Our Super Spring Break

We have never gone anywhere for Spring Break before.  This year we finally did, thanks to H3's final competition in Vegas.  We decided to stop in St. George for a visit with DH's sister who moved there nearly a year ago.  The weather was great and we had a wonderful time there.

We took a beautiful walk up in the rocks, and I even got brave and squeezed all the way through "the crack".  The kids enjoyed playing in their Aunt's pool and the girls and I got to do some shopping.

Our first morning in Vegas we had team photos at the Las Vegas sign.  There was a creepy but friendly Big Bird hanging out there.

It was really cold for Vegas.  None of us were dressed right for the weather.  Check out this adorable photo my friend took of our daughters trying to stay warm : )

She took some great team photos for us too.

That afternoon we had a yummy lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and then took H2 to practice.  The rest of the family went shopping at the outlet mall.  H3 and I found some good stuff but the boys weren't so lucky.  That evening was the team BBQ by the pool.  It was cold and not good swimming weather, but the kids had a ball anyway.

That night we went out on The Strip to visit M&M World and The World of Coca-Cola.  We saw the 3D M&M movie (which was pretty dumb) and bought yummy, but overpriced, M&M's.  Mine were coconut and raspberry.  Mmmmmm.

At the World of Coca-Cola store we shared a variety tray of ice-cream floats and, my favorite, a sampling of 16 Coca-Cola products from around the world.  The nastiest one was "Beverly" from Italy.  Yuck!  Here is H1 giving it a brave try:

Some of the flavors we tried were: Bibo Kiwi Mango (South Africa), Kinely Lemon (England), Vegitabeta (Japan), Sunfill Mint (India), Smart Apple (China), and of course the nasty Beverly flavor from Italy.  It was a lot of fun.  And good shoppiing too, for someone who loves Coke.

On our way out we came across a street performer making up raps.  He had started making up a rap for H2, so H1 gave him some money and he kept going.  My favorite part of this video is when H3 slips on the pavement (It's hard to tell that it happens in the video, but what the guy says to her was hilarious.)  No worries, she didn't hurt her sweet buns : )

The next day was our first day of competition.  H2 did great!  That afternoon we had lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe and saw the Titanic exhibit in the Luxor.

That night we saw the fountains at the Bellagio playing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and watched the volcano at the Mirage.

The next morning was H3's last day of competition.  They rocked it again.  Yay for the J2A Cubs!  Between her performance and the awards ceremony, we went to check out the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop from Pawn Stars.  It was interesting to see it...I wish now that I had bought a t-shirt while we were there.

We also found a Steak n' Shake in one of the casinos.  We love to eat there when we are in St. Louis, so we were excited to find one in Vegas.  Yummy burgers and fries!

We headed back to UNLV for the awards ceremony and were totally excited for the J2A Cubs to be awarded 5th place out of 14 teams!  Good job H2!

Our friends decided that H2 looks like Christina Ricci, so they started calling her "Wednesday".  I think they're on to something, don't you?  It's pretty funny.  She especially looks like this when she's got her grumpy face on!

Mommy Dates

It's been almost two years now that I started working again. It was just something I wanted to do. I have lazy tendencies and stay more productive when I'm busy. My job is a perfect mommy job: I go to school at 8 with my kids, work for 5 hours as a 6th grade aide, and come home two hours before the kiddos. Some days I can get overwhelmed because I still have so much to do at home after my hours at work, but for the most part I find it to be very rewarding and enjoyable.

One of the challenges I came against when I returned to work was how to handle those mornings when one of my children says they don't feel well enough to go to school. Getting a sub at the last minute can be tough, and going through all of that to find out that my child wasn't really sick after all can be a little annoying. So, the idea of the mommy date was born. The idea is that if the kids make it through a whole quarter without faking sick at all, they get to be checked out of school for a one-on-one mommy lunch date. It has really helped. The times I have stayed home with them, they have been legitimately sick.

We just ended the third quarter a little while back and so it was time for the dates again. I seriously look forward to these. They're so much fun! First was H1's turn (we usually draw straws to determine the order). He wanted to go to Shakey's pizza buffet. Since he was first, I hadn't yet thought of taking pictures, so here is an alternate picture of him driving his Grandpa's Polaris in the big fields:

Next in order was H3. She chose the Asian Buffet. Yum. I got to chow down lots of green beens, cream cheese wontons, and enjoy converstation with this cute little thing:

H2 wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. That girl loves wings about as much as I do. DH met us there since it is right near his work. It was a great time.

We are almost to the end of cheer competition season. It has been fun. Saturday's was not my fave though because it involved a three hour drive both ways, which made for a long day. Here is the cheerleader herself all made up and ready to go:

The spring weather has been so nice! Last week after I weeded in the garden for 3 hours (ugh!) I took H3 and her friend to the park for a bit. Someone had the cutest little puppy there that she let us hold for a bit : )

H1's favorite pass-time lately is making stop-animation films with his friend. He's done quite a few. I asked him to make one for me to post on the blog.

And lastly, I got around to making a spring wreath for my door......my favorite steal from Pinterest so far!