2016 Vacation – Day 2, Part 1
We had breakfast at the hotel before heading to the Iowa Children’s Museum. The kids had a blast with airplanes, creative play, and engineering. Great suggestion from my friend Steph!
Tag: vacation
2016 Vacation – Day 1
Today we left for a long weekend family vacation – something we have not done in a long time (with just our immediate family.) A friend of ours (Shecklet #3’s godfather) lives in St. Louis and we haven’t seen him in 4 1/2 years. The timing finally worked for us to make a trip down to see him. We decided to make a stop in Iowa City overnight so the kids could swim and visit the children’s museum tomorrow. We’re all looking forward to getting out of town and having some fun!
Ninja Shecklets
The boys are off of school this week. In between mini study sessions we are doing things like this: 
Christmas #2
We spent Christmas morning & afternoon at home. It was so nice to start the day at a relaxing pace.
Cars in “snow”
Thank you Pinterest…specifically frugalfun4boys.com
Shaving cream and Hotwheels. We can’t go outside, so we’re pretending we are playing in the snow.
Little #3 thinks it “smells like man!”
Morning art
Little #1 and Little #2 have an art fair coming up at school next month. They decided they wanted to paint pictures with watercolor paints. They sketched their pictures and then painted. It is so fun to see their imaginations at work.
Not to be left out, Little #3 had her turn with finger paints and water colors.
Christmas Day 2013
The Littles got up filled with excitement this morning! They went downstairs and quickly found their stockings filled with an assortment of stocking stuffers and new pj’s. Once Jake and I came downstairs they started handing out gifts – finding the ones they picked out for me and begging me to open them. My heart melted. They didn’t want to open THEIR gifts, they wanted me to open mine. (I told them I was excited to see what they picked out for me, but did convince them to open some of their gifts first.) When I finally opened my presents, I found that once again, they each picked out something that was extremely thoughtful. Little #1 knows I love elephants, so he chose an elephant calendar for my office wall. Little #2 overheard that my hand mixer had seen better days, so he selected an amazing replacement one for me. (I opened his present a day early because (1) he couldn’t contain his excitement and (2) he wanted me to use it for mixing up the batter for the cookies we made on Christmas Eve morning. Little #3 apparently made a bee-line for the nail polish at Target when she went shopping with her dad and selected two nail polishes. (She’s big in to having me paint her nails and then wants to paint mine.) Little #4’s gift was a set of four mini-spatulas, which I have been secretly hoping would show up in my kitchen. Four wonderful, thoughtful presents from my four Littles.
The gifts the Littles received were theme based this year. I had heard about the idea of giving kids something they need, something they want, something to read, and we added giving them something to share among the four of them. I wrapped each theme in similar paper and the kids took turns opening their themed gift. I thought it worked quite well and would like to use the same idea next year.
After quiet/naptime, we loaded up the truck and headed for Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Everyone was home for the afternoon/evening. We had dinner as a family and then took a few group photos before opening presents.
It started with two:
Two became seven:
Add six more:
And it gets crazy!
The kids of course, thoroughly enjoyed opening their gifts. Little #4 was delighted to play with the paper and boxes.
Christmas Eve baking
Nana and Papa are coming over tonight after we all go to mass. The Shecklets are baking Papa’s favorite gumdrop cookies for dessert. (Great Grandma Fran’s recipe.)
Christmas present dreaming
Paging through the Fleet Farm Christmas flyer on a rainy October, yes October, day. Guess Santa will need to keep his ears perked from here on out.
Ingrid’s 1st trip to FL
My baby girl and I had our first girls’ weekend in FL. We had an early flight out on Friday morning and spent the weekend with Lois & Kathi. They have been patiently waiting to meet our little miss. This past weekend was extra special because Lois celebrated her 96th birthday on Saturday. I’m so happy we were able to be with her on her special day. She has known me since I was 4 days old and has loved me like a granddaughter. I am so thankful for her!
No trip to the Sunshine State would be complete without a trip to the beach. Ingrid wasn’t too fond of the water or the sand. I’m sure that will change in time. It was a wonderful weekend spent with fantastic ladies! I can’t wait to do it again!
