April

Even after spring break, the rest of April was full of events!  Sof had Moms and Muffins at her school.  Most of us refer to it as Mom’s with muffin tops because there are no moms eating muffins at this event.  The moms are drinking coffee while the kids are eating muffins that we had to get up early to get there for. 

Opening day for baseball was a cold, rainy day, but spirit day at school inspired us to buy some Tigers gear and my girl looked mighty cute.

We have a cleaning lady that comes every two weeks.  It’s a luxury I love and don’t take lightly.  If you don’t believe me just come to my house the night before.  This is not a new occurrence at our house, we have had the same cleaning lady for almost 20 years.  The night before I say “Get the house Darlene ready”.  If you leave a pair of shoes by the door I will throw them out.  I tell you this so you can appreciate the following picture.  It was the morning of cleaning day and Mark was making his breakfast.  He set his knife on the counter and I said, “If you leave that knife there I will kill you with it while you sleep.”  He promptly put it away, but…

 

Sof continued with her Squishy obsession. 

Our cheer gym announced that they are joining forces with the Stingrays which is a well known and respected name in the industry.  It’s the same place, the same coaches, and the same families, but we’re excited to be representing the Stingrays! 

Sof was so excited she wore her new t-shirt to school the next day!  I happened to be helping at milage club that day so I was able to get a pic of Sof and buddy Victoria. 

I took the ring that Grandma Jackie gave me for Christmas(that was a gift from her Grandma when she was 12) and had it joined together with the ring that my Great Grandma(Grandma Jackie’s mother) gave me when I was 12.  They were meant to go together!  Same shape, color, and style!

We had a great time celebrating the cheer season with a banquet!  We danced, got wax hands, and glitter tattoos!  Fun night!

Allie had a glow golf birthday party.

We also celebrated Uncle Brian’s bday.

We had some chilly days.

And some not so chilly days. 

She loves car washes.

Anne retired from teaching this year, and I got to be part of the best surprise!  For lots of reasons(pregnancy, 2 littles at home already, shoulder surgery for Dave), Anne had no thought whatsoever that Joni would be able to come to her retirement party.  Little did she know, it had been scheduled around all of the variables so that Joni could actually be there.  I picked her up at the airport in the morning, and we surprised Anne at her school in the lounge on her lunch hour.  It was such great fun!  The next part of the surprise was that there were teachers covering her room for the entire afternoon so we could take her out to lunch!  Em met us too!

That night there was party for her. 

  The next day was Kaitlyn’s birthday.  As luck would have it, Steve had to work, Olivia had a dance competition Em had to take her to, and Natalie had a birthday party for her friend.  That meant I got to spend the day with the birthday girl.  Our first stop was lunch.

Then we headed to Kroger to get dinner ingredients and for Kaitlyn to choose a cake!  They had a bin of balls and the girls started playing with them.  I swear we stood there forever and the girls both thanked me for letting them play!  Of course I ended up buying a ball for each kid and they never got played with again!

What started as a day with everyone scattered, ended with quite the party!  All for my Peanut who turned 12.

As Anne prepares to leave the teaching field, our student intern graduated and entered the field.  We’ve been so lucky the last 2 years with great young women to mentor! 

There were 3 interns at our school this year, so we celebrated them all with a luncheon!

Even without any cheer competitions, it was a full month!

Easter and Spring Break

Easter fell early this year so we had Good Friday and the whole following week off.  Mark had a couple stops to make for work on the Friday, and Sof desperately wanted to go with him.  I thought she’d lose her interest when she had to wake up early, but she was so excited!

When she got home she found one of her sweet little friends had dropped off some homemade Easter treats for her!

We got together with the cousins that night and Sof and Emmy had a little love fest.

The kids spent the evening making Squishies, and I have to admit they’ve really gotten good at it!

Lexi got invited to go to Florida with her friend Jenna.  I made both of them Easter “baskets” to take with.

We missed Lexi, but I can’t blame her for choosing sun and sand!

Meanwhile, back in Michigan…

We went to Buddy’s with the cousins and played glow golf.

Then it was Easter Sunday!  The Easter Bunny came for Sof and Adrienne.

There were easter eggs hidden for both of them.  Sof’s were a combination of squishies and money, and Adrienne’s were pure cash! 

Then we were off to K-zoo to celebrate Easter and spring bdays with Grandma Jackie.  It’s a guaranteed day without any kids activities so we always try to get in to see Grandma Jackie.

March and April have a lot of birthdays in our family so we celebrate them all together!  In addition to birthday gifts, my mom gets everyone an Easter gift too. 

Natalie talked about wanting a baby reborn forever.  I don’t think she actually thought she would get one though.  It’s a little creepy and not all that cute, but her mama loves her and takes such good care of her! 

Natalie is into pineapples this year, so everything was pineapple themed! 

Another good day celebrating!

The next day Em and I were going to the Justin Timberlake concert.  I wasn’t originally supposed to go, but Liz had an opportunity to go Florida for the break so she gave me her ticket so I could go with Em.  Concerts are not my favorite thing, I much prefer a musical!  We had a great time though and made a whole day of it!

I was struggling with what to wear, so Em and I were texting options back and forth.  At one point I had on the 40 year old mom version of what Em was wearing.  I decided to change!

I guess no matter what I put on it looks like a 40(plus some) year old mom, so in the end it doesn’t matter what I have on!

Sof got a fairy garden for Easter that she put together.  She had the most fun playing with the little fairy and furniture it came with!

Amy and I took our current intern and our last year’s intern out to dinner.

Sof and I met some of her little buddies at the arcade for lunch and some play!

To finish out the week Sof and I planned a little get away with her friend from her baby home in Russia.  We haven’t see her since we went on the Disney cruise 3 years ago.  This fact is absolutely ridiculous given that we only live 5 hours away from each other!

We met at a hotel that has a waterpark and ordered pizza in for dinner.  It was perfect to keep the kids busy and allow us mom’s to catch up!  the next day we hit up the Children’s museum and had lunch out. 

We had a fantastic time and I will never let that much time pass again!  These girls have so much in common, and I think it is so valuable for them to know someone with their same story. 

Sof and I were able to leave right from there to meet Mark at Adrienne’s college for a dance performance she had.  It’s fun to see her dancing again even if it’s just for fun!

Natalie’s birthday happened to fall on the last Saturday of break.  There were enough of her friends in town to have a party.  She chose Bounce which is Sof’s favorite place in the world so she was thrilled she got to go!  

Funny story…we were getting together at Em’s house after the party to celebrate with friends and family.  I was assigned to bring dessert for that.  Sof and I were ready early so we took off and went in search of some fun pineapple decorations and a cake to put them on.  After getting our pineapple stuff We went to Kroger to pick out a cake.  Em was standing there trying to pick out a cake for the kid party still.  She had to get the cake and still go home and pick the kids up!  Might be the only time in our lives that I’ve been more on time then her!  Luckily I was because she was able to leave and I finished up getting both cakes for our Bugger Boo’s big day!  She was totally happy with one little pineapple on her cake!

Both cakes and parties were successful!

We didn’t travel, but we sure packed a lot into our break!  Sometimes staycations are the best!