Lots to catch up on!

We've been busy over here these last couple of weeks! Visitors...both the human kind and the pet kind and lots of other things going on! Here's a little recap.

My Minnesota friend Andi and her family watched Chloe while we went to Mexico. We returned the favor and watched their dog Otto while they were in Phoenix over Easter visiting family. Otto was a great dog and we enjoyed having him here for a week! That being said...there will NOT be two dogs in this family at any point in time. It was a lot more work than just one! Part of that had to do with it being spring and the constant wiping paws, floors, swiffering fur, etc. was a lot. The kids loved having him here and really missed him when he was gone. Andi came by this week to drop something off and she brought Otto with her. Ivy was so happy to see him:)




I dropped Otto off at his house late Thursday night and then headed straight to the airport to pick up my wonderful friend Jaramee and her two kids Maeli and Weston! They are Dubuque friends and decided to "spring break" in Canada;) We had an amazing time...it was so fun to have them visit and show them around! We accomplished everything on our list of things to do/see. Special thanks to Chris for letting Jaramee and I have some quality girl time! We went out one evening and spent one afternoon shopping away at the big mall. The weather was decent for their visit and we definitely made the most of it! Here are a few pictures.




Jaramee brought some goodies from Dubuque with her when she came, but none of them could compare to what got put in her suitcase for Max! Here's a little backstory...when we first told the kids we were moving to Edmonton, one of the first things Max said was that he was sad he would miss the two by two project in 2nd grade. The students get their own stuffed pet to take care of for a few weeks...they have to feed it, take it out, play, clean up, etc. They document it all along the way and bring it back and forth to school. A friend of mine posted a picture of her son with his two by two and I reached out to her to see if there was any possibility that she could get one for Max. She pulled through! (I knew she would) and sent one with Jaramee. I didn't give it to him until after our friends left because I didn't want him to have to share and he has been loving it.



Last Monday I picked the kids up after school and was just coming home and while sitting at green light, waiting for the 10+ cars in front of me to go, we got rear ended. It was the first time I was in an accident that I didn't see coming! Thankfully we were all fine and the lady who hit us was really nice. You can tell what kind of car she drove by looking at my car!



And lastly...Uncle Jeff came for a visit yesterday! He and Chris are up in the mountains skiing today and tomorrow, but we had a nice half day with him yesterday and will get to spend some time with him tomorrow night. He jumped on the trampline with the kids so much yesterday that he woke up sore! What an uncle:)

Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend. Of course we would have loved to have been home with family, but we made the most of being away. Saturday we went to what we thought was an Easter Egg hunt at Fort Edmonton Park. Turned out that's not what it was at all, but we weren't the only ones confused. Many people were carrying around empty Easter baskets with them! Anyway...we had never been to that park, so it was nice to see it. It was freeeeezing, which could have had something to do with us not having the most enjoyable time!



After the park, we came home to thaw out, watch some basketball and make a yummy bunny cake! my friend Emily sent me the recipe and we had a great time making/decorating it. Ivy has the sweetest tooth of anyone, so she didn't help much with the decorating...she mostly ate frosting and candy:)



Sunday we went to church and then had the most expensive brunch of all time (I considered asking for a doggy bag) and then came home to play with all of the Easter goodies that the bunny brought. The girls are really into Shopkins (don't ask me...I don't really understand, but they could spend hours playing with them) so there were lots of shopkins in their baskets. Max got pokemon cards and some legos. I'm so happy the bunny brought rainbow egg bubble gum...definitely my favorite Easter candy behind Starburst jelly beans (which they don't have in Canada btw). I ate about 30-40 pieces of gum and then immediately flossed and brushed my teeth. Next year I'm sure I'll do the same!



Later Sunday afternoon we headed over to our neighbors for a delicious Easter dinner. It was so nice of them to invite us and we had a wonderful time. This was the cake she made...it was to die for! We were pretty much in a food coma for the rest of Sunday and into Monday as well. Chris texted me when he got to work and said someone offered him a cupcake and he almost puked!



And lastly...Ivy wore the dress Mya wore for Easter in 2012 so I wanted to look back and find some photos. I came across some of my all time favorites so I had to re-post! Love the one with my Grandma:)

March one-photo-a-day

Today is our first day back to normalcy after spring break! It was nice having the kids home this last week. It took us a few days to get in a groove of not having to have something to do every.single.second.of.the.day, but we got there and now I didn't want them to go back this morning! It was quite a long break...Mya asked me this morning if she would be going to grade 2 today or if she was still in grade 1! I'm looking forward to summer, but it will be awhile. We get out of school June 26th here! Here's what we were up to in March.


Day 60: Our first full day in Mexico! The kids saw the ocean for the first time and had some fun on the trampoline.
Day 61: Chris and Max made a pretty cool sea turtle sand castle.
Day 62: Happy 8th Birthday Maxwell! Pretty cool way to spend a birthday:)
Day 63: Three kiddos in swim shirts drinking frozen strawberry drinks!


Day 64: Family picture before dinner
Day 65: Thank goodness for the explorer's club! These two loved it.
Day 66: Last day in the sun for awhile!
Day 67: Home sweet home....it took a few days to dig out of the mountains of dirty laundry we had!


Day 68: Chloe is back where she belongs...in Max's bed while he's reading a dog book:)
Day 69: This day we had the kids' celebration of learning at school. They got to show us everything they've been working on and I saw this picture of Mya's 100 year old self. She pretty much described Grandpa Bill:)
Day 70: I got to spend my 35th birthday with these three hooligans and my awesome hubby!
Day 71: Ivy loves to crack ice...can't say that I blame her. I think it's pretty addicting too!


Day 72: Speaking of cracking ice...we had a beautiful Friday night so we had a little happy hour out on our driveway and Chris worked on cracking ice and making drains for all of the neighbors to get rid of the water that was pooling up!
Day 73: We had a fun afternoon at the muddy dog park! Chloe had a little too much fun and ended up pulling something in her leg and was limping for a few days, but she's back to normal.
Day 74: My least favorite "job". Since all bottles and cans (water bottles, gatorade, juice boxes, juice containers, etc.) are either a 10 or 25 cent deposit, it's worth it to take them back to the bottle depot. The problem is, the smell in there is horrendous. I usually take them back fairly often so I can hold my breath for the most part. This day I had two big bags. It took me close to 5 minutes to get the courgage to go inside. I got my $11.75 and went straight to Starbucks to reward myself.
Day 75: This guy came out of school looking like this. #toocoolforschool


Day 76: Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Day 77: Ivy's self portrait and autograph. She's getting really into letters and numbers so I'm going with it.
Day 78: Eating a green pepper like an apple! I guess there are worse snacks...
Day 79: We attended a school fundraiser at the big mall waterpark. It was a great time and these two girls couldn't get enough of jumping waves in the wave pool!


Day 80: One last trip to Target...the place was a wreck, but I got some good deals.
Day 81: Mya has been asking to do the Easy Bake Oven for at least 6 months so we finally got it out while Chris and Max were skiing. It's so much work for such a little end result. Oh well...we'll put it away for another 6 months now!
Day 82: Hopefully this is one of the last times they are out playing in the snow!
Day 83: 90% of the time I am type B. Every once in awhile some type A comes out and this was one of those times. Max started this puzzle and I couldn't stop until it was finished!


Day 84: If you want a break...give your toddler a bowl with some vinegar and baking soda and it should buy you an hour.
Day 85: I looked out at my girls having a wrestling match on the trampoline. Pretty sure Ivy ended up winning!
Day 86: First park day of 2015!
Day 87: This night we went out to dinner at Red Robin. That was one of our favorite restaurants in Dubuque so it felt like home! Only difference was in Dubuque they handed out balloons when you left!


Day 88: Ran across this saying on facebook and I really loved it.
Day 89: We had an Easter Egg hunt with the neighbor kids and it was a big success!
Day 90: We met Chris for lunch and stopped by his office to visit afterwards!