Easter 2017

Easter weekend! We stayed in town this year and went to Chaska to spend Easter with Jay's side of the family.  A few pictures from the weekend....

We made Easter sugar cookies this year - chicks, bunnies and carrots!

 Aren't they cute?  Yummy! Note there are girl chicks and boy checks.  The girls have jelly bean bows!  And can you spot the cookie Ella decorated by herself before I explained what we were doing?  HA!

And the annual Easter Bunny Bread....

We spotted the Easter Bunny scoping out the yard on Saturday....see it back there?

Sunday morning, we headed to Sunrise Service (6:30 a.m.!) at the new church we are currently attending.  Took some pictures after we got home

More Abbas family attempts at a selfie!

And then the egg hunt...and guess who we caught leaving the yard?!?

Easter Basket time!

The afternoon hunt with Harrison and Franklin...

 Jay kept striking a JC Penney pose!

Another full basket of eggs!

It was a fun day!

Weekending in April....

Spring had officially started, and finally the weather in MN is starting to act springy.  We headed out the parks in Farmington and these two weirdos needed a picture.  Jay's head looks kind of creepy sitting there on the rock wall.

Then, there was donut sampling at Hy-Vee.  Are you kidding me? 

Obviously the Abbas family attended.  :)  Good delicious times!

And, Ella and I finally made it to the theater to see Beauty and the Beast.  We both liked it just fine, but I think I like Cinderella (live action) better.  Beauty and the Beast was really long (and dark!) but the theater was sweet with motorized reclining chairs!  I had to snap a picture during the previews so I wouldn't disturb others during the actual movie, which is why there is a random picture of an ostrich on the screen.  LOL!

Spring Break {Alexandria}

To wrap up Spring Break 2017, we headed up to Alexandria, MN for a short weekend trip to Arrowwood Resort.  I had never been to Alexandria, but Jay and his family vacationed at Arrowwood many times growing up. It was an odd time of year to vacation in northern Minnesota - there was no snow and it wasn't really warm (or dry) enough to do much outside, but there was an indoor water park and a kid's club that keep us busy.  I bet the summer time is super busy and fun with the lake activities.

Bunch of pictures....

We searched out a doughnut shop Saturday morning!  It did not disappoint. 

And it was April Fool's Day!

Ella's trick: Draw some bugs and put them in the Hotel Binder of Information.  LOL

Later in the day, we headed out exploring some more and found this fancy place: 

The Big Ole Central Park

This statute guy and the pictures just kind of weird me out because this guy is so ginormous and then Ella is just standing between his giant boots. Weird. 

Anyway, after getting this obligatory photo of the giant guy, we decided to take a family photo (a/k/a selfie) near the Welcome to Alexandria sign at this park.  Well, have I documented our attempts at selfies before?  We are not the best at them.  Technique is all wrong.  And I will spare you all 33 (yes 33) shots that Jay was apparently taking on the super fast shutter mode or whatever, but here are a few that make me smile:

Yep - looks good

 Well, there are more people in the shot now at least...

 Still trying...

So close....

This is the best of the choices people.  If only we could have gotten the entire Alexandria name in it, but Jay's finger is in the way!  But hey, we know where we were.  :)

 So, then I took this random picture of Ella by the giant map which was under the Alexandria sign.  Still not winning...

After we returned to the resort, we headed to the kid's club and man, they had kid's activities galore!  It was pretty awesome except for the fact that the adults had to stay with the kids.  But, Ella had fun and they had free popcorn, so I was fine.  LOL!

 She decorated a cookie and then demolished it without so much as sharing a jelly bean with me!

 Ella did a whole bunch of projects, most of which were free = awesome

Then, it was time for Zorbaz!  Or, like Ella's called it the Buzz restaurant.  She can't remember the name of it - ever!  I love Zorbaz and I haven't been to one in a really, really long time.  I told Jay we had to get nachos and pizza.  And we did.  And it was expensive!!  And we were not that hungry and so it just didn't end up being the best plan for the day.  Oh well, it was still fun to go!!

Later, Jay and Ella won a bunch of stuff at the arcade - total score.  Ella was PUMPED about the Trolls stuffed person - can't remember his name....

So, later that night she watched a movie with all her stuffed animal friends,

including the new Trolls guy.  :) 

Spring Break 2017 {pre-trip}

So, Jay and Ella hung out for the first few days of Spring Break here in the Cities - choosing something fun to do each day.  I think they both had a good time. 

Oh, but first I want to share Ella's Apex Fun Run!  They ran the day or so before break started and everyone had a blast.  Ella completed 33 laps, improving upon her lapage (is that a word?) from last year, so that's awesome.  She said some of the boys in her class ran 50 laps. 5.0.  Craziness.

Okay, back to spring break.  One of the days, they went to the indoor park in Eagan (I can never remember the name of this place!) but Ella and Jay both thought it was pretty awesome. 

Another day they went shopping at the Eagan Outlet Mall! 

My Ms. Sassy Pants ready to go conquer the stores!

Crossbody Purse: Check

Aviator Shades: Check

Pink in all the things: Check!

They were also able to have lunch with Grandma Jolyn one day and they went to another indoor park / basketball court in Apple Valley another day, but no pictures.  Boo.

I did get this gem one afternoon when I got home from work.  Ella and Jay were playing Headbands.  It just made me laugh!

St. Patricks Day 2017

Ella was SO excited to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  She loves a holiday....

So, to raise our glass to our Irish heritage (Ella and I - not Jay), we headed to Lakeville Brewing Co. sporting our green proudly.  LOL!  Ella got a green hat...for Dubliner Irish Whiskey....I didn't explain that part to her, but I told her she wouldn't be able to bring this one to school.  :)

Dance Competition

Ella had her first Just for Kix dance competition mid-March and I forgot to update the blog about it! 

The girls did great and earned 2nd place for their kick routine Rockin' the Show. 

It was so fun and I would have loved to stay the entire day to watch the older girls perform, but the weather wasn't looking good, so we all left immediately following awards for Ella's age group.

I then got a play-by-play about every 45 minutes or so on the roads and weather from my mom as she headed back to Worthington in the snow storm.  Everyone made it home safely!