Spring Break 2018

Oh Spring Break, I love you. You are my favorite vacation. Fall Break is early in the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas Breaks are crazy busy and Summer Break is so long that I expect to accomplish something. But during Spring Break, all I want to do is rest enough that I can make it through the rest of the year.

Saturday--the girls and I went to Target and the Dollar Store. I convinced them that the Dollar Store is the best place to buy makeup. Elsa had hours of theater and I can't remember what the rest of us did. Maybe I went grocery shopping?

Sunday--I didn't feel well, so I sat in the recliner and watched 3 (or 4?) hours of Fixer Upper without even moving from my chair.

Monday--we watched the 1960 version of Little Shop of Horrors (and realized that we preferred the Norht Star version) and cleaned out closets and drawers. The girls spent part of the afternoon with my parents and I took some clothes to the City Mission. I met some friends at Mazatlan. Anna lost her first tooth! (She pulled it herself.)

Tuesday--We ran some errands to get supplies for a sleepover tonight (slime ingredients, new food coloring for cupcake frosting, the good microwave popcorn, a Redbox). After lunch we met Stephanie and her crew at the mall for a quick shopping trip (in which I still managed to spend a serious chunk of change) and then Elsa's friend came over for the sleepover.

Wednesday--Elsa and Norah fiddled around in the morning. We had a picnic lunch at Holmes Park. I tried to get the girls to walk around (some resistance) and feed the ducks (total resistance). There were some *slight* disagreements about what to do, so we split up. Anna and I headed to Lost in Fun for a bit and Elsa went to Grandma's. Late in the afternoon, we met Grandma at the mall and bought Anna's birthday tennis shoes. I had bells and the girls went to their grandparents' for a while.

American Ninja Warriors climbing the wall!

I think the instructions were "Lean in, like you love your sister."

Anna said "This is my last time in the ball pit.I'll be too old the next time we come." (5 is the oldest age in the ball pit. 😞)

Thursday--We watched Wonder on Redbox, ran some quick errands and ate some lunch at home. Elsa was DYING to use the nail gift cards to get her nails done, so we headed there. By the time our nails were done, we had enough time to do something fun. In a not-at-all-stunning redo of the rest of the week, we 1) couldn't agree on what to do, 2) the girls wanted to do anything that involved spending money, 3) I wanted to try to not spend a lot of money and 4) once ice cream was mentioned, none of the people under the age of 10 could focus on anything else. So I played the mom card. I said that I would take them to the Dairy Store if they went to a museum first AND let me take a picture while there. My friend, Google, helped me find a free museum o East Campus and off we went.  We really enjoyed the Robert Hillestad textiles gallery on East Campus. The Dairy Store staff charmed the girls (when I read the ice cream name "I love you cherry much" the guy helping said, "I love you cherry much, too." The girls were still laughing a few hours later.) Anna lost her SECOND TOOTH THIS WEEK in her ice cream cone (of the aforementioned I love you cherry much).

#ibridedthemwithicecream

Tooth in ice cream

Tooth in hand

Friday--Groceries (Super Saver AND Aldi--woo hoo Spring Break) and a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Grandma Marlene asked us to ride around in the car with her to check out some restaurants. On the way back toward her house, we decided to get donuts at Lamar's. I asked her to go out of the parking lot and drive by the Goldenrod Bakery. There was a parking space open, so she parked, which meant we needed to get out and walk in. And you can't walk in without buying something....so we got macaroons, a delicious cookie sandwich and a lemon tart to go for Grandpa Sheppard. It's a personal best--two separate pastry/sweets purchases in under 5 minutes. The Goldenrod was SOOOO good and such a cute place to sit. It's been on my list of places to go, so it was great to get there this week. (On a side note, once we left and went to Grandma's, *some people* still ate their donuts.)

Saturday--a slow morning and lunch with the Popes at Las Margaritas. Elsa had theater, Derek napped and Anna and I fiddled around doing I'm-not-sure-what.

Today I did some school work (but I feel like I've finally got my head wrapped around all the computer things I've been working on for the last two years). Derek and the girls are writing books with the pictures they find in the ads and Murphy is just being his cat self. (He got out one day this week and promptly turned around and walked back in. We take that as a sign he is growing up.)