What A Weekend!

This weekend was one that made me (repeatedly!) ask myself, "Could this get any better?"

Friday night Graden and I drove to Forrest City, IA (about 5 hrs from Lee's Summit) and stayed the night at his friend, Mike's house. We got up early Saturday morning (5:15am) and headed to St. Louis Park, MN for a fun filled (well, fishing for the boys!) weekend!

We got to the hotel, where our BFFs Chris and Jennifer, had arrived the day before. The boys immediately headed out for a day of fishing ... while Jennifer and I planned the details of the weekend. We decided we'd just play it by ear on Saturday and on Sunday we'd meet our friend, Kim, at the Mall of America.

In anticipation of indulging in empty calories (mostly in the form of margaritas and the like!) we started the day off with some time on the treadmill and eliptical. After our workout, we headed back to the room, cleaned up and decided to indulge in the aforementioned margartias at a local Mexican restaurant! We enjoyed a great lunch, a great margarita .... and great company! We headed back to our room and then decided that a nap was in order!!

After we woke up from our nap, we headed across the street to TGIFridays and enjoyed a few beverages. Feeling "warm and fuzzy" we thought that a nice manicure and pedicure would top the afternoon off quite nicely! Across from our hotel we a little strip mall with a nail shoppe! Perfect!

By the time we were done with our mani/pedi the boys had returned from their day of fishing and were ready for dinner! Graden had seen a restaurant close by, "Alaska", so we tried it out. It was delicious! ... a great night out with great friends. It was much later that the boys are used to staying out when fishing. We were bad influences!

The next morning, Sunday, the boys went fishing again and Jennifer and I slept in a bit ... then headed to the Mall of America to spend time with our friend Kim, and her daughter Riley. As always, it was great (and entertaining!) to see Kim! Never a dull moment when we're together! We spent less than 3 hours at the mall ... we just didn't have "it" in us to do much shopping. It's so huge, it is overwhelming, really.

After we were done shopping, Jennifer and I headed back to our hotel ... for a nap, of course! After we woke from our beauty sleep ... we headed to TGIFridays for some more beverages and snacks! The boys returned about 7pm and were ready to eat. They had their fill of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the past two days! We kept it a bit more simple Sunday night ... heading to a sports bar near by. Again, the girls kept the boys up way past their fishing bedtimes! We called it a night about 10:00 and Chris and Jen headed to TGIFriday's for a few drinks.

Monday came all too quick! The boys went out for one more fishing jaunt and Jen and I spent the morning being lazy ... but spent some time after checkout at a local sports bar and enjoyed our last few hours together! ... and found a new fun drink: Scooby Snack!

We left St Louis Park, MN about 4:00 and started our 7 hour drive home ... making it a late night, but well worth it!

What a busy day!

Dayne and I - along with one of her friends, Parker - enjoyed a bike ride around Longview Lake this evening!

We started off the trip with Kylie, but she fell asleep "because the music made her" ... so we brought her home. I didn't think that was a good sign!

Dayne as "Betty Grable"

One of Dayne's final projects was to portray a famous Missourian. She chose Betty Grable.

Dayne and her classmates each dressed up as their character and each had a "play" button for their fellow students (and parents!) to listen to their character's story.

Dayne was very good! She was confident and spoke loud!

4th Grade Talent Show

This morning was Dayne's school talent show! This was the 2nd year in a row that she participated!

This year she partnered with her friends Lauren and Parker to sing and dance to Miley Cyrus' "Fly on the Wall".

It was a perfect:

Morning:

Dad, Dayne and I went on a 4 mile bike ride this morning at a lake just a few minutes away. It was the perfect temp with the perfect amount of breeze.

Dad getting started on the bike trail. The trail was 3.8 miles ... but it was an "easy" ride and very enjoyable! I had great company!

Me on the bike trail! I am workin' the helmet, right!??

Dayne on the bike trail. She does make the helmet look cute!

Dayne on one of the bridges on the trail.

Dad took a tumble. Here he is, recovering. He didn't hurt himself ... just a bruised ego, I think.

Afternoon:

The Hansen Family and Dad/Papa went to the Kansas City Royals game. Again ... perfect temp with the perfect breeze. And to boot: the Royals won! With 4 errors and having left 10 runners on base.

Graden and I at the game!

Graden and Hunter ... anxiously awaiting the Royals' next move!

The kids in front of the fountains the "The K."

Evening:

After the game we came home and grilled steak, sauteed mushrooms and salad. Shortly after dinner settled in we went out for frozen custard!

It was great having Dad visit!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

We all enjoyed a nice steak dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, followed by ice cream at a local ice cream parlor! Ahh .... blissful time away from cooking/cleaning and endulging in junk food!

Dayne made a card for me! It was very sweet, and I must share what it said (unedited):

I (heart) you because you take good care of me and Hunter like you make healty dinner almost evrey night!

You also incourge me to do stuff!

I (heart) you because you help me out a lot like if I'm having trouble with my homework.

I (heart) you because you are the #1 best mom on the whole galaxy. You love me even if your about to snap like a dry twig.*

I (heart) you because you let me have fun like if I ask for someone to come over you usually say yes!

Let's put it this way I (heart) you all the time even when you yell at me! THANKS FOR BEING A GREAT MOM! XOXOXO Dayne

*********************************

Priceless!

* My warning to my kids when I am about to lose it is to announce, "I am about to snap like a dry twig!"

Hunter's gift to me was to allow me to clean his wounds. He fell last night and skinned up his leg / knee pretty good ... and he knows I like cleaning gross things! What a sweetie, right!?! : )

Dayne does the Miley Cyrus Ho Down

Dayne will be *mad* at me when she finds out I posted this ... but it was too cute to pass up!

That's what she gets for playing with the video option on my phone, huh???!!

A glimmer of kindness ...

Dayne needed help doing long division math and to my amazement Hunter offered to help! I knew it was one of those moments that would be few and far between so I needed to capture it!

Another random, yet beautiful, moment was the view off our deck. The sun was setting and the sky was pink .... it was very relaxing!

March of Dimes Walk

United Health Group, my employer, participated in the March of Dimes "Walk for Babies" this year so my co-worker, Beth, and I agreed to support and walk this year!

Beth is much more physically fit than I am (hell ... so is Kirstie Alley!) so she really challenged met to walk at a fast pace! We speed walked 3 miles in less than an hour! The first five minutes were the hardest, but then it was painless! As always, she was great company and made the time enjoyable!

The walk was held in downtown Kansas City - which has many, many parking garages. Well, neither Beth nor I really paid much attention to which garage we parked in (maybe we were both assuming the other was paying attention or had *some* sense of direction?). About 30 minutes after we arrived and registered, I asked her if she knew how to get back to the parking garage. She "thought so." Well, we got a few extra walking strides in anyway, but were able to find our cars after only about 20 minutes of walking around!

It was a great experience; so touching to see so many people show up! And sooo many kids there to show all the great work that comes from the donations!

After I got home I took advantage of our beautiful weather and mowed the front yard (I go into near cardiac arrest if I try to do the back yard!). After mowing I thought I'd save my honey some time and sweep the garage out for him. Trying to stop and appreciate the things he does to the home to make it beautiful and enjoyable!

Now Dayne and I are getting ready to tackle all the junk in the "dungeon" in preparation for our neighborhood garage sale on the 15th and 16th! They are sooo much work. I think by the time all the work is done I end up making about $5 and hour ... maybe this year will be different!

It was a pretty boring week this week, so not much to post about!

Graden left on Wednesday evening to MN for his annual St. Judes fishing tournament, so it's just the kids and I for the weekend. Actually, he has to be in Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday (for work) so he won't be home until Thursday. Gives me a taste of single parenting ... and makes me appreciate all he does to help with the kids!

This morning I volunteered to help at the Kansas City Wildlands to help preserve some of the ecosystems in our parks (planting more plants, really). While I would have liked the kids to join me, they didn't. After I got home and did a *thorough* tick search and showered, I decided a little nap was in order. Pathetically ... three HOURS later I woke up. Whew! Guess I needed that, eh?

Spent the afternoon doing a little scrapbooking, watching Hannah Montana with Dayne and thinking of a strategy for the neighborhood garage sale in two weeks. Garage sales are so much work ... .

Tomorrow morning we are participating in the March of Dimes walk at the Kansas City Power and Light District. We do a lot of volunteer work through work, so I am trying to get more involved with that ... and hopefully inspire my kids to do the same.

Will post more if anything exciting happens!

Hugs,
Tiffany