Sushi, Baby!

I've had the past 2 Fridays off as mandated furlough days - thank you budget cuts! - and, since Disneyland has been blocked out for our passes, I've had to find other ways for us to spend our days. Most of the time has been spent running errands, cleaning, etc. Basically doing boring daily minutia. Emma, however, suggested sushi for dinner the first day while we were out. So we stopped in at Sushi Mac and got us each a roll & some edamame to share. She tore it up! Ate an entire California roll and quite a bit of the edamame. She is also rather adept with the chopsticks (once they have the little pincher attachment). We had a great time. So, when she asked if we could go eat sushi again for lunch this past Friday, I was all up for it. TJ asked to come along and I told he could come if he promised to try everything because I am tired of wasting money buying him food he does not eat. He agreed and off we went. We went to Miyagis (my favorite) where I can get all you can eat for $20 and, rather than a lousy, bland, $8 kids meal for each of them, I had them split an adult bento lunch box. Everything was a hit with both kids, except the cali roll. TJ didn't care for that but it worked out fine since that is Em's fave. They both devoured the miso soup (tofu, seaweed, and broth), the salad, veggie tempura, chicken katsu, and lots and lots of edamame. I sent Karen a text message picture of TJ wielding his chopsticks and her response was, "Really? My kid? The one who flips out if I put butter on his toast will eat sushi with you?!?!?" Lol. Yep, and he loved it too! :)

Playdate at Hayden's!

Jen & Hayden invited us over for a playdate yesterday afternoon. Erin & Sophia and Erinn & Kaia came over too. The girls had a great time playing with all things Barbie and Princess before we headed outside for a while. There they had so much silly fun just running in circles, being spun around by me, climbing all over James, pushing each other on the cart, and basically just being goof balls. I love these little ladies. Emma (and I) are lucky to have such good friends.

Lil' Gymnast!

It's been about a month since she started now and Emma is LOVING her gymnastics class! She goes once a week and is learning all kinds of new balancing and tumbling moves. She especially likes the trampoline, the balance beam, and doing her back walk-overs. 2 of Emma's friends, Hayden and Gavin, have joined her class as well and she is always happy to see them every week. This past week's class happened to coincide with the Baskin Robbin's annual "31 cent scoop night" which benefits local fire departments. So after class we headed down to State Street with Jen, Charlene, and Hayden for goodies. We had a great evening!

Happy Easter 2011!!!

The Easter Bunny was pretty generous around these parts this year. :) Actually, the Easter Bunny found quite a few deals and was able to stock the baskets on the cheap! Anyway, you would have thought it was Christmas morning in this house if you had seen Emma, running into my room, hurling herself onto my bed, and asking if we could go see if the Easter Bunny had filled her basket over night. Mind you, this was at 6:10 am!!! So off we went. She was giddy with giggles at all the goodies. We had a good hour of quiet Mommy-Daughter time inspecting everything one by one before anyone else even woke up. She found a new nightie, a new book, a couple of alphabet and number workbooks, the requisite chocolate bunny and jelly beans, and the coup de gras... a brand new Rapunzel Barbie doll who sings a song and has glowing hair. Oooohhhh! Around 7:30 Karen & her kids got up and they loved their baskets too. After everything had been exclaimed over and breakfast had been eaten (hard boiled eggs and jelly beans!), it was time for church. After church we went to Tim and Jenny's house for the afternoon. Tim made a wonderful turkey dinner and we all had a great time just hanging out together.

Dying Easter Eggs!

We took some time to dye Easter eggs after dinner Saturday night. Karen had boiled them while I was at Lowes with the kids in the morning, so they were nice and cooled down by the time we were ready for them. Last year we dyed eggs over with Jenny and the kids but this was the first time the little ones have done it at home. They really enjoyed it. Even Mr. Spic and Span TJ didn't seem to mind the mess too much. Of course Emma's hands were as brightly colored as the eggs by the time she was done. Truth be told, so were mine! Those dyes are potent stuff! Well, that made it a perfect time for a bath and to get ready for bed... After all, the Easter Bunny only visits and fills the baskets of good little boys and girls who are fast asleep!

Birdhouses at Lowes

We spent Saturday morning at Lowes again. This week the kids got to make wooden birdhouses. The cute thing is that they only have 3 of the 4 sides as solid wood. The back only has a top & bottom brace but is hollow in the middle and it has suction cups to attach it to a window. The idea is that the kiddies will be able to watch from inside the window and see into the birdhouse and the birds that are living there. Cute idea, and we hung them up on the window already, but have yet to see any new neighbors move in...

Easter Bunny Pictures!

I took the kids out to the Galleria at Tyler this past week to visit the Easter Bunny. I kind of think the bunny is a little cracked out looking with his flourescent pink fuzzy cheeks... but my friend manages the photo booth, so I got all the pictures for free. I can overlook some scariness on the bunny for a good deal on freebee photos like this!

Easter Playdate/ Cars Event!

Yesterday we had an Easter Playdate and I decided to combine it with our Juicyjuice Cars Sampling event. Everyone had a wonderful time! The kids all enjoyed playing dress up and wearing the Lightning McQueen costume. We dyed eggs, had an egg hunt, enjoyed cupcakes, strawberries, chips, all kinds of goodies and, of course, plenty of Juicyjuice! The bounce house was a big hit as well. After everything was cleaned up, Erinn and Kaia invited Emma, TJ, and I to dinner too. We had a great evening visiting with our friends!

Happy 4th Birthday Jack!

Our friend Jack turned 4 years old this weekend. He had a pool party at his house. We had a great time! The weather was really warm which worked out perfectly for the water play and it was just a fun afternoon. It turns out that Jack's mom, Amy, and I went to high school together but were a couple years apart and didn't know each other then. But now, through our kids, we have met up again. Isn't it funny how things work out?

More Princess Photos!!!

Here are a few more photos and a video clip from our afternoon at Kimberly Crest, courtesy of Erin & Jen... they got some cute shots, huh? :)

Princesses at the Castle - Friend Photos!

Some photos of Emma with her BFFs, Hayden and Sophia... I think we were also able to catch Samantha in one of the shots too. Emma was very excited to go to yet another activity with the OGC and spotting Samantha there as well was just an extra special bonus! Emma loves her friends. :)