Forgotten Spring: A hodgepodge of Stuff from months and months ago

It's August already and time has gotten away from us.  Just yesterday I found myself deleting pictures off my phone and was disappointed that I never captured the events surrounding these.  Springtime (and most of the summer for that matter) disappeared so quickly in the midst of our Disney Trip, and there were so many little moments that I want to touch on - we'll see what I remember now!

Back in March, on St. Patty's day to be exact, we were invited to a good friend's get-together.  She is a true Irishwoman who takes off when the 17th falls on a weekday to party it up and go to the bars and celebrate Donegal-style.  In fact, Gobbles spent a little time visiting her back on his very first St. Patty's day as well.  But back to this one, we dressed up the kids (and the princess Poozers who was down for a visit) and headed over.  We planned on staying a few hours and ended up staying all day, downing Guiness and Irish coffee and scone and many other Irish goodies.  It's probably the first day I can remember where the kids spent all day at a mostly adult party with the limited toys we brought and no familiar family around (the Poozers left after lunch).  It was refreshing to see both kids survive with very little meltdown and have a lot of fun just socializing.  The Lobster took a nice nap on one of my friends and Gobbles sat at the bar (like I said, my friend is a true Irishwoman) with his dad and the rest of the boys feeling all grown up.


Finally all the kids coordinated and smiling!



Wow mom, your friend has the coolest shoes!

 

And the best hat!

Pile o' Irish kids

Then there was the multicultural night at the kids' school.  They do this every year - each classroom focuses on a different region and provides crafts, snacks, and music related to the culture of that region.  This year, the Lobster had Brazil and Gobbles had Canada.  As typical, I signed up to make food for both of them because, well, that's what I like to do.  I made Brigadeiros for the first time and I was all pumped up and proud.  Then it came time to make the maple candy for Gobbles' class and I had a FAIL. Big Time.  Of course I didn't start making either dish until the night before the kids needed them, so whoops.   Anyway, the morning the food was to be handed in I got up early to check the maple candies, knowing they wouldn't be set.  But, thanks to the magic of google, I was able to use the remaining maple syrup we had to make maple sugar cookies, which actually turned out pretty yummy.  I pulled the last batch out of the oven just as hubs was bringing the kids downstairs for breakfast.  That night as the kids were doing the crafts and eating the treats in the other rooms, I overheard the murmuring of the chocolate treats in the First Step Room and the maple cookies in Preschool 1 and smiled satisfied to myself, I did a-ok.  The best part of that night though wasn't really multicultural at all - it was the crazy music man (who looks a little disheveled / I wouldn't trust him alone with my kids).  The set him up to make the kids dance off all the sugar they took in.  We sat with the other parents and laughed about our kids' silliness and just enjoyed watching them in their own social element.

Yes we will eat and craft all night long!

until the music starts - then it's dancin' time!

We also enjoyed plenty of time exploring outside, taking trips to the playground, letting Gobbles help with yardwork, and we made one trip to the zoo.  During hubs' busy time at work just before Easter, I was determined to get the kids' picture taken with the bunny so I took them on a "date".  Shockingly, Gobbles was all for seeing the Easter Bunny. The mall we went to was empty so there wasn't even really time for the Lobster to react.  We got a few snaps in and she turned around to see who's lap she was sitting on.  That's when she lost it.  To soften the trauma of sitting on a giant bunny, I took them over to the little dollar rides for entertainment.  Then I went on my first ever solo dinner date with the kiddies, to Friendly's.  It was an empowering moment for me, getting through a whole waitress-served meal with two kids with nary a tear.  I think the promise of ice cream helped, a lot. 

Happy Springtime!

We've got bubbles and chairs and chalk, we have it all!!

Frisbees make good seats!

They make good hats too!

Just hanging in the cul-de-sac with the crew

Here cannoli, here's some crackers!

Why can't I hang on the bars?

Endless sandbox

Different park, different day - but we love it!

I'm walkin' on air!

Lemme get my toolbox to help Daddy cut down this tree!

Dad, let's work together to put everything in the back of the yard

And we planted herbs! 

I LOVE the dinosaurs.  wait, they're not here?

C'mon, you got a pic!

See, this was just fine!

I'll even give you a smile on the plane!

Um, Gobbles I'll have some of yours please!

Easter was a fun little family occasion, the kids enjoyed finding the eggs hidden throughout the house, eating candy for breakfast, and going to church.  Well not so much the last part, mostly because, even though we were in the kids' area in the very last row, we still had to endure dirty looks the entire mass from a snooty pregnant girl in front of us.  At one point she even turned to her noballs husband and loudly whispered our kid will NOT be like that!  The killer is that there was no crying, no tantrums, just some giggles and babbles coming from my then 14 month old.  I so wanted to pull the "just you wait" card, but I just sat smugly knowing with an attitude like that just what a brat she will have.  Besides, we were in church, there's no need to start that.  If she was a devout attendee she would have been there early enough to get a seat in the main part. But I digress.  We spent Easter afternoon at my sister's for a nice dinner and more egg hunts and baskets for the kids from my family and sister's in-laws.  Lucky lucky kids!

SMASH the eggs!

Mommy, why won't you let any of the dye cups near the lobster?

Whaddya lookin at?  Not like we're eating the peeps for breakfast!

Cheese!

THROW the eggs!

Hey Jesse - look at my dress!

I could dance all day with my grandpop!

Sometime in April we hosted a "Dog Party" at Gobbles' request.  We had been reading Go, Dog, Go for quite sometime (see the video here) and every time the story ended at a Dog Party, he asked, Mom, can Cannoli and Spoons have a dog party?  Every. Single. Time.  From like January to April.  So finally, we ran out of excuses and were like, fine, we know enough dogs.  So we invited all our friends with dogs to come hang out on a Saturday afternoon.  Gobbles and I spent the day before making a doggie cake (basically a carrot cake without the sugar with cream cheese on top. gross), and doggie treats (peanut butter, wheat flour, and some tasteless stuff, even grosser).  He was thrilled to serve it to all of the puppy friends who came, while the humans just had some burgers and sausage and made sure the dogs behaved.  I love that my little buddy loves the hosting thing like I do, and it cracked me up that about a week later he asked again about a dog party.  Maybe another time buddy....

So proud of this cake.. too bad it tastes like DOG FOOD!

Zorro is my favorite dog!

Hey (not so) Lil Buddy!  Nice shades!

Excuse me, are you trying to copy my little flower on the shoulder look?

Sand for everyone!

Let them eat cake!

This is what happens when my hair thing breaks...

Kings for the day - forget the dogs!

There was also the time I had to go to Arizona for work, the first multi-night trip since 2010.  By day three I was a little sentimental and started blogging on my phone.  Warning - major stream of consciousness:  Momcation!  I miss my kids. I haven't slept. I'm a little buzzed from the two local "scotch ales" I had downstairs at the hotel restaurant, alongside canned tomato soup that they tried to pass off as their own and some pizza that, although I ate most of it, was a total disappointment. It further sealed my assumption that there is no good pizza west of Chicago. I've had it in Seattle, Boise, Sanfran, and now Phoenix, and nothing comes close to east coast style.  I'm laying in bed at 7:30 local time munching on the chocolate chip cookies I finagled from the front desk, and it's blissful. I needed a break from the Bossman and his wife, after last night, while the authentic margaritas and tacos were great, after two nights out with my Dad's clone, I needed some me time... (I suppose I passed out at this point, got up for work the next day, etc)...And now it's the next night. 10 hours til I land and see my babies. I can't wait. I'm at the airport 5 hours ahead of my flight with nothing else to do. First I shop, selecting the best little tees I can find for my buds. And a cactus for myself for Mother's Day. Sad, perhaps, but with hubs working busytime I don't hold out much hope. Then I feast. I walk two terminals over to find a restaurant that had rave reviews. It's worth it. Two glasses of Chardonnay, some risotto and scallops, plus a bread pudding.  I'm having a conversation with the waitress on how to get rid of fruit flies. And about her college degree- she graduates next week. She was so sweet to let me stay past closing that I tip her 30%.  Some guy walks by in sweatpants, how can he wear them on a plane? Sure I dress like a scrub, but I feel like I need more of a barrier than that.  Some moron is sitting 5 seats away from me watching some baseball memorabilia thing on his phone at full volume without headphones. I shoot him dirty looks but say nothing, because I'm a wuss. The fight goes on in my head though. Ugh. I hope this buzz lasts until we board so I can pass out. I hope the people sitting middle and window to my aisle don't get up and pee during the flight, interrupting my chance of sleep. I can't wait to be clean of the airplane filth and go home, shower, and see my babies.

Downtown Pheonix

Uptown Scottsdale

Scottsdale decks out for... may?

Miss you too guys!

The travelling mom's companion

Finally, five minutes after my plane landed that Friday morning, it was time to start prepping for our mothers' day brunch that we were hosting on Sunday.  Did I mention this was another of hubs' busy times so it was up to me to do this?  But, since I love hosting, I actually enjoyed making all the food, and luckily since it was mothers' day and all, hubs had to do the cleanup while I went and played soccer! 

We're the best kitchen helpers ever!

Yes mom, I'm going to climb up on this stool all by
myself no matter how much it scares you!

Yum!

My kids love me (or we pay their teachers to make them pretend!)

My best buddy

Watch out for the 'tude

Mothers' day complete

So that was spring.  The next week, after a short stint of throwing rocks in a nearby creek, we were off to Disney and well, I've already talked about that in quite some detail.... If I'm lucky, I'll get a summertime post up before the leaves start to turn.  Someday I imagine being all caught up and just having to write a simple post about the a recent weekend.  A girl can dream, right?

Let's get all our energy out before Disney!

Who cares about the mud?

Riding on a ducky!

I don't know about you, but that was an eventful spring.
I'm pooped.