Camping in March!!

Who would have thought we would be taking our camper out in March but we did!!! It was so nice this past weekend that we decided to try out pulling the camper with Dave's new car that he got so we went to Mahoney for a very last minute camping adventure! We got our pop-up camper a couple of summers ago and are excited to use it more this year now that we have a better SUV to pull it. We didn't get to Mahoney until close to 3 so we really just had Sat afternoon and night to camp because we had to back for church on Sun morning! But we had fun playing at the park and cooking dinner at the campsite. Ellie of course made a new friend as she always does and she had a ball playing with Lily until close to 10pm! We of course also made smores which is always a favorite! It took Jack a while to fall asleep this time so the kids didn't actually get to bed until close to 11--we think it had something to do with the Coke Zero that the kids had been drinking all night---great parents we are! Once everyone fell asleep it was nice and peaceful and we had a great time snoozing away in our home away from home :) We are looking forward to many camping weekends this Spring and Summer and hope to find some new places to try out! Bring on Summer!!!

Playing at the park with Ollie, Cece and Lucy

Good friends at the park on a beautiful March day!

Mahoney State Park tower

Cheese!!

Top of tower--it was super sunny that day!

Getting ready to eat dinner at the campsite

Eating dinner!

I love him!

Making smores--best part of camping!!

St. Patrick's Day and Spring Break

Eating Lucky Charms on St Patrick's Day

Looking for clues from the Lebrachaun

Found a clue!

Sneaky Leprachan left a clue in the bathtub!

Found the Pot of Gold in the dryer!! (how did the Leprachan find the dryer in the messy laundry room!)

Thanks Leprachaun!!

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Zoo--March 18, 2012

Zoo

Cute kids! Creighton Women's and Men's Basketball teams were both playing in the NCAA tournament hence the CU gear!

Lincoln Children's Museum--Spring Break 2012

Lincoln Children's Museum

Lincoln Chilren's Museum--Jack loved the water area!

Face painting!

Train table!

Astronaut Jack!

Astronaut Ellie!

Eating McDonald's on the way home from Lincoln with Leah and Emmy!

I am sitting outside as I am typing this! We have had the most beautiful weather the last couple of weeks (minus the last 3 days of rain of course during Spring Break but oh well!). We have have had a nice week! It started with St. Patrick's Day on Saturday. The kids got up and had Lucky Charms waiting for them (it's the only time I buy Lucky Charms during the year!) and of course the Leprachaun had come and left clues to find the pot of gold. They searched for their clues and then found their pot of gold in the dryer filled with gold coins, gum, Tic- Tacs and green nail polish! I wanted to go somewhere Irish to eat but Dave quickly squelched (sp ??) that idea and said everything would be crazy so we ended up eating outside at Sonic (not very Irish of us but we aren't very much Irish so I guess it's fine!) We got ice cream at Dairy Queen and called it a day! We had our traditional corn beef and cabbage for dinner and that was about as Irish as we got! Sunday was a beautiful day so after church we headed to the zoo! We spent a couple of hours walking around and enjoying the Spring weather! Good thing because then it rained for the next 3 days so we were stuck inside. The kids' Spring Break started on Monday and we've had a fun week so far. Monday we went to our friends Abby and Sophie's house for a playdate (Abby goes to school with Ellie and Jack goes to school with Sophie) and then headed to get Jack a haircut. Monday night we rented movies and had popcorn. Tuesday we drove to Lincoln to go to the Children's Museum with Leah and Emmy Hoyt and their mom. We also met a couple of Jack's friends there. What a fun day that was. The kids played for hrs at the musuem! We had a great time. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home and headed back to Omaha. Wednesday we went to my friend Michelle's house and Ellie and Payton got to play and then we headed to Bounce U with them for the afternoon. Today (Thurs) Jack is spending the day with Aunt Julie and Trevor and Ellie has her friend Chloe over and we are finally playing outside! Tomorrow Ellie is going to "Super Star" day at Saddlebrook with Emma. I think all in all it's been a fun week even though we didn't go on a Spring Break vacation! We found lots of fun things to do right here in Omaha! It's back to school on Monday and then summer will be here before we know it...can't wait!!! Love, love, love this time of year!!!

Busy Weeks!

Bowling!

Bowling--Jack refused to stand up for the pic!

Enjoying the warm spring weather

Enjoying the warm spring weather

Brownie troop sewing purses

Some of the Brownie troop with their purses that they made!

It has been a busy few weeks around here! Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week at school and as the Hospitality Chair for the PTA I was in charge---wow---had no idea it would be so time consuming. I pretty much spent the entire week at school and running around picking things up, etc. Poor Jack--he was buried in Ellie's DS all week which of course he didn't mind but I did! We also had Parent/Teacher Conferences and had a Conference dinner catered for the teachers so that took some time as well. But we made it through the week and I was never so glad to have a week end in my life. I have politely declined to chair this committee next year :) I was never meant to be an event planner in my lifetime! I love volunteering at school but definitely have realized my limits. The kids and I did manage to have fun their days off of school and went bowling with my MOPS friends. My MOPS mentor owns a bowling alley so she invites the group every year and this year Ellie was able to go because she didn't have school. Coincidentally we also had plans to go bowling with the Franks on Sat night at the same place so went bowling twice in one week! The kids had fun and are looking forward to the "Kids Bowl Free" program this summer. Speaking of summer I can NOT believe we are getting so close to summer and right now the weather is so crazy warm that if feels like summer! What a crazy winter we have had and Spring is starting off that way as well. I want Spring right now--not hot summer! I'm sure cooler temps will be back. On Monday we had our monthly Brownie meeting and we had a sewing person come and do a sewing lesson with the girls. It was really fun. Each girl got to make her own purse and they turned out super cute. Now we are gearing up for Spring Break which is next week! I've got a few different things planned that I think the kids will enjoy. It will be nice not to have to rush around in the morning and hopefully the weather will stay nice and we can do some things outside!