Shrine Circus

Lilly with her Dora blow-up. She has been carrying that thing around the house since we got home!

Had to include at least one picture of the elephants.

This is the girls with their helium balloons...shortly before Lilly let hers go!

Mike and the girls waiting for the circus to begin.

The girls and I....love Lilly's evil little smile!

The long awaited day finally arrived to head to the Shrine Circus. We headed out at about 8:30 a.m. for the 10:00 show. We settled into our seats but not before getting the girls cotton candy and glow sticks! Lilly's eyes were like huge saucers as the lights dimmed and the stunts began! She was not liking the clowns all that much, but did shake hands with some character that Mike and I couldn't quite figure out (looked like a chocolate square?!). Macey loved all of the animals, especially the pigs and elephants. During break time we got the girls each a helium balloon, which shortly thereafter we realized was a huge mistake for Lilly! Guess where hers ended up? Yep, way up high, to the ceiling, so of course there were tears! It was a very fun time had by all and a very good show.

Macey's New Bedroom

Above is one of the closets...

And the other....

So we finally switched Macey from her old room into the spare bedroom upstairs. We got her a new comforter set, but I'm not very happy with the colors! The comforter background is actually blue, and it was not blue on the website, it was white. As you can see in the photos, the walls are also blue...but not the same blue, so it doesn't look the best, but it's going to have to do for the next few years!!! The main reason for the switch of rooms is closet space. These closets are HUGE! We even fit one of her book shelves in there! So anyway, now I want to find a few valances and we should be set. Macey loves her new bed, though is still getting used to being in a different room at night.

March 2-7

You can't really tell in this picture too much, but Macey fixed Lilly's hair in a ponytail and put a headband on her...It didn't last long though! Lilly hates having "pretties" in her hair nowadays.

Lilly getting ready to go furniture shopping with us...She insisted on wearing her shades and bringing her purse along!

Here is Lilly's new Dora swimsuit.

I've been very bad about updating the blog lately! So here we go, lots of stuff to post on...hmmm...where to start??!

Macey is in Girl Scouts again this year, so we had the cookie sale last month. Her goal was 130 boxes this year...all for a little stuffed elephant! She sold lots of cookies to family and then to some of Mike's coworkers, as well as my coworkers and did it - 130 boxes! So last week we had the fun of sorting through those and now have to finish delivering. Macey is doing great in school. We just did student-led conferences at her school and that was a lot of fun! She very professionally showed me her portfolio and it was so fun to see all the hard work she has been doing. She's in the process of entering a story she wrote into a contest so we're excited about that!

Lilly is quite the character, as always! Her latest phrase is "What the heck!" She's not saying it in a negative way, just when she's questioning something. Not quite sure where that one came from, guessing her sister possibly? Yesterday I took the girls to Shopko in North Branch while Mike picked up Macey's new mattress, and this was the first time that I almost had to walk out of the store due to Lilly being naughty! We have never had that before - usually she's fairly good about not getting stuff, but not this time! She wanted EVERYTHING in the store and wasn't taking no for an answer! Anyway, I did get her a Dora the Explorer swimsuit (pictured above) because she needed one and it was just so cute, and that did the trick. I hope my little girl isn't going to be doing this every time we hit the stores because we got many looks from people during her fits! Anyway, Lilly has not taken off the suit since yesterday! But, this is actually a good thing because usually she runs around in just her undies while at home! She's still loving daycare and playing with her buddy Oscar.

We are in the process of switching Macey into the playroom upstairs since it has much more closet space than her room, and what a project that has been! We actually ordered her a new bedroom set so that Lilly can have her old set, so we have been trying to go through her millions of clothes and trying to weed through all the junk she has accumulated throughout the last 8 1/2 years in her bedroom! We're waiting for her new comforter set and will post pictures of the room then.

That's it for now!

Girls in February

"The Grasshopper and the Ants"

Lilly was sooooo excited to go to the school to watch her Sissy do the skit! She had to pick out her outfit, and this is what we got! I'm sure everyone remembers Rainbow Bright, right?!!! That's what I think of every time I see this picture!

Here is Macey's group for her skit....classmates Lindsey and Mattie.

Macey's third grade class put in a skit for the other third graders and parents a few weeks ago. Hers was called "The Grasshopper and the Ants," and she was the grasshopper. She was a little nervous during practice but did an awesome job! She got really into her part as the grasshopper and didn't appear nervous at all. Next year there is a big fourth grade play that she will have the opportunity to be in, so she's very excited about that already. Now she is begging for acting classes!!

Girls Weekend

This weekend was my yearly getaway with my friend. Our plans fell through on going to her friend's cabin so she found something else for us to do - the Bret Michaels concert! Okay, so we're not huge fans or anything, not since Poison, but I must say, this concert was GREAT and he sounded GREAT! We headed up to Hinckley on Friday, enjoyed some wine and went out. The next morning we headed to the spa and that was pure heaven! I got a facial and then just relaxed. We were there for two hours so that should tell you just how relaxing it was! Then the concert was Saturday. It was a great weekend, but I'm glad to be home!

MOA

Today we took the girls to the Mall of America to get them out of the house a little during this cold weather! We decided to head to Underwater Adventures again, though I think next time we're going to have to plan either an American Girl day or Build-A-Bear-Workshop day, like Macey would have preferred! As always, the fish were fun to see, and both girls enjoyed going there. Lilly was a little hesistant this time and was getting a little scared at times, though she'd always look at us and say, "I'm not scared!" The kids were starving when we were done so we thought we'd try the Rainforest Cafe. It was a bit of a wait and absolutely packed, but it was well worth it! The food was great (or maybe it was that everyone was starving by this time??!) Lilly got a kick out of the person dressed up like a frog walking around...until he wanted to give her a hug! She backed up right into Macey and high-fived him instead! She was a little scared at the rumbling noise that came about once in a while as well. The girls spotted The Chocolate Factory as we were leaving so each got a little chocolate to go, and Mike got ice cream on the way out, so I'd say everyone was pretty happy about that! I think Lilly was sleeping about 3 minutes after we left...and slept the entire way home. She still keeps talking about the frog man!