Half-Day

Today I had a half-day of work unexpectedly!  Last night there were system updates and this morning the system never came back up.  We can do our jobs to a certain point without the internal network working.  We hit that point just after 9 a.m. today and there was no guesstimate to when things would be up and running so we got to go home!  This is the first time in over two years of working there that the system has been completely down, cash registers and all, so it was like a "snow day" for us :)

I enjoyed getting home in time to sit with the kids for breakfast.

Yes, I let Amelia have a cupcake for breakfast...

Since I was home with Jason today I took the opportunity to go through Amelia's closet bins/dresser to figure out what she needed for fall/winter.  Guess what?  She needs nothing!  Last winter she was between 3T and 4T so we went with 4T in case she grew more that winter not realizing that they'd still fit this winter - score!  At this point I'm guessing Joe won't need much, if anything, but his clothing situation will take me longer to assess so I saved that for another day.

Another big accomplishment that I made today was this:

Yes, a clear kitchen table is a big accomplishment for me.  For the first time since we moved in there are not bills or papers or coupons or bags or anything else sitting on the table!  This feels so, so good!  I am determined to keep it under better control from here on out.  What I really need is a better system to keep bills and such in order.  The kitchen table doubles as my desk so it is a clutter magnet.  I have a few ideas that might help - the question is will I enact one of them before the clutter builds up again?!

I'm so glad I got this extra time at home today!  I got a few things done and I got extra time with the kids :)

Paper Wave

At the Vikings/Bills pre-season game last night we witnessed what might have been the world's best "wave!"  It started and then it grew.  Both decks of the stadium were participating.  Then programs were being thrown like graduation caps are thrown.  Then people started tearing the programs into "confetti" and that was being thrown.  

It was nuts and it went on about 20 minutes!  We didn't partake in throwing paper as we did not feel right about it - those poor janitors.  Despite the mess it was pretty neat to witness first-hand.

Happy Saturday!

Don't Break the Ice!

Happy Wednesday!

Linked to Wordless Wednesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom

Weekend Highlights

We had another full weekend!

Friday night, before going to my parent's for the night, Amelia was a self-proclaimed "cow doctor."

She only "worked" on cows and, well, her mama.

Saturday morning we visited with our friend, Marie, and her son, Leyton!  They were in town so her husband could help out with a family member's move so we got to visit about two hours at my parent's house!

Joe - 10 months, Leyton - 7 weeks

After our visit Jason and I had a date afternoon/evening.  We had Mexican for a late lunch and then headed towards Minneapolis.  On our way we stopped at a thrift shop and found awesome deals on children's books (69 cents each - hardback, paperback or board) and Carter's pajamas for $2.99 that were maybe worn twice - they looked brand new!

Once we arrived in Minneapolis we walked around Mill Ruins Park which was really neat!

After exploring the park we headed to our final destination - The Guthrie Theater.  Jason (with the help of his mom) got tickets for us to see Roman Holiday.  It was a really nice surprise since I had no idea he even knew I liked that movie!

We enjoyed the musical a lot!

On our way home we stopped for pizza at Pizza Luce.  Funny tangent - when I was younger my dad took us to Pizza Luce and our server had green hair.  This apparently scared my sister and I and we started referring to it as "green hair pizza" and never wanted to go there.  Now I love it!

This trip we ordered the "Athena" pizza which has spinach, artichokes, red onion, tomatoes, feta and kalamata olives (which I held off my half.)  It was really good!  We ordered a larger size to have leftovers for work this week which was a nice treat today!

Sunday my parents brought the kids home.  We had dinner out in the parking lot with our neighbors, Matt and Dallas.  We cooked up the zucchini from our garden with some garden-grown oregano, fresh red potatoes and white onion from a local farmer.  In addition to that we also got sweet corn from the same farmer as well as a cucumber which we had with balsamic vinegar and onions.

It was really good and it felt really good knowing that all of the food came either from our garden or a local farm.  Our gardening goal has been met - we grew something and were able to eat it!  

We watched a bit of the Olympics closing ceremonies before bed and I am a little glad the Olympics are over.  We enjoyed watching them, especially Amelia, but it is also nice not feeling like we are missing something when we aren't inside with the TV on in the background!  Plus, this week is "Shark Week" on Discovery Channel and I know a certain little girl who loves "haw-eeks!"  

Siblings and a Stroller

We had a trying day today but this moment is one worth remembering:

Amelia pushed Joe "really fast" back and forth across the parking lot.  They both had a blast :)

Car Buddies

Amelia and her friend, S, spent all day together today.  This is a first for them because S is usually at daycare until around 6 p.m. but today we had the first of two walk-throughs of the apartments in preparation for new owners so S's mom took the day off.  

I got so much done around here because Amelia and S were in her room playing and Joe took two naps!  They were short naps but two naps nonetheless.  This evening we got out of the house finally and Amelia and S rode around the parking lot on their little cars - a typical evening activity around here.

Silly girls.  I guess this is what happens when you spend all day playing and having fun - you get a little wild :)

Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend!

Saturday we spent the morning cleaning around the house and watching the Olympics.  Late in the afternoon we had a wedding to attend for someone Jason grew up with.  It really was a beautiful, outdoor wedding and the food was, hands-down, the best wedding food I have ever had.

It was on a farm and Amelia was convinced that there were cows in the barn.  All she wanted was too find the cows.  After the ceremony we saw something that made a certain little girl ecstatic:

Not cows, but three horses.  The gray/black one even ate grass out of her hand:

Family photo:

Today we watched some more Olympics and then went to my parent's house in the afternoon.  We had stew for dinner this week and it made me excited for when we start making hearty meals like that to freeze as we enter the winter months!
 

 

After dinner we had Blizzards from Dairy Queen and Amelia chose to eat hers in the garage down the stairwell that goes into the basement...

When we got home this evening our neighbors asked if we had seen the tomatoes popping up on our five plants.  We hadn't so we went to check it out.  While we were there we checked everything else and we have one nice zucchini!  The neighbors and us both have cantaloupes starting but theirs are just a bit more developed.

cantaloupe, zucchini, tomatoes

It was like Christmas out there this evening.  We were running from plant to plant showing each other everything we were finding.  Who knew that you really can grow a successful garden in a parking lot?