One Crazy Week!

Well, I titled this post, One Crazy Week, but I think it will end up one crazy month:) It all started around Mom's birthday...

I took the kids down to Burr Oak the weekend of Mom's birthday (April 27) to celebrate and do some planning/snooping for a party to be mentioned later. Dave was on call, so he had to hang back. We had a nice weekend of playing outside, learning that both kids love sticks more than any toy they have received (take note! don't spend money on them!) and having a lovely brunch up in Peace Dining Room at Luther! And what do you do after you get filled up at a brunch? Come home and bake some brownies to have brownie sundae's as a birthday treat! 

We even got to stop by Wellington and see Grandma, which is always a highlight for me. Seeing my kids interact with her is just...precious to me. And my FAVORITE thing by far is that Grandma said that she wished we lived closer. Maybe she could watch the kids for me sometime:) Ummm....THANK YOU Grandma for wanting to, but I'm not sure that would work out so well! And...a certain almost-sister-in-law and myself had just a little time to chat regarding a substantial anniversary that was looming for my folks....

Sticks!!

I love it when they play with this stuff - she is so creative

We walked down to the creek...she now thinks every creek we see is this one:)

Learning so much....

Playing with her Mommy's and uncle's toys:) 

Visiting Great Grandma! Showing her his new skillz...

So, on top of getting ready for the anniversary, the week back in Wisconsin was full of fun and not-so fun moments: I left something on in the van after returning home from Iowa (Collin was screaming for the last half hour, I bolted with him from the van when we got home and never looked back:), luckily, it started after getting jumped by the suburban and luckily Dave was home to do so! We then had a car-seat mix up that resulted in Kate staying home from school one day because I had no car seat for Collin. We were trapped at home!

Tuesday brought soccer again and because of rain, we were forced inside - boo! The kids were not feeling any real drills, so we mostly just chased each other around and played follow the leader (I told the parents it was a conditioning day:) and then at the end we had our soccer pictures. Well, I have to brag for one moment about my awesome Team Tangerine! They were quiet and listened and very obedient during the picture session, the photographers and soccer board members were impressed (woo hoo!) and they were all adorable in their two-sizes-too-big tangerine shirts. The lowlight of soccer pictures turned out to be my very own daughter, who wouldn't really smile, just sort of half look up to the camera with a weird, crazy, no teeth smile on her face. I tried to get her to smile, but she said she was. Oh well, I told the photographer that it was fine, to which he said, "Really? Okay." Awesome, can't wait to get those back!

On Friday, May 2 my siblings, their significant others and Dave and I hosted/pulled off a surprise party for my parent's 35th wedding anniversary! Yup. Did it. First off, let me say. I'm not sure I can do a surprise party again. Okay, I didn't even have to keep this secret long but it was killing me! I am not built for this. I talk. A little. I honestly do try to think about what I say before I say it (surprised?:) but I had crazy anxiety being around Mom and Dad or talking on the phone. I have no idea how Andrew and Kylie did it, think of their proximity! 

Okay, I can't take credit for coming up with....well anything regarding the party - props to Andrew and Kylie for all of that! But here's what happened...I had to convince Mom and Dad not to come up Friday night (for Kate's recital the next day), Pat Huinker then invited the 'rents out to dinner. Simple. Nice. I came down with the kids, Dave in a separate car later (ugh, hate that) and we did "behind the scenes things" and then waited for Pat and Roger to show up at Mom and Dad's in a limo (surprise!) with Geoff and Mary Kruse (surprise!). We could have left it all alone right there. Killer night, those guys always have a blast. But no.....

They still don't know that Geoff and Mary are in the limo:)

They went out to dinner at Quarter/Quarter (is that the name?) in Harmony, MN and then with some impressive help/lying from the limo driver/Andrew & Kylie friend, Tyler, they bopped down to Decorah and stopped at The Stone Hearth. Still not suspecting a thing, they came down through the basement steps and BAM! a room full of their coworkers and loved ones ready to celebrate their anniversary:) 

Check out the poster-sized print of the happy couple!

People having fun and waiting...

They. were. surprised. I mean, I haven't been to a lot of these, but I think it was one of the best reactions. Mom started crying as she realized who all was there. :) I mainly felt relieved that the hard part was done! And it was a success:) We had people there from TriTech (Dad's work), Sunflower (Mom's work), my aunt and uncle (Bob and Shelley) from the Twin Cities, aunts/uncles/cousins from Iowa, we got Grandma there!! ...it was great. 

Unfortunately, we didn't take more pictures with other people! What were we thinking?!

We had decorated the basement (which was pretty retro, all on its own) with lots of pictures and mementos from their wedding, food, desserts, a GIANT wedding photo:) and lots of pics from throughout the 35 years. We had a blast, it was a lot of fun to be a part of it. I think the only thing missing was Tony and Tara. :(  I really wish they could have been there. 

Luckily, we didn't make the night too long, we headed back to Mom and Dad's and got some rest and headed back up to our place bright and (not too)early the next day. Kate had her recital at 3 p.m.! So we drove our little caravan up and over and arrived in time to unload the van, get Kate dressed and head to Mauston High School for the recital. 

Ready to go, Mom! (her first outfit, the second one had a grass skirt:)

Like last year, I helped her get ready, did final touches and dropped her off with her class in the band room of the school. We then killed a lot of time (learned our lesson to get there early to get better seats) with a 14 month old....yeah, that went well. Praise the Lord for Mom and Dad coming up, they got to see Kate but they also allowed Dave and I to sit for most of the recital and not miss anything while Collin toddled around in the back or lobby. 

Kate did great last year and I knew she was doing well this year but I still was CRAZY nervous for her! It's almost agony waiting for her to come out on the big stage. But sure enough, her song came up and I was wiggling around and super ansy in my seat. They didn't come out at first and I was worried, but then out comes the little 4-year-olds in a little congo line with Kate in the lead! She looked great (little hula, island costumes) and did great! It was so fun watching her, I was so proud. We were all beaming:) and then we had to sit through many more songs...they were good, obviously the littlest ones are the best/cutest and stole the show. Then her second song came on and she did just as awesome! Yeah! The recital went a little longer than last year and it was WAY too hot in there. We were very happy to go retrieve Kate and get outside. We celebrated by going out to Portofino for supper and crashing early for some extra rest:) 

Kate's 1st Dance - Hot, Hot, Hot! (she is on the far right)

Kate's 2nd Dance - Kokomo (she is the third from the right)

What a week! More pics from April...click here!