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!

Weekending....

I have limited pictures to share with you from our past two weekends.  Let me tell you something. Ella (AND ME) both ended up with the dreaded....head lice.  AARGH. I realized Ella had it as we were getting ready for her to head to school on a typical Friday morning.  Well, nothing about the remainder of that day, that weekend, the following week, the following weekend was typical.  People, that kicked our arses.  The first treatment and comb through of Ella's hair took me from about 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.  It was insane.  And poor Ella was so sad.  I wanted to cry too, believe me.  Oh, I guess I did....on Saturday morning when we realized I had it too.  Man, what a chore it has been.  But, we have been super diligent and combing hair like a BOSS.  I think friends that we have done it.  We will be relieved when this is through.

Ella was able to sing with the church kiddos last Sunday. 

This Little Light of Mine has been stuck in my head ever since! They did a great job. 

See her?  :) 

My dad was in the Cities for the weekend, so he and Cheryl came to church and then we had lunch and went to Bachman's.  Fun little Sunday.  Ella got a spring bloom plant which has been really fun to watch how much it is blooming each day....

Also, I just wanted to remember a few random funny things from Ella so I'm putting them here:

This note is now on Ella's bedroom door.  Not sure why I have been excluded from the "cheer room" but LOL at the P.S. note

And, Ella wrote herself a note that stayed on the kitchen table all weekend to "reNember to bring pillow for dear on Monday - its GONA be fun"  She is awesome!

Weekend Update [late!]...

What's up?!?  A few details from our President's Day weekend....

Saturday morning we drove to Eagan to get some donuts at a place we've been meaning to try for a while now!  Puffy Cream Donuts.  Located in an unassuming strip mall in Eagan.  These are real deal donuts.  Not grocery store boring donuts.  They were delicious!!  Bonus - we each got a free donut hole in our respective donut bag.  YUM!

p.s. we have since gone again for another round of these yummy weekend breakfast treats!

 Passing time being silly in the truck on the way to breakfast....

Later in the day, we headed out to do some shopping for a new kitchen table.  World, why is it so hard to find a table?  I've been looking forever it seems and still can't find quite the right one....but this one was gorgeous.  Too bad it was a bit too expensive.

Saturday night we watched the movie BFG.  SO good!  All of us really liked it.  Highly recommend.  Ella and I are going to read the book too.

Sunday was another beautiful spring-like day, so we headed out on a walk!

Someday we will master the art of taking a selfie.  HA!  Jay was like a block ahead of us at this point so he's not in the picture.  He ALWAYS walks in front of us.  Rude!  :)

Monday was President's Day so there was no school.  Ella and I hung out and got some stuff done around the house.  We had a fun lunch at Culver's as part of a school fundraiser and then we made a presidential craft, as you do.  :) 

See - it's Abe Lincoln!

Weekending and Valentine's Day!

We had a fun weekend (and yes, I realize it is already Wednesday!)  Friday, Ella had a Valentine's Day Tea at school where each 2nd grader invited a special guest and the kids read a Valentine's poem and wrote a letter to their special guest.  Jay was Ella's special guest.  :)  I went too to volunteer with the tea/refreshment table. 

Ella did a great job (all the kids did!) And I was so "in the moment" that I forgot I was supposed to get a few pictures of her.  :)  So....this is what I got.  Mike drop!  HA!

Saturday afternoon at the church we are currently attending, they had a prayer event for 2nd graders, so we decided to go and check it out.  Ella had a good time.  They talked about how we can incorporate more prayer as a family and different ways to pray.  The kids were able to do some activities and listen to the pastor tell some stories about growing up....then, the kids led a prayer during the service on Saturday night.  She did a great job!  Lots of public speaking happening!!

Valentine's Day was yesterday and it was a fun day at school!

This year's Valentine: 

I only have eyes for you Valentine with a pair of heart glasses!!

Working hard on the Valentines....

The link to the Valentine is here and I picked up the glasses at Target

They even took a class photo yesterday in the glasses - lookin' good!

(I didn't know this was happening or I would have sent an extra pair of glasses for Ella!)

Other events in the past few days - Ella lost another tooth on Monday night (2/13)! 

This time, the lower left eye tooth. 

She was excited that the tooth fairy was coming on Valentine's Eve!

Ella also worked hard over the weekend on her own Valentine gifts for Jay and I.  Check out her gift bags - grocery bags!!  LOL.  But it didn't phase her a bit.  She was SUPER excited for us to check out her gifts....

And her Valentine from us....filled with her favorite things at the moment: Shopkins-related items, a new Kids Bop CD, chocolates and a scratch art activity!  Love this girl.

And I have to share my Valentine from Jay, which was a homemade affair this year....

LOL!  Awesome.

Weekending

What's up Tuesday!?  This past weekend was Super Bowl weekend!  Our house was cheering for the Atlanta Falcons.  What happened?!?  Not really impressed with the commercials this year, but it was a fun time anyway.  We had totchos again this year!  YUM!  Corn dip too and for dessert I made a chocolate trifle.  Fancy. HA!  Half-time show was fun - and as you will see Ms. Ella got into the dancing!  She had a good time watching along with us!

HA!  Pictures are not great, but I was snapping them without her knowing - getting tricky!

Friday is Ella's big event at school - Valentine's Day Tea!  She has invited Jay as her special guest.  They have been practicing for weeks - learning a poem and writing a letter.  Should be a fun day!

Recap - January 2017

So, it's Groundhog Day which means I skipped an entire month of blogging.  Whoops!  Let's recap January shall we?

Ella thought she was supposed to put her long socks over her pants....oh no!!

LOL!

She's also been all about the DABBIN'

Meadowview had a Crazy Hair Day!

We celebrated cousin Franklin's first birthday (a bit late) 

The theme was Daniel Tiger (the character / show from PBS Kids)  Fun!

Family Picture from the Trolley!

My office had a late holiday event at Whirly Ball in Maple Grove a few weekends ago.  Jay and I didn't play whirly ball but we did play Laser Tag - So fun!  However, I am terrible!  Like, last place terrible.  But, the guns were cool - they even make the little shooting noises like when you play video games! 

Proof I need some practice....I was "Eclipse" from the game below.  HA!

Fun night!

And lastly, I made a new pot pie recipe that was amazing! 

Homemade crust is where it's at people!

Recipe can be found in the cookbook which I adore

Back in the Day Bakery Made with Love which can be found here

Sorry they don't have any recipe online that I could find.  It's the Sweet Potato Pot Pie

YUM!

Now, let's see...the Groundhog did see his shadow today. 

BOO for us here in MN - six more weeks of winter?! 

We'll see about that Mr. Groundhog