Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Elizabeth's Birthday Weekend


This weekend was simply crazy.....crazy fun! The weekend after each mini's birthday is declared Birthday Weekend. The birthday mini gets to decide what they'd like to do for the weekend. The boys usually choose Adventureland or a pool, but Elizabeth likes to keep us guessing. This year she chose to go to a sprint car race in Knoxville, Iowa.

Not only did we enjoy the races, but we had some more action throughout the weekend. On Friday night, Elizabeth spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. We treated the boys to a movie night with their favorite Mexican take out.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to volunteer at the Des Moines Children's Museum 1st Birthday celebration. It was such a crazy morning, but oh so fun! The Museum had tons of special activities going on throughout the day. My favorite were the clay leaves the kids got to make. The leaves will be put onto an art piece that will be on display in the permanent Museum location (when it opens).

The above is a sample as to what the final art piece will look like at the Museum.


The minis had such a blast making their leaves. We're definitely doing something similar at daycare with clay this summer.




The moment after I managed to easily give instructions over 50 plus people. Sometimes I forgot how loud of a voice I have....

A funny moment in the day that made me realize how small this world really is: Elizabeth (and the boys) handed out invites to their birthday party to kids at school. Immediately I had a response from Elizabeth's friend Emma that she would be attending. Oddly enough, Emma and her family were at the Museum on Saturday and I found out that I knew the family from previous volunteering experiences.

Birthday party games and cake was the highlight that ended our morning/early afternoon at the Museum.


We had to have a short rest Saturday afternoon (me included) and ran through a McDonald's on our way down to Knoxville. There's not much I can eat at McDonald's, but I can never pass up McD's french fries.



We've been to the sprint car races once in Knoxville and the minis loved the experience. Unfortunately, busy weekends throughout the racing season work against us, but this time it worked out well. It was a long night, but we all enjoyed ourselves. The BEST part of the night came at the very end when Elizabeth got to sit in one of the race cars thanks to a high school friend who called in a favor! How cool is that!!??!! She's been talking about it nonstop since then and can't wait to go back to the races. We'll definitely be going again!

Conversations with ear plugs in can be interesting....






I love the variety this girl provides: cheering on the drivers as she does cheers and dance moves in the stands. 










Our Sunday looked like this: a late breakfast at Star Bar, a few small errands, placing a grocery order, and naps while it rained. It was a perfect rainy Sunday Funday.


Games of Tic Tac Toe and sneaking sips of coffee while we waited for our food.



My favorite part of having the minis home over the summer is that they get sooo excited about the daycare activities that they take pride in helping deep clean each Sunday night and prepping for the week ahead. While I always have them help out, I don't have to pull teeth to get them to do it during the summers. During the school year, when they're not able to enjoy daycare's activities, is when it's a struggle. 



These busy weekends (and weekdays) have sure caught up with me, but I sure wouldn't change them for anything.