Memorial Day Weekend 2016

We enjoyed a little "staycation" for Memorial Day weekend this year. It turned out to be a fun weekend and we ended up much busier than we thought!

Friday we enjoyed pizza at Michelangelo's. It was kind of a rainy night, but we enjoyed playing at the park on the way to and from dinner!

 Saturday morning we biked to the bandshell for breakfast....unfortunately they were closed!??! We played at the park, biked to the bird sanctuary, the farmers market,  Pershing park (where the kids found and took home hundreds of caterpillars) and then back home. Bishop had a birthday party in the afternoon.....and it POURED rain while he was there (it was at a park). Thankfully it let up again so he could burn off some energy with his buddies at the park! That night we had a BBQ at the Heller's!

My 2 loves!

The Bird Sanctuary

Collecting caterpillars!

The first set of caterpillars collected!

I bought this doll house used and I was so excited about it......and Nora was SO excited to get it! She played with it for about 10 minutes and said "this is boring" and went back to playing with her kitchen!

Charlie and Bishop at Silas and Olivia's party!

 Sunday we started the day off at the Zoo with the Retzer's. While we were visiting the tigers a macaw bird flew out of its exhibit and we got an up close view of the beautiful bird. After the zoo we went to Cedar Lake and met up with the Hennum's to swim at the beach. The kids played in the water and took the Hennum's canoe out for a ride, which was a big hit! Bishop got to ride in the canoe back to the Hennum's with Tim and Maia and now he wants one! ;) The kids love their dog, Jaxon and have been asking for a dog! I'm SO thankful the Hennum's are so welcoming......as we'll enjoy Jax as much as possible ;)! We ended the night with a BBQ at the Hennum's. I just love how much the kids get along and enjoy being together!

Nora loves the merry-go-round!

Canoeing with Siena and dad!

Burying Bishop's toes in the sand!

So much love for Jaxon!

Cuddles with Jax!

 Monday morning we headed out to Corcoran for a lunch BBQ with the Kieser's (our friends we met at Grandview over Spring Break). It was an absolutely beautiful day and the kids had so much fun together! The girls created a scavenger hunt for us to complete, which was super cute and a lot of fun! They have a large backyard with a pond and the kids had a blast playing by the pond, and sliding down the slide into the mini pool! The adults enjoyed watching the kids from their porch! ;) While we were there Liana invited us over for another bbq at their house, as we had forgotten Bishop's swim trunks there on Sunday. We stopped by for a bit for dinner, which was a ton of fun! The kids were exhausted so we headed home early! Woah--it was a jam packed weekend, but it was tons of fun! It felt great to be home and to be able to enjoy so many different things together as a family!

The boys decided to eat their lunch on the rocks in the front lawn!

The kids hanging out by the pond!

Starving artists, swimming lessons and Nora's last night of soccer

Monday morning before school the kids found the guitars, a recorder and their dancing shoes and set out to make some money. Bishop said "we need a hat"--so they used a paper plate--and went to the alley to try to collect money for their "performance". The traffic was light that morning, but mom helped encourage their creativity with some $!

My starving artists trying to make some money

It was water safety day at swimming lessons on Monday. Bishop's class had to wear heavy sweatshirts while swimming and Nora got to have a little fun on the foam mat, while learning about water safety!

Both Bishop and Nora have been extremely interested in finding and "rescuing" caterpillars and inchworms lately! Unfortunately not many have lived that long so we have yet to see a butterfly!

And Tuesday was Nora's last night of soccer! She really enjoyed one of the new coaches and asked if I would sign her up for soccer again (the first half of her "season" we had to fight to get her on the field) Ha! I was a little disappointed in that they didn't play actual games until the last night, but it was still a fun experience with her friends!

A fun, busy weekend!

Luke left for his spring fishing trip on Friday and the kids and I had a jam packed weekend planned! We started the weekend off by hosting an improtu little neighborhood get together on Friday night. The Kahlert's and Mariann and Margarita brought their pizzas over and the kids played next door! Everyone had a great time!!

Saturday morning my parents stopped by before t-ball.....we celebrated my dad's birthday (it was Friday) by giving him his gift and then we went to Bishop's t-ball game. My dad played catch with Bishop during warm ups while us girls helped cheer him on! 

Playing catch with Papa

Bishop's fan club! :)

Cal's dad-the first base coach!

Looks like he's giving Bishop some good coaching advice!

We had to leave t-ball a little early to get to Henry Krueger's birthday party! Nora went with my parents to the Bormann's house....I dropped Bishop off at the party, drove to the Bormann's for lunch and then picked Bishop up to bring him to his 2nd bday party of the day! While at lunch we celebrated my dad's birthday with cake, which was a big hit with the kids! It was a quick stop at their house, but always so fun to see them and Nora was in heaven playing with Madelyn!! Krueger's party was at The Big Thrill Factory, which Bishop LOVED!!! He had Greta's party in the afternoon at Woodlake Nature Center, which was a big hit as well! While Bishop was at Greta's party I told Nora she could choose what we do (play at a park, icecream, garage sale, etc).....she picked going to a garage sale....so we did and she got a new kitchen! :) She loves her new kitchen and is able to make us smoothies with it!

Krueger and Bishop--such special friends!

She is so excited about her new kitchen!!

When Nora and I picked Bishop up from Greta's birthday party we hiked around a bit at the nature center. It was really neat--we saw a big turtle on the side of the path, ducks and other wildlife! We went home, had dinner and crashed! It was a beautiful day--filled with fun and friends!

Sunday brought the kids' last day of Sunday school for the year. They were both excited to go as they each had fun things planned in their classes. After church we went to the Linden Hills Festival at Linden Hills Park, which was a ton of fun. It's pretty chaotic and busy and can get a little stressful on my own, but the kids were so great and I allowed Bishop to play a few games by himself while Nora and I waited in line to get her face painted! It was well worth it, as she LOVED her face paint (especially the lipstick)! ;)

Bishop and Cal "fishing"

Nora's face paint--best part was, it was free! ;)

After the festival we drove down to Owatonna to celebrate Papa's birthday one more time! We had that planned before we knew they were coming up for t-ball and lunch at the Bormann's. The kids played so well together outside and then we walked down to the park/river to feed the ducks and play. It was such a lovely day, it just felt great to be outside!

While we missed Luke we had a great weekend filled with friends and family! Luke ran his first trail run on Saturday on the Lake Superior Hiking Trail. He ran a 25K and LOVED it (and did awesome)!

Spring Concerts with a visit from Nana

Bishop had his spring concert at school on Wednesday. My mom had an appointment in the cities in the afternoon so she came up to see Bishop sing and visit Nora at school! The Kindergartners sang 9 songs and they were so cute! I love listening to these kids sing!

We snuck in to say hi after the concert while they were eating breakfast!

Nora was so excited for a surprise visit from Nana!

 Wednesday I got an email that Bishop would be performing at the school assembly on Thursday. Thankfully I was working from home and was able to make it. I didn't tell Bishop I was coming because I didn't know for sure if it would work.....he was SO excited I was there--he kept waving to me (which is pretty unusual for him). It really sunk in that morning.......these kids are growing up so fast and THESE are the moments! Pretty soon they won't be excited for mom and dad to come watch them sing. I am thankful I can get to as many of their activities as possible. It meant the world to me that my parents were always there for me and I want to be there for my kids!

Nora ADORES Ms. Ciara! She braided her hair at school! Lucky girl!