I won't be able to cover everything, of course, but I have to catch us up here!
And then, get back on track.
Our family Valentine's Day fun-ice skating with friends, and Chuck E Cheese! This was the girls' first (and so far, only) experience with ice skating. They LOVED it! Mia was practicing "step-step-glide" just like her dad taught her, and was doing very well. Ali just wanted to play on the ice and in the snow around the rink, although she was enthusiastic about the skating, too. We were at Centennial Lakes in Edina, which is a beautiful park, and in the winter, an awesome skating rink. I was happy that Ali was content to stop skating and just play, because my back was killing me. I hadn't been on skates in probably 12 years, maybe more. I don't even know where my skates are. Couldn't find 'em. The rentals were ok, but skating hunched over to hold your kid up while you're helping her "skate" is a back killer-plain and simple. It was a gorgeous winter day though, perfect for being bundled up and playing outside with family and friends. LOVE.
My bday at the cabin-Best. weekend. ever. JD, the girls, Nat & Jay, Nic, Pat, the boys and I all headed up to the Sirek family cabin on Cedar lake to celebrate my birthday. It was GORGEOUS not winter-like weather, but with snow! The cabin-which is completely luxurious: we each had our own wing :), there's a dishwasher!-was such an amazing place to gather with our friends and the kids. We just hung out, it was perfect. We had nothing to worry about except sword fighting, snowball fighting, snowman building, bloody mary drinking, eating yummy delicious meals and snacks prepared by the lovely Nat, Nicole's famous ginger snap cookies, sweat-pants wearing, lounging, games... the absolute LIFE. I had such an amazing time. We all did, I think. The girls, I know, had the time of their lives. Mia L O V E S Will and Owen. She told me recently in the car, "I love Will and Owen. They're my BEST friends 'cuz them have SWORDS in their backpacks!" Ali adores those boys, too. I think she just likes being included, and the boys totally look out for her. They're just so sweet. Also, my husband and friends gave me the most awesome purse I've ever owned, and I love it! Love, love, love it!! I mean, seriously. What more could a girl ask for her birthday? It was awesome.
BTW-very important to note here: these are my two favorite pictures from the weekend and neither were taken by me. These are waaaayyyyy too good. These are Pat Watson (http://www.studiomendota.com/).Happy Birthday, also, to all my other March birthday cohorts-I love you all. March is a good month for birthdays! We had a blast celebrating all month long!
VEGAS-A spur-of-the-moment weekend adventure! JD and I dropped the girls off with Grandma LeAnne and Auntie Co and hit the airport with Matt & Trac, hopin' for a flight out to Vegas. That didn't happen. BUT, we had some very excellent and very overpriced drinks at the airport bar, and were able to get on a late-night flight to LA. IN-N-OUT Burger is open until 1:30 am or some ridiculous thing. From there, we drove to Vegas and were wandering the city looking for food at 5 am. Not bad by Vegas standards. Thanks to Tracy's sister, we had an awesome two bedroom suite at the Hilton, just off the strip-and they allowed us early check-in. We gambled, and drank, and shopped our way through a few fun days, and then it was time to head for home. Only, we couldn't get home. All flights booked solid. No hope for us lowly stand-byers. A day later than planned, a 12-hour grueling drive through icy sleet, snow and high elevations to Albuquerque, and a 7 am flight, and we were home... SO happy to see the girls, SO tired from our "weekend vacation," and forever indebted to the kind, kind, generous, patient people who loved our kids up while we were gone.
SPRING-sprung early this year, and we couldn't be having more fun playing outside!Neighbor kids, bike and scooter riding, chalk, hopscotch, and bubbles! Dave & Fatima gave us a Lightning McQueen power wheels when they moved-it's all the rage. We've also been ridin' at the MOA, hangin' at the zoo, and just having a blast!
We love imaginary play!-Great Grandma Dietz made the girls an amazing little card table tent-house. Natalie's mom had made one for her when she was a little girl, and Nat lets the girls use it whenever they're at her house. They LOVE it. Thankfully I have a super-awesomely talented seamstress grandmother who copied it for me, so now we have one to play with here, too! It's such a great idea, and it's awesome for little girls who are always playing house :) or princesses.
Easter-What can I say? Beautiful weather! Two days of feasting and family and sweets and treats. An Easter egg hunt!
Big Feet! No Meat!
I eat wood, na na na na na na na. It tastes good, na na na na na na na.
But in all seriousness... lately Mia's a little bit into being argumentative-just for the sake of being argumentative. We get plenty of chances to see this in action, for example, in the car: if for any reason Ali happens to say "yes," then Mia immediately says "no." And the two of them shout "yes!" "no!" to each other until we get wherever we're going. I might say something like, "Hey, ladies, let's just be nice to each other back there. Let's talk nicely to each other." Which usually prompts Alice to shout "NO!" At which point Mia starts shouting "YES!" And so on.
So, the other day, we headed through the drive through at "Old McDonalds" for a super-duper nutritious lunch of meatless cheeseburger happy meals, and a cheese-less quater pounder for Great Grandma. Usually, Mia is in the back seat yelling "NO MEAT" as loud as she can while I'm giving our order at the drive-thru. Today, after I ordered and was paying, she says, "I want meat." I said, "Mia, you don't eat meat, you're a vegetarian!" She said, "MOM, I'm NOT a begEtarian, I'm JUST MIA!" I said, "OH! Hey Just Mia, nice to meet ya." She didn't get it.
