Fathers Day

Today was a slightly odd Fathers Day, because my Dad is out of the country, so we don't even get a chance to give him a call. Well, we hope you're having a great vacation and we love you!

We did, however, get to shower M&M Dad with love. First, the girls nicely watched tv for a bit downstairs this morning and didn't wake Dad (and me) up until almost 8.

Then, Jr. Princess was passionate about serving him breakfast in bed, which was perfect because he could lounge around watching the World Cup as we made him an egg sandwich with strawberries.

For our activity we went for a bike ride for some family fun, followed by me taking the girls for a leisurely trip to Target to make sure he got some alone fun (running while watching more World Cup).

Of course, we made him pizza for dinner. We debated making him a dessert, but M&M Dad will often comment he would rather have 1) more pizza, or 2) peanut M&Ms over pretty much any dessert. It just felt wrong serving peanut M&M's for dessert, so we're at least going to sprinkle them on ice cream tonight, and then let him have the rest of the bag. (I'm sure he'll polish off the leftover pizza at some point, too).

Most importantly, I have resisted temptation ALL DAY, from asking him to clean, garden, or haul anything. Ummm, except the one time I needed the old ottoman out of the living room, but seriously, I could NOT have gotten that to the garage without his help.

The girls were in great spirits hosting a fun day for their Dad.

Super Carnival Fun

Friday my Division at work had a fun carnival for families. Of course, it was mainly employees with children because no spouse (mine included) wants to waste a vacation day going to their spouses work event...

Well, the girls and I had oodles of fun. Who wouldn't considering everything was free and there were no lines/no waiting for everything, including pony rides...


Mini car racing...
Henna tattoos...

Various DJ led contests, including this hula hooping one (Starshine was super excited early last week when she realized she has finally learned to hula hoop)...
To show Starshine that it's not embarrassing to participate, I even joined the adult hula hooping contest. Based on the practice round I totally would have cleaned-up, but in the real event I botched the initial spin and was out in the first second. I totally choked. Sigh... At least I also got to demonstrate good losing behavior.

There was also super jumps, balloon animals, crafts, caricature artists and carnival games. Our favorite was the carnival game where you got to throw baseballs at plates to break them. The girls were in awe that they were being encouraged to break something!

It was a great time. The girls love to point out that Mom's work is super awesome fun, and Dad's is super boring :).

My brush with fame

The girls and I are Biggest Loser super fans. We DVR it and watch together every week. This season we were rooting for Sunshine and O'Neal because a) they were from Minnesota and b) they were just so darn likeable.

Well, Tuesday I found out they were coming to my work on Thursday! I was super excited to tell the girls, and was sooooo surprised when they reacted by breaking into tears, throwing themselves on the floor and totally whining that they weren't going to be there. Wow - I did not see that coming. I thought they would just be excited for me...

They recovered in time this morning to make sure I got them an autograph, and Starshine even called me as I was driving to work because she thought I had forgotten the camera. Nope - I got a great picture...

They're super nice in person, too.

Jr. Princess Birthday Memories

Jr. Princess had lots of fun looking through her birthday pictures tonight, so we thought we would share them with you...

On her birthday...

1

2

3

4

and 5

Jr. Princess, we love the smiles and spunk you have brought to our family. Happy Birthday - we love you!

Jr. Princess's Special Day

Tomorrow is Jr. Princess's 5th birthday, so we celebrated today with her special day where she gets to pick everything. Here's the run down of the desires of a 5-year old...

1. A delicious breakfast of French Toast, where she gets to help cook followed by the family decorating the dining room in her honor

2. Baking of the birthday cake she picked out at the store

3. A fun trip to the Zoo...

4. With a ride on the Carousel

5. Angel food cake with whipped cream, strawberry ice cream and strawberries (oh and sprinkles)

6. Opening presents

7. About 50 trips down the slip and slide...

7. Sharing her new stomp rocket with some friends

8. Dinner at Red Robin where they sing and bring her an ice cream sundae

9. And time with Dad looking at her old birthday pictures on the computer.

Happy Birthday Jr. Princess!

(Did you notice yesterday's post was pants and sweatshirts and today we're running around in swimsuits - holy heat wave!)

Jr. Helper

Starshine was gone Friday and Saturday at her first Girl Scout overnight. (Thank goodness they didn't need more mom volunteers, because I went to bed earlier on Friday then they did!) So, Saturday we were all alone with one kid, which is sooooo different than 2 kids. Seriously quiet...

Last weekend M&M Dad was busy painting our old dingy garage doors to not look so shabby next to our fabulous new siding, so this weekend all we had left was putting up the new weatherstripping. And Jr. Princess was a superstar helper...

We put her in charge of picking out the perfect nails...

I wonder what other projects I can get her to do?

2nd Grade Musical

Thursday night was Starshine's 2nd grade musical. (Actually it was more of a concert because they stood on risers the whole time, but who's nit-picking...)

For a few days ahead of time Jr. Princess and I had lots of fun singing "2nd Grade Musical" to the tune of "High School Musical," which Starshine did not appreciate and told me she would die of embarrassment if we did that at school. We restrained ourselves...

So here we are at the big event. Starshine was SUPER excited that she made it up to the first set of risers. While she is perfectly 50th percentile for her age, she is so young in her class that she has always been a front row gal. And thank goodness, because Starshine's school does not have a stage so you can barely see anybody during this performance, but I tried videotaping anyway. Trust me she's in the middle behind the purple-shirted girl in the front row.

I was super impressed with how many songs they had memorized, and then each class recited a funny poem. ( I should have video taped Jr. Princess, too, because she knew some of hte songs and was singing along next to me. ) Can you believe she only has 2 1/2 weeks left of school??

Jr. Monkey

Jr. Princess was so excited when I picked her up from school today because she had discovered she could do the monkey bars. Of course, I didn't have my cell phone running the first time she went across, but I assure you she flew across. The second time, with phone ready, she was a little tired and ran out of steam towards the end...

My baby isn't a baby anymore...

Mothers Day Wonderful

Last year you may remember (I do) that M&M Dad made the girls repeat Mothers Day because they had such bad attitudes about "being nice to Mom" the first time around. Well, this year they hit it out of the park...

First, I was greeted to a breakfast in bed of pink heart shaped pancakes, strawberries and a heart shaped fried egg (good job M&M Dad). Then, they handed me lovingly made cards. Starshine is geting to be such a big girl that she made her's on the computer, and it included her new passion, haikus:

It is Mother's Day

So wake up let's celebrate

You know we love you

Then they gave me my new Mothers Day plants from school. I would like it duely noted that the styrofoam cup in the middle is my plant from Jr. Princess from LAST YEAR. My brown-thumbed-self has kept it alive, and flowering, all year! Wish me luck on keeping 3 of them alive this year...

Next it was a fun family outing to a local historical farm. It was baby animal day, which always makes it fun. Here they are learning how to pump water:

And chase the sheep...

And a fun horse wagon ride...

The only down side was the massive gnat invasion. I spent the nature walk with Starshine's coat tied around my head while constantly fanning myself to keep them out of my eyes and ears. Bummer I don't have a picture of that to post :)

For dinner, M&M Dad served a lovely dinner of steak and roasted vegetables that was WAY better than the pricey steakhouse dinner I had for work the previous week. And for dessert, there were delicious chocolate covered strawberries. M&M Dad was a shining superstar of an awesome husband helping the girls make the day special for me.

The funniest part was Jr. Princess must have said at least 10 times over the course of the day, "see Mom, I'm doing this with a positive attitude!" They sure did, and it was a great day.

Thanks awesome family!

Jr. Princess the track star

Today was the 5k at my work, an event the whole family looks forward to. This year, Grandma and Grandpa M were visiting, so M&M Dad and I could each run with no stroller -awesome. So, while M&M Dad and I struggled though the high winds, the girls got to play on the superjumps and cheer us on as we looped by them. M&M Dad, of course is super fast compared to me, so he nicely backtracked after his finish to find me and encourage me to the finish line.

Then it was time for the kid races. Starshine ran in the 5-8 year old bracket, and did great. Here she is in her super fast form keeping up with the boys.

We're not sure of the distance, but we think a little less than a 1/4 mile. She finished strong, up with the fast kids. She's looking forward to being one of the oldest in her age group next year.

Then it was time for Jr. Princess's 4 and under race. They make this considerably shorter so the cute little toddlers have a chance. The start line is always a zoo of hovering parents, but we did our best to position her to towards the front, and then head on down the course for photos and cheering. Well, at the "Go" she weaved around some adults, streaked out of the crowd, and never looked back! Check her out leading the pack down the stretch to her first victory!

Seriously - she was super fast! Here she is on stage receiving her 1st place medal.

She wore that medal all day until bathtime. Great job Jr. Princess! Now she just has to start training for distance running as she'll have to move up with the big kids next year and race with Starshine!