Day Eight - Visit from Grandpa Clyde/ Kids' 6th Birthday Bash

Day Eight (Saturday) was a big day in our house. We celebrated the kids' 6th Birthday. Their actual birthday isn't until May, but we decided that since May is a busy month in their class and my dad was going to be here now would be a good time to do it. The morning started out with my dad going with me to pick up some balloons and the cakes (one marble, one ice cream). Then we finished setting up the house. At 12:30 the guests started to arrive. There were a total of fourteen 4, 5, and 6 year-olds. I know. At some point I must have lost my mind to have ever thought that was a good idea. We had pizza for lunch. Then the kids played for a bit before we turned to the mass chaos that was gift opening time. After filling the kids with sugary cake we opened a pinata and then headed outside.

In the middle of the madness, Dad said goodbye to the kids and headed out in order miss the huge thunderstorms that were predicted, but never developed anything worse than rain.

It was a great week. A lot was accomplished and fun was had by all. Only 2 1/2 months until we head to North Dakota to visit my family. Unfortunately, mom is being sent to Canada for work all but two days of our visit. Thank goodness for web cams. Hopefully she'll be able to make her own visit to us later this summer.

Days Six and Seven - Visit from Grandpa Clyde

Info on Days Six and Seven are kinda jumbled. Both days the kids went to school. Thursday I slept before going to work and then coming home again. Friday morning I found out I wasn't going to be working that night either. Some time in those two days Dad and the kids trimmed trees, raked and cleared out some of the "forest" behind our house. In that time Dad and I managed clean the kitchen and dining room floors and well and vacuum and shampoo the whole upper level of our house. AND we even made a trip to the park.

Days Four and Five - Visit from Grandpa Clyde

Day Four (Tuesday) was another school day. Dad and I ran some more errands while the kids were at school. After school, we had some lunch and then spent some time outside. That was the day Luke decided that he no longer need his training wheels and removed them himself. He continues to get steadier every day.

Day Five (Wednesday) was supposed to be the start of my work week. That means that I try to take a nap. By this time the kids were in need of a nap as well. During that time, my dad did some AWESOME yard work for us.

Days Two and Three - Visit from Grandpa Clyde

Day two was a "things we need to do" day. Before I even crawled out of bed that morning the kids had Dad up and at 'em and they had already cleaned their room. The rest of the morning was spent trying on all of the kids' clothes to see what they did/didn't need for summer clothes. We moved some things around and found places for the kids' new to us dressers and got the playroom/guest room/Kenna's room reorganized. That afternoon we made a trip to Sam's Club for some stocking up. Gotta love Sundays at Sam's. We ate our fill in samples.

Day three started of like a school day. The kids got up, had some breakfast and got dressed for the day. The afternoon was planned for more fun. After spending the morning running some errands while the kids were at school we picked them up and headed to the Mall of America. We ate at Rainforest Cafe for the first time in a long time and the kids LOVED it. The gorillas and thunder and lightening was a big hit. Then we checked out LEGO Land before heading to Nikelodeon Universe at the MOA to ride some rides. The kids rode just about every ride they could and even got me on a couple. I'm pretty sure Kenna's favorite were the farris wheel and the log chute. Luke wanted to do the log chute again even though he was SOAKED when he got off.

I wish Mike and my mom could have enjoyed it with us.

Day One - Visit from Grandpa Clyde

Even though he got here April 1, we are going to call Saturday, April 2nd day once since it was his first full day here.

Usually when my dad comes to visit we have so many jobs that "need" to be done around here that we don't have as much fun as I would always like. This time we managed to do a lot of both.

Saturday mornings when I get home from work I usually try to take a nap for a few hours. Well on day one of my dad's visit the weather was predicted to be pretty nice out. It was also the first weekend that the Minnesota Zoo had their zoo babies are. So we used day one as Zoo Day.

First thing we did when we got to the zoo was visit the tropics trail in order to let it warm up a bit before heading outside. Then since it was lunchtime we got something to eat. Next we went to check out the dolphins and were lucky enough to arrive just as they were starting a training session. It was fun to see the new baby dolphin learning all the tricks. Then we headed out to walk the outside trail and head up to the farm. Along the way we saw the baby camel. The tiger was out and about. The bears were having a wrestling match. And the rest or the animals were doing their things. At the farm we saw some three-day old piglets and 2 two-week old calves named Delilah and Penelope. As well as the goats, cows, chickens and rabbits.

After the farm, we finished making our way around outdoor trail and then finished off the day with a trip to Dairy Queen.

Toothy (or tooth-less) grin

April has already been a busy busy month and it is only half way over. So, I guess we will start before the month even began. Back a few months ago when the kids saw the dentist we were told that Kenna's bottom two front teeth were starting to wiggle. Well, the last week in March she really started to complain about how wiggly it was as was getting super excited for a visit from the tooth fairy. we had even made special little bags for them to hang on their bedposts to put their teeth in so the Tooth Fairy wouldn't have to get under their pillows.

Now for April.

April 1st was an exciting day in our house. We had been looking forward to a visit from my dad (my mom couldn't get away from work) and he showed up at about 2:30. I guest he was excited to get here, too, since he left at 6:00a.m. to get here. That same afternoon Kenna lost one of those wigglers. The tooth fairy was VERY generous and left her 25 gold dollar coins. YEP! $25 dollars for one tooth.

(More posts on grandpa's visit to follow)

Then Saturday night (April 9th) she lost her second tooth. This time $1 was left. Pretty sure the tooth fairy just can't carry around $25 in coins for EVERY lost tooth.

We're still waiting for Luke to get his first wigglers. The tooth fairy is ready for the day that he looses that first big/little tooth.