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Birthday Parties, Holidays, Field Trips, and Everything Else

I have been MIA.  I haven't even been doing my HHM posts.  I feel like I've been barely hanging on to my sanity by a thread.  I think now that we've gotten through the birthdays things might be getting better.

Warning, this blog post is jam packed with pictures!

Ok, so once again, here I am.  So much going on and no updates about any of it.  Honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed.  Keeping this house up is completely insane.  We just have no room here.  I'm dying to move.  I found a house that I really love.  It needs some updating and eventually new windows, but the big thing is the back yard needs to be leveled to be usable as a place for the kids to safely play. Oh well, if it's meant to be it will be. Either way, I need a little more space.

So, Sydney... My oldest daughter turned 5 on March 9th.  5!!! Can you believe it?  It's flown by! She took cupcakes to her class the week before since her birthday fell on a Monday and she only goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


On the morning of her birthday she opened her presents before Ben went to school. This way, everyone was able to watch her open presents and she could play with the toys all day long.



We went out to eat for her birthday.  She wanted to go somewhere "fancy" where you dress up and eat nice food.  With a large group of people attending, we decided to do Buca Di Beppo.  She was happy about it.

Since she wanted to invite her whole class to her birthday party, and the location was booked on the weekends surrounding her birthday, we ended up doing the party 2 weekends after her actual birthday.  I gave her the option of doing it somewhere else and only inviting a couple of friends or the whole class and waiting.  She really wanted the whole class to come. Well, the whole class couldn't make it, but quite a few friends did come. We had so much fun too.











The week leading up to Sydney's birthday party was Spring Break.  Shawn had a few days long work trip to Omaha, NE which is about 4 hours from home.  We decided to pack up the kids and all tag along.  Shawn's coworker was also going so he could ride to the meetings with her, leaving us with the car. Since my car has Sat Nav, it's so much easier for me to drive us around even places I'm not familiar with.  I feel quite comfortable in my car doing trips like this.

We got into town Tuesday night and ate dinner at The Old Mattress Factory. It was pretty good bar food.  Yes, I'm a sucker for greasy and fried goodness.  I had Firecracker shrimp and buffalo chicken dip for dinner.


We walked back to our hotel and the kids fell asleep rather quickly which was good since I had planned a fun day on Wednesday.


Wednesday morning, we got up, Shawn went to work, and the kids and I set out to find yummy local food.  That's exactly what we found at Culprit Cafe. It was beautiful inside and out.  The food was delicious and it was neat that the french toast Ben and I ordered was cooked at the bar for us to see. The french toast was delicious and the girls love their cinnamon rolls and muffins. While we were there, we met some people who were going to the Children's Museum next, just like we were.  After talking for a little bit, we found out that they were from Kansas City.  It's funny that we travel a state away, 4 hours, and meet people from back home.  Later, when we saw each other at the Children's museum the mom told me that her brother-in-law was the owner of Culprit Cafe.  How cool!



After breakfast we loaded up in the car and headed to the Children's Museum.  It wasn't far away and honestly the parking wasn't bad either.











The next day, the kids and I braved the zoo.  I was a little afraid that the weather wouldn't work with us since it was chilly and a little rainy.  I was also worried about how packed it would be and me being the only adult with 4 kids, was a little scary.  I did it though, and it turned out to be great.  We had a wonderful time and even met up briefly with Shawn's cousin Emily.





























We grabbed a little food on our way out from the zoo and then headed back to the hotel for a quick swim before meeting Shawn's cousins for dinner.

We had a nice time at dinner with the cousins.  The kids were a complete mess and we were those people with the kids who run everywhere.  Maybe we should have tried to meet somewhere that the grown ups could socialize and the kids could play a little easier than in a restaurant, but oh well.  

Shawn met us for dinner too, which we weren't even counting on, so that was a pleasant surprise. After dinner we went back to the hotel to swim a little more.





After swimming, we packed up our bags and loaded most of our stuff into the car so I didn't have to do it alone with the kids the following day.

After the kids went to bed Shawn and I ordered room service.  It was so good!  I'd already been eating by the time I remembered to take a picture of my meal but seriously, yum!


The next morning, the kids and I packed the last of our stuff, did a quick sweep of the room, and ran the rest of our stuff to the car.  Then, we went back into the hotel and ate at their cafe before doing the hour drive to Lincoln, NE for the Children's museum there.



















After we were done playing, and the kids were starving, we walked a few blocks and grabbed some pizza.  Soon, it was time to go back to Omaha to pick up Shawn, and then head back home.

After our holiday and Sydney's birthday party, life went somewhat back to normal.

Soccer season started and Ben, Sydney and Rylie are all playing which means all Saturday morning, every weekend is spent at the soccer fields.  It's completely insane but it's so cute watching them run and play. And, don't they look adorable in all of their gear?




We dyed Easter eggs the day before Easter at Terry's house with all of Shawn's side of the family.





While we were there, Sydney started to feel sick to her stomach.  Shawn's sister Kelly laid down with her and got her to sleep.  (On the way home she puked all over the back of my car.)


The next morning was Easter.  While we were supposed to go to a big family lunch, we decided it was best to stay home due to both Sydney and Scotland having really upset tummies.  The Easter Bunny still brought them baskets filled with goodies and hid eggs filled with candy all over our house for the kids.  They didn't have to miss out just because some of them were sick.




Scotland turned 1 on April 16th!






We threw her a garden themed birthday party, the following Saturday.  It was a really wonderful time even though several of the people had to leave before cake or presents.












Sydney also had her school art fair which is so cool.  They put each kids art work in the main gallery and then hold a reception for each class with refreshments that the kids get to help prepare.


They have eggs in Sydney's classroom that as of yesterday or the day before have actually started to hatch. Everyday we'd walk in and Rylie would have to check on them.  Ben just told us that his class also has eggs they are waiting for to hatch.


Ben had his 1st grade music performance.  There was a power outage that took out much of the neighborhood, so they held it outside.  I actually preferred it this way.



We went to Sydney's class field trip at the fire station also.  That was lots of fun, even for me.


Sydney had kindergarten round up.


Next year, she goes to all day, everyday school at the elementary school with Ben who will be in the 2nd grade.  Rylie will start preschool going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

And we've tried to be outside whenever we can enjoying the weather when it's nice.  We cleaned up the garden and did some planting.



See, we've been busy. If you've read this far, then I owe you big.  Hahaha! I am going to try to carve more time in my day for blogging though.  I really do miss this.  I mean really miss it.  I miss the Happy Homemaker Monday posts.  I miss the updates. I miss looking back and smiling about things we've done in the past, and I miss reading and commenting on other blogs.  Get ready blog world... I'm back!!!

Comments

So nice to see you back Liz! Love all the joyful photos - especially of your beautiful family! Such fun times to remember.

Blessings for a beautiful weekend! xo

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