy.  Lunch left much to be desired, but oh well!  I didn't have to make anything, so that's a bonus....

 SELFIE!  :)

Weekending...

A little late on a weekend update, but so it goes!  Friday night was Spring Fling at school.   The theme was Wild West, so there were lots of western-style outfits and I didn't even think to get us all dressed up!  It was LOUD and CRAZY but I think Ella had a good time and it seemed to have a successful turnout.  Ella got her face painted, which was short lived after all that painter's work because we had to wash it off that night to get ready for dance pictures!

Ella went up and down one bouncy house-type contraption and totally freaked out and that was enough of that!  We did family "old time" picture, but that turned out absolutely hilarious.  Ella also did a spin art project and she was very determined on her paint color choices!

She should get the final art project in her backpack sometime this week - it stayed at school to dry!

Saturday morning was dance pictures.  Ella's class is doing a tap and a ballet routine again this year, but I didn't take a picture of her in her tap costume because....well, it's just not that cute and I also forgot!  But I did get one in her ballet costume.  She looks SO GROWN UP.  Unreal

 

Easter 2015

Catching up on some posting.  We stayed in town for Easter this year.  Ella wasn't feeling the greatest (stuffy nose, cough, etc.) so her and I skipped Easter Sunday church but were able to celebrate the day at Jay's parents for lunch.  We had an egg hunt at home and also at Jay's parents, so Ella had a good time doing those!

 Peeking to see what eggs she can find before hunting outside

 Can you tell she's really into posing for pictures now?!

 Trying to get a picture of Ella and Harrison was interesting!

 I found it hilarious that Ella insisted that I take her picture next to this fake pheasant! What in the world?!?

It was a fun Easter day!

Spring Break 2015

Well, time got away from me and I am going to play catch up on some posts.  Life has been a bit hectic!

Let's start way back before Easter with Spring Break shall we?

Jay took off most of the week to spend some father/daughter time with Ella doing all kinds of activities!  A run down of our week (mainly for us to remember).  :)

Monday, they headed to a park and spent time hanging out at home (no pictures)

Tuesday, they went to the Children's Museum with Grandma Jolyn and cousin Dylan!  Sid the Science Kid was there so Ella got to meet him :)

Wednesday, Ella had a dentist appointment in the morning and she did awesome!  They celebrated with a treat from Caribou afterwards and then spent a little time outside but it was SUPER windy!  She has one wiggly tooth on the bottom, so Ella is anxious to have it come out (I think it will be awhile).

Thursday, Ella and Jay went bowling - boo-yah!  Ella had a good time as you'll see in the pictures!

Friday, I was off so we did some Easter menu planning, grocery shopped, headed to the library to restock our books and then went to see the new Cinderella movie!  Loved it!! All Ella talks about is the Frozen Short Film that aired ahead of Cinderella - it was about Elsa planning a birthday party for Anna.  :)