More Shenanigans

I mentioned in my last post that my sister was in town for my birthday.
I didn't post about her whole visit because that would have made for a very long and picture filled blog entry.
So, here's the scoop on the rest of the time we had with the lovely Aunt Kimmy.

On Tuesday we sent the kids off to school as usual but we picked them up at lunch time. I had arranged it with the teachers ahead of time so that we could have a fun day together.
We drove out to Pleasant Prairie for a visit here...

Why do both my kids have their eyes closed?!

The Jelly Belly candy company has a warehouse in our area and they offer free daily tours. The kids have been wanting to go there since before we even moved to Wisconsin, so they were super excited that the day had finally arrived.
We took a ride on the jelly bean train around the warehouse and learned about the history of the jelly bean.

As you can see, our Aunt Wendie drove up to join us on our adventure. She also lives about an hour away from the warehouse, so it was a good meeting point for all of us.

The kids made fast friends with the sample man. We tasted all sorts of jellied confections (many, MANY times).
The kids could have stayed there all day and eaten their weight in candy. However, the adults wanted some real food so we went out for an early dinner at one of our favorites.

Mama loves good BBQ

Sadly, the next day I had to send the kids back to school, and it was a miserably cold and dreary day.

The sunshine didn't last long after this shot

When they got back home there was lots of this going on...

Every little girl needs a pretty manicure

what better to do on a rainy day!

And some of this...

More Fancy Nancy!

This was our last night together so Aunt Kim had to soak up all the girl time she could get!
She flew out the next day. I was certain the kids both understood that she was leaving while they were at school. Well, Giuliana came home from school, tossed her back pack and asked "Where's Aunt Kimmy?". The sad look on her face when I told her she went back to New York was enough to break a moms heart.

We had a great visit and can't wait to do it again.
Let's hear it for Girl Power!

The Birthday Extravaganza

I celebrated my 41st birthday last week. Admittedly, I haven't exactly been thrilled with the idea of officially being 'in my forties' instead of being 40. Turning 40 was fun and exciting, and I embraced it wholeheartedly. Leaving 40 wasn't something I was looking forward to.
However, my family being who they are, made my birthday special, fun and exciting for me. I almost forgot that I was getting older.

We kicked off the weekend by going to the Family Dance night at our local elementary school. We got all dressed up and put our dancing shoes on. We were so overdressed it was funny, but the girls loved the attention compliments we were getting. They were on the dance floor until we dragged them off because it was past their bed time.

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for. For months I've said all I want for my birthday was to go to McD's and get a Rolo Flurry. I remember having Rolo's as a kid and they were always my favorite. I was so careful all week with limiting my sugar intake so that I could fully indulge in the ice cream treat.
Believe me, it was WELL worth the wait!

After our delicious treat we headed out to a local arts and crafts fair and walked around for an hour and hopefully burned off some of the calories!
That evening we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant that we wanted to try. The food was great and Tia, my very picky eater, tried some new things. That always makes me happy!

On Sunday I got the best birthday gift EVER. My sister flew in from NY to spend a few days. She is awesome. She knew that D.R. was going to be out of town for work on my actual birthday, so she decided to come spend it with me!
D.R. left on Monday morning (my actual b-day) so big sister and I headed into Milwaukee for the day. We had lunch at the Public Market.
Then we went here...

We took a really cool tour and did some tasting. It was fun and I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing more visitors there in the future.
When the kids got home from school we had an early dinner then we took them out for ice cream. I couldn't eat mine because I was too full from dinner. Tia had no problem finishing my share!

So even though I was dreading turning 41, it really turned out to be a great birthday with lots of celebrations. I was surrounded by family and love through the whole birthday weekend, and that's what's important.

Here's to another wonderful year!

Family Fun Day and A New School Year

We started a new family tradition last year of having a "Fun Day" on the last day of summer vacation. The kids tell us what they want to do, and we follow orders.
This year the masses voted for a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. No Problemo, I love the zoo...

We had a gorgeous day for it.
Then of course there had to go out for an ice cream cone after the zoo. What kind of family fun would it be without ice cream?!

The next day was a big day in our house. Not only the first day of school, but the first day of Kindergarten for my little one. I think I was more nervous and sad than she was!

They decided to dress alike for the first day which I LOVE and know won't last as they get older.
Tia was very nervous all morning. Of course little sister was not nervous at all and was just ready to get her school career started!
I decided to follow the bus to the school just to make sure they knew where to go and what to do when they got there. I'm so glad I did because Tia was in tears and couldn't find her teacher. I made sure to get them to the right place, along with one of our neighbors kids who also couldn't find her way.
Here they are headed into the building...

A little teary eyed

So ready!

When they got off the bus in the afternoon (8 LONG hours later), they were full of smiles and stories of what a wonderful day they had. I knew they would love it!
Of course Mama had to make a big day about this huge milestone in their lives so I made them each their own mini-cakes. They thought the personal size cakes were awesome and I get points toward my goal of being Mommy of the Year!

Chocolate smiles!

Overall I'd say it the start of the new school year has been a big success. We are so blessed to have two kids who love school and look forward to learning new things every day.

School is Cool!

Breakfast?

It's 8am. and this is what my kids have chosen for breakfast...

What, you don't let your kids eat pop-sicles for breakfast?

Well, typically I wouldn't either, but guess what these are made of?
Plain Greek Yogurt (loaded with protein)
Bananas (potassium)
Blueberries (Vit C and antioxidants)
a splash of grape juice

How can you go wrong? And they're purple which is a huge bonus for my girls!

My oldest loves popsicles and would eat them all day if I let her. However, they're loaded with chemicals that I'd rather she not consume.
I've been getting creative with making our own and the results have been yummy!

What did your kids have for breakfast today?