When Daddy's Away...(we spend lots of money)

Every year, Jason goes on a road trip with friends to attend an MSU basketball game.  This year they went to a losing game against Northwestern...sucks to be them....us girls had fun!

On Saturday morning, I took the girls to gymnastics and then out for lunch with my mom and Gerry.  But the whole time, Sydney only had one thing on her mind...Justice.  The day before, a catalog for Justice game in the mail advertising a major sale.  Sydney had been begging me to take her there.  On Friday, I kept saying "maybe", which as she knows, usually turns into "yes".  So, after lunch, we went to Justice and put a little dent in my wallet.  Oh, backtracking really quick...that morning before gymnastics, Sydney came downstairs with her purse telling me she had money to buy some things at Justice.  She actually has quite a bit of money in her bank in her room, but she came down with six one dollar bills.  I told her that she really couldn't buy very much with that.  She said, "that's alright, I want to save my big bills, so I'll just give you these ones.  I wasn't planning on buying very much, but everything was just so darn cute on her, that I caved.  I usually buy their clothes at mom-to-mom sales, so I figured that I owed it to her to pick out a few things that she liked.  And of course I couldn't leave Lizzy out who was running around the store like a crazy person.  The clothes are too big for her there so she got a package of Squinkies...she loves those silly little toys!!  The rest of the day, the kids had fun playing with each other, and Sydney tried on a lot of her new clothes and put on a fashion show...we had fun just hanging out.

On Sunday, I was planning on just relaxing and going nowhere.  But when all the kids wanted to do was play in the snow, I had to come up with something because this girl just does NOT like winter!  I'll save the cold winter outdoor activities for Jason!!  So we met my mom and Gerry at Siegel's Deli where I had my favorite meal...bagels and lox!  Then we went to Target and came home with lots of things we didn't need.  The girls each got to pick out something from the dollar spot...can anyone ever get out of that store without making a stop at the dollar spot?  I know I can't!  Then, the girls talked me into buying them some new heart bowls for their cereal.  By that time, I couldn't even remember why I went into the store in the first place (which was to look for a Kindle Fire case for me...which they didn't have), so we bought things to make cupcakes and went home and started baking.  The kids had a lot of fun, and now we have enough cupcakes to feed an army, and I have a feeling I'm going to be the only member of the army and gain quite a few pounds.  The rest of the day we just played and did a few puzzles, and then I shipped Sydney off to Gerry's house (of course my mom was there too) to spend the night since she had no school on Monday for Martin Luther King day!  Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow, but I had a fun weekend with my girls, but it seemed like a whirlwind, and I could definitely use a rest!!

Hannah's Birthday Party

I just realized why I've gotten so many blogs in lately.  It's all because of iCloud!  I love that the pictures that I take on my phone are already loaded onto my computer when I get home.  Most of the time, I'm too lazy to upload pictures and that just sets everything back!  I'm on a roll!

Anyway...last weekend we went to Hannah's first birthday!  It was a big ol' candy fest! There was every kind of candy imaginable, including an ice cream cart.  The kids definitely made sure to load up on the candy and take a bunch of it home too!  The kids had fun running around on their sugar high and playing together.  As usual, Sydney tried to take care of all of the little kids, but fun was had by all!

Gymnastics

Well, dance is over and god forbid we only do swimming...but the kids have been begging me to do gymnastics, and so I signed them up, since they are apparently in charge!  The Sports Club had a class for 3 and 5 year olds, so they could both be in the same class, so it really couldn't be easier.  The only problem is that we joined mid-session so there were only four classes left.  But they prorated the class so it was really cheap and a good opportunity to even see if they liked it without fully committing.  The good news is that they both LOVE it and talk about it constantly...and now instead of Sydney kicking everywhere, now she does cartwheels everywhere!  The bad news is, there are only three classes left which means they will only get to go a total of 4 times.  So...what on earth are we going to do?  One thing I'm pretty confident of...these kids will keep me busy!!

The Park in January?

That's right!  This is my kind of winter!  As a girl who hates the snow and everything that comes with it, including but not limited to, bundling up, keeping track of hats and gloves, shoveling, driving, scraping the car, and just being cold...I'm loving this no snow thing!!  Over the weekend (and we're talking mid January), it was in the upper 50's, basically 60!  So, I HAD to take the kids to the park.

It's like an every day occurrence in the summer time, but it has been a long time since we've been to the park and they were thrilled and told me I was the best mom ever...glad they're easily pleased!

Oh, and before the park, I took them to the bulk food store and let them buy candy...so maybe I really am the best mom (for the day)!

Dance Recital

This year Sydney took pom pom since she wants to be a cheerleader and Lizzy took ballet, well because that's what I signed her up for!  They enjoyed going to class each week and Lizzy especially enjoyed getting in to mischief with her friend Cara, but they both had a blast!

Sydney LOVED pom pom, until she got the costume and realized it was just a tank top that you wear with black pants.  She was devastated!  But, they did put on a cute show to the song "Big Night" and she did an amazing job.  Her favorite part was kicking her leg in the air, which she does like 50 times a day.  She doesn't even realize she's doing it...she even does it in stores...she just kicks everywhere!

Lizzy danced to Rubber Ducky.  It was sooooo cute!  I thought for sure she would freak out when she got on stage and saw all the people, but she definitely proved me wrong! I was the one who freaked out when I realized I had to stay there the ENTIRE day...first for Sydney's dress rehearsal, then Lizzy's practice, and then the real show!  At least I had Jill there (Cara and Michela's mom) to gossip with!

I was so proud of both of them.  They did an awesome job!  And the first thing Sydney did when she walked in the door was...she put on Lizzy's recital costume...she just couldn't wait to be all fancy!