Friday Family Fun

My favorite day of the week - Friday!! The start of the weekend and time to slow down (sometimes to catch up on things too) and spend some quality time as a family.

We had the usual pizza for dinner but we did have a special dessert. I tried a new crockpot recipe for Lemon-Berry Pudding Cake. It came from a BHG Skinny Slow Cooker magazine. It was easy to throw together and turned out to be a delicious, light dessert.

Once the girls had their bath and were in the pajamas ready for bed we put together a new Dora puzzle. Both girls have really been into their puzzles lately. They were putting most of the old ones together so quick it was not a challenge anymore so I figured it was time to pick up some new puzzles.This new Dora puzzle proved to be more challenging. It is a lenticular puzzle so the pictures on the pieces change depending on the angle of which you are looking at them. The girls giggled as they tried to fit changing pieces together.

I also splurged and bought a new board game for us to play. This is not one I ever owned growing up but I can remember playing it at a friend's house. "Hi, Ho, Cherry-Oh!" The girls really enjoyed this game too. It was not too simple for Gabrielle to not still have fun playing but was a perfect game for Samantha to play with very little help.

The first round of the game went really quickly but the second round proved to be a bit of a marathon. Ed won the second round fairly quick but in our house we typically play until everyone has reached the finish line. That left us three girls left to play. It is amazing how many times the spinner will land on the bird and dog and spilled bucket! We all eventually agreed it was time to choose a new game as none of us were close to filling our buckets with cherries.

Poor Ed. The next game the girls chose was our Play-doh game. Definitely not his favorite.

But he was a pretty good sport about it. You create your own game piece out of play-doh and have the opportunity to smash your opponents game piece during the game. So you can probably see why the girls love this game but Ed not so much!

We finished the late night with a new bedtime story "The Goodnight Train" by June Sobel. Very cute book.

And then it was off to bed for all of us!

The Band's Back Together!!

Tonight was our family night. It was a little cold and rainy and dreary and half the family was still recovering from being sick all week - myself included. But we made the best of it. We were all well enough to go out for dinner (family night is always more enjoyable when I don't have to cook dinner and then clean up afterwards!). After dinner Gabrielle wanted to play games. We are a divided household where this is concerned because I LOVE board games but Ed is not a huge fan unless there is some serious competition happening. The compromise was to play Band Hero on the Wii.

It had been a long while since we have played the Wii and Band Hero. Getting everything ready took some time. Ed got out the equipment, dusted it all off and replaced the batteries in all the controllers while I got the girls ready for bed. Finally we were ready to jam.

Watching us play this game as a family has to be hilarious (listening to us play this game is probably a little painful for the ears however!). Even on the beginners mode it is a bit above the girls' capabilities. But they LOVE to sing and can get away with making up their own lyrics to whatever song Ed chooses to play. And they certainly LOVE banging away at the drums.

Guilty Pleasures

For many of us, this was a long weekend. For me, it was a long weekend full of guilty pleasures (GP). No worries - nothing too scandalous.

Friday was our family night. The girls had a play date directly after picking Gabrielle up from school. It made for a fun, but exhausting day. Ed also had a long, exhausting day at work so we kept our family fun night as laid back as we could get away with. After going out for pizza (GP #1), we came home, changed into our pajamas and all snuggled up in Mommy & Daddy's bed for a movie (GP #2). Earlier on Friday I had dvr'd (what in the world would I do without my dvr!!) Disney's Robin Hood. This is Ed's favorite Disney movie and the girls had never seen it. They both really enjoyed it and in fact have been playing Robin hood ever since.

Saturday it was COLD! Samantha and I are both struggling to not let colds take over which seemed like a good excuse to not leave the house for any reason. ツ . Ed had another long day of work. The girls and I had already eaten dinner by the time he got home. While he was eating I gave the girls a bath and got them ready for bed. I then left them in Daddy's trusty hands for bedtime and I headed out to do some much needed grocery shopping solo (GP #3). It was heavenly to walk at my own pace, stroll around and browse the Super Target aisles while sipping on some Starbucks (GP #4). I decided to try out a new beverage. It was late and I did not necessarily need the caffeine so I opted for an unsweetened Green Tea. To be honest, I really did not think I would like it. I am a southern girl who loves her sweet tea. But the unsweetened green tea had been suggested by someone as way to still enjoy Starbucks without the high calorie coffee drinks. So what the heck, I gave it a try and surprisingly, I really enjoyed it! Now, will this unsweetened green tea replace my skinny mochas or my seasonal pumpkin spice lattes? Not a chance, but life is all about choices and balance, and the unsweetened green tea will be a nice, healthier alternative from time to time.

I came home to a quiet house. The girls were sound asleep and Ed was just about there himself. After putting the groceries away, I sat myself on the couch in front of the television and watched the Miss America Pageant (GP #5) while prepping my lesson and crafts for Sunday school. I can remember watching Miss America and Miss USA and even Miss Universe growing up and I still love watching those pageants just as much now! I love the talent part of the show, which I think they did away with broadcasting for a few years and I am so glad they brought it back, and I love the beautiful gowns. Maybe one day I'll have a reason to wear a glittery, sparkly gown and maybe even a tiara? LOL! 

Sunday was another relaxing day. We had church in the morning and then spent the rest of the day as a day of rest. I wish every Sunday could be like this one but unfortunately that is rarely the case. I was able to read the majority of the afternoon. For dinner we had frozen pizza (GP #6) and I watched the Live from the Red Carpet of the Golden Globes (GP #7). More gorgeous gowns!! And few "what in the world were they thinking wearing that???" Ha!!

Ed was back at work today but Gabrielle did not have school. I had promised Gabrielle we would do something fun - go see Disney's Beauty & the Beast in 3D at the theater. When I looked online and realized the matinee was going to cost us $27.50 I knew I had to change plans. I tried to explain to Gabrielle why but she instantly starting crying. I decided it was well worth the $27.50 to keep my promise and not break my little girl's heart. I did learn a valuable lesson however: Do NOT make any promises to my children without finding out all the details first!! After tickets, popcorn, candy and Sprites (GP #8) our afternoon outing cost us $36!! But it ended up being worth it. I wish I could have taken pictures of my girls while in the theater because they were just about the cutest little things ever. Gabrielle was sitting all prim and proper on the edge of her seat, with her little tray of movie goodies in her lap and her 3D glasses resting on the tip of her nose. She slowly enjoyed her treats, one at a time, being sure to not spill anything or make a mess. On the other side of me was Samantha, sitting diagonal in her seat, completely stretched out and laid back, feet propped on the armrest, shoveling popcorn and skittles in her mouth by the handful. She said her glasses were sunglasses and since we weren't outside in the sun there was no reason to wear them. Ha! The girls loved the movie and it was definitely a special treat for the three of us. We did see a few previews that looked promising, Dr. Seuss's The Lorax being the favorite for both girls, also in 3D. Since they did so well this afternoon I think we might have to make a point to see The Lorax as a family in March. 

And that wraps up my weekend of guilty pleasures.

Oh, I finally got my hair cut on Thursday - I had not even had a trim since September and my hair was out of control!! I wanted something different without going drastic so I opted for bangs. What do you think?

 

To be honest, my first reaction was "Oh well, guess I'll be wearing a lot of barrettes and bobby pins until these grow out!!". It's amazing how different a person can look by just adding bangs. I have not had bangs since, oh, I'd say 8th grade. It had been a while and I was a little in shock at first. But now the look has grown on me and I actually really like them. The above pictures are from the day of my haircut which is why my hair is exceptionally straight. I never get it that straight myself!! But I think I like the bangs even more when I wear it a little more naturally, with some curl and body to the rest of my hair. Now I'm thinking "Oh great, guess I'll be going in to have my bangs trimmed every three weeks!" Ha ha ha!

Family Friday Fun

Yesterday we had an entire day of Family Friday Fun. It made for a long, exhausting day but definitely one I think the girls will remember for a long time (I know I will).

The morning began with a trip to Marbles Kid Museum in downtown Raleigh. This was a field trip event with Gabrielle's school. Marbles Kid Museum is an extremely fun place where kids can play and explore while learning. There are giant games like Connect Four and Chess, giant Lego's, a place to build and race your own car, art centers, a grocery store, kitchen, vet and pet grooming center and even a giant piggy bank that once full will drop your "$avings" of plastic balls down on all the kids! And there is even more - way too much to include in a single blog post. It is always a great place to visit - yesterday was no exception.

Gabrielle found her best friend from her class a few minutes after we got there. The two girls wanted to hang out together all morning.

After a couple of hours we were all getting hungry. A quick exit through the gift shop (why do I always get suckered into visiting the gift shop??), I decided to find a nice park to have our picnic lunch. If I had brought one of our picnic blankets we would have tried out one of the parks downtown but I was not that prepared. Instead I decided to try to find a park I used to frequent when I was a nanny of three little girls in my younger days (I sure wish I had the energy and patience now that I had then - life would be so much less stressful!). After driving in what seemed like circles I finally found the park. Like so much of Raleigh, this little park has changed dramatically since my days of actually living in Raleigh. But it definitely had changed for the better with nice paved walkways, a sheltered picnic area and new play equipment. We ate our picnic lunch consisting of the standard PBJ, applesauce, goldfish and juice boxes and then explored the play area for a while.

The girls on a park bench with their new "friends" from Marbles Gift Shop.

The girls were having a blast and the weather was near perfect but it we had to get going so I could get all of our "stuff" together for our evening at the N.C. State Fair. Ed was going to be home from work at 4:00 and wanted us ready to leave when he arrived.

We did the whole park & ride routine to get to the fair. It was much quicker and less stressful than driving and parking (and paying who knows how much to park) ourselves near the fair. Gabrielle was a little nervous about riding the CAT bus but only because she thought it was some sort of fair ride. Once we got going she said "It's just like riding in a car!!" I had to laugh. She is definitely not a fan of any type of amusement ride. She had made me laugh earlier while in line to get our bus tickets. Gabrielle saw one of the teachers from her preschool and her shocked reaction to seeing a teacher outside of school always cracks me up. Last year I had to explain to her that teachers don't live at school - they actually have homes and families of their own. She is still not 100% convinced.

The weather yesterday was absolutely perfect fair weather. At a cool 74 degrees it was not too hot, not too cold, but just the perfect cool fall fair weather.

First on our fair to-do's was getting dinner. Gabrielle and I shared a giant delicious turkey leg. It was so good! Even with Ed helping us out, we still couldn't finish it off. Samantha had a hot dog for dinner (sounds pretty ordinary but it looked like an exceptionally tasty hot dog) and Ed had his traditional fair food, a sausage with peppers and onions sandwich.

This is the only photo we took at the fair. We were too busy enjoying the sights and time together to think about getting the camera out. Pictures are great to have but sometimes just being in and enjoying the moments are more important.

We walked through all the buildings to see the livestock - cows, sheep, pigs. We even saw a bunch of different rabbit breeds. I am now trying to convince Ed to let us have a cute little pet rabbit. I'm fairly certain I will be totally unsuccessful. We saw the ginormous prize winning pumpkin and watermelon. The watermelon, which was a new state record, was only 9 lbs. shy of setting a new world record. Mighty impressive! We attempted to browse through the Village of Yesteryear, definitely one of my favorite fair exhibits, but that was later in the evening and the girls were getting restless so we did not get to walk through it all.

Gabrielle was obsessed with winning a prize therefore we had no choice but to try our hand at the fair games. We chose the kiddieland games to be guaranteed a prize. Nothing is worse than not winning a game and having your kids cry and scream about not getting a prize. And at least one of our kids definitely has that kind of personality. After a couple of games the girls each had a couple of prizes and were happy as clams.

The girls with some of their fair prizes, taken this morning. I'm not sure how the smallest child ended up with the biggest prize. She kept hitting people with the giant crayon (that she actually thought was a real, working crayon!) while we were waiting for the bus home.

What to do next but more fair food of course. Roasted corn, ice cream, caramel apple with sprinkles, kettle corn - is your mouth watering yet? Or maybe your stomach is turning with a sick feeling?? Ha! I actually feel like we stayed fairly "healthy" with our food choices, considering we were at the fair. I would not dare touch a deep fried Twinkie or Oreo or whatever the new deep fried craze is this year. Gross! But to each his own I suppose. We decidedly reached our junk food limit for a while. We topped off the evening with some Lingg hot apple cider and decided to call it a night.

A quick bus ride back to our car, a change into pajamas for the girls and we were headed for home. A little over half way home I was a little concerned by the chattiness of our girls. "Certainly they are going to fall asleep on the way home" was the thought racing through my mind. It had been a very full, very busy, very long day and Ed and I were both exhausted. The thought of getting home at 10:00 pm and still having to go through the whole bedtime routine stressed me out! Alas, not more than 10 minutes away from home sweet home we finally, thankfully, praise the good Lord, had two sleeping girls in the backseat.

This morning the girls slept in, Gabrielle sleeping until 8:30 and Samantha just after 9:00 am. If only I could make every Saturday "Sleep In Saturday", then all weekends would be closer to perfection!