Easter and Happy birthday Daddy!

Easter this year was pretty laid back. We had fun decorating eggs together and relaxing after our softball games. The kids were happy with their loot. Everyone got a new book, bubbles, sunglasses, and plenty of candy!

Since Chris was born on April 1st, the kids have always wanted to pull a prank on him for his special day. This year they came up with the idea of filling Oreos with mayonnaise. Claire carefully scooped out just the center portion of the cream and then filled it. We placed a few on a plate alongside his other presents and just waited for the results. We met him for dinner at BJ's and then we met up at home where he totally fell for our surprise! The kids were super excited to see his face as he bit into that first Oreo. They are already plotting for next year. Happy birthday honey!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Being a little bit Irish has always been fun around St. Patrick's Day. My mom always gets the kids some extra Irish bling to wear. Since she had just visited, this year was no exception. The kids were very excited to get all dolled up. The day was filled with fun activities, classroom treats, and even an award assembly. Grace received her accelerated reading award. We are very happy for her! She has worked hard. Another successful St. Patrick's Day!

Fun times with Grandma

My kids had a long weekend with a couple of days off of school. What better way to spend the time than to have Grandma fly down for a visit? They were so excited to see her (...and all of the goodies that she brought)!
Our first day together was dry and nice so we all went mini golfing. We arrived just after opening and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was a lot of fun! Claire even got a hole in one. She was really proud. Chris, however, beat us all.

After golfing, we had some credits left over so we hit up the indoor arcade. We played all kinds of games, but the kids especially liked this crazy pirate game.

We hit up In N Out for lunch and then played games at home. That night after dinner the kids were able to hang out with Grandma while Chris and I hit up a movie. We hadn't been to a movie together in ages. So we took advantage of our time. Over the weekend we saw 3 movies! It was fabulous.

The next day was really rainy. Seriously, it didn't rain at all in February here, and then as soon as my mom comes we get a really wet weekend. Oh well. It didn't stop us. We took the kids to see Zootopia. Everyone liked it, except Grace got pretty scared. That night we hit up Chili's for dinner since it is one of my mom's favorite places. We played some games, and then it was off to the movies again. :)

Unfortunately, our Saturday softball games were both rained out so we had to come up with something else to do on the fly. We decided to go check out old town Sacramento. It was a really neat little place. We arrived just in time for their St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was fun to see all of the floats and participants. I wish I had known about it so that we could have dressed up. Maybe next time. After the parade we walked to the California State Railroad Museum. It was a really neat place. It reminded me a lot of the fun museums in DC. They had tons of locomotives on display. You could walk through many of them. We all had a fun time!

On our way home from Sacramento we stopped at a Ghirradelhi Outlet for a tasty ice cream sundae. Delish!

Our last day was mostly uneventful. We all slept in after the long day we had the day before along with the time change. We made a pancake breakfast and played games. Grandma played with the kids while we saw our 3rd movie. Then we all went to a fun restaurant in downtown Livermore.  Before we knew it, it was time for Grandma to go. The kids were all sad to say goodbye. We had a really fun weekend together.

Thank you Grandma for coming to see us. Hopefully next time won't be so rainy. Love you lots!

Play Ball!

In the last couple of weeks we had opening day for softball as well as for baseball. It was two very long Saturdays out on the fields. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful on both days. Actually the whole month of February was dry and in the 70's. It doesn't get much better.

The girls were up first. Everyone was excited to pass out their hair ribbons and meet up with their teams for a small parade. Each team was introduced, there was a speech (given by Grace's coach), the National Anthem was sung, and a first pitch was thrown. There were several vendors passing out freebies. The kids had a great time spinning wheels for prizes. It was pretty fun to see all of the teams out on the field together. Such a great rainbow of team colors and fantastic team names. The girls each had their first game that afternoon as well. It was a fun way to kick off the season. Go Sky High Hitters and Go Pink Panthers!!

The very next weekend looked very much the same, although this time it was for Neil. Little League out here seems like a very big deal! There were 66 teams that participated in the parade. Each team takes the name of a MLB team. We are the Rockies. It took forever to get all those kids introduced. The little guys were last too. So by the time Neil's team came out, we were all ready to leave. Luckily, we had a break in the day to go home before heading back to the field for pictures and the girls' games. Go Rockies! These little t-ballers are so adorable! I can't wait to watch them in a game.

And so it begins...

A little bit of everything

I'm a bit behind, so this is my attempt at catch up. The last few weeks have been really busy. On one weekend afternoon we decided to check out a local park. We hiked a couple of miles and had fun climbing trees. The weather was beautiful. It felt good to get some exercise in.

Both Grace and Neil finished up swim lessons the first week of February. They both improved so much. Grace received her ribbon of achievement on the last day. 

For the week prior to Valentine's Day the kids school had a spirit week. Each day was something different. Grace really got into crazy hair day. It was also the 100th day of school. The kinders made vests with 100 items on them and had a parade around the school. 

The weather around here started to get amazing. Like high 70's everyday perfect. We've been in t-shirts most days and it's still February! Craziness. One day after school the kids turned our driveway into a beach. We are just loving all of this sun!

We are getting into the swing of our spring sports as well. Everyone has now started practices. Games begin this coming weekend. I have to say that Neil's T-ball team is just the cutest thing I've ever seen. There's something adorable about little boys trying to play baseball. I will be getting lots of pictures that's for sure! Neil loves going to practice and I think he's most excited about getting a jersey and being on a team. 

With all of our gorgeous weather we've had to get started on cleaning up the yard after a winter of neglect. We spent a long time pulling weeds, raking leaves, and clearing fallen tree branches. It's starting to look more tidy. We also planted an orange tree in the backyard. Hopefully we can keep it alive. We also started tackling little house projects. Chris put up a new light fixture in the nook and we measured windows for new blinds. 

On Valentine's Day I woke up super sick. I was really miserable. The kids had a great day though. I had got them each a balloon and treat.  They have been watching Cupcake Wars on tv lately, and they spent several days building this large cupcake display. I helped them make some cupcakes and they had a blast decorating them and arranging the display. It turned out pretty cute. 

Chris brought me flowers, popsicles, and throat lozenges. It was perfect. He also made chicken noodle soup for dinner. I couldn't have asked for better....well except for being sick. 

I've spent the week trying to get better. I'm still not there yet. For some crazy reason I also thought it would be fun to make hair ties for the girls's softball teams. It has turned into a giant pain. Note to future self....DON'T tell girls you will make hair ties. Thankfully, I'm just about done with them. Opening day is this Saturday. Yay!