Easter Weekend Getaway

So Chris's parents spent the winter in Florida and because of my coaching schedule we were unable to go visit. Since they hadn't seen the kids since January and Chris and I were in need of a serious break, we thought we would leave the kids with them and enjoy a couple of days of quiet over the Easter weekend.

Jake had Friday off from school so I drove the kids down to Cleveland on Friday morning and planned to spend the afternoon with Ginger (Chris's mom) until Chris came down later in the afternoon. We got to Cleveland around lunchtime. The boys were super excited, but Rylan was very tired, hungy, and clingy. Rylan really doesn't like long car rides so she only napped for about 45 minutes and then was crying on and off for the last hour of the ride despite Brenden's attempts to keep her smiling. I also expected Rylan to be clingy since she was in a new place - she hadn't been in Cleveland since she was 3 months old, so I'm guessing she didn't remember:-) After some lunch and being held by Grandma a few times she started to settle in, but it was clear that a good afternoon nap was really what she needed. Chris arrived around 2pm and I put Rylan down for a nap around 2:30pm and Pete (Chris's dad) arrived shortly after that.

Once we got a chance to make sure everyone was settled and say hello, Chris and I quickly said Good bye! I think Chris and I have gone out a few times since Rylan has been born, but that's about it. With our crazy schedules and the cost of babysitters, we tend to stay in a lot. So this would be the first time in at least 8 months that we had left the kids overnight and had some much needed time to ourselves. We had debated about taking a trip somewhere, but when we talked about what we would do on a trip - lay around in bed and sleep - we decided that just spending a couple of nights in a hotel in Cleveland would be enough and MUCH cheaper.

Chris booked us at the Hyatt in downtown Cleveland at the Arcade. It was a nice hotel and in a great location. We told the front desk that we were celebrating our anniversary - technically true, we met around midnight of Easter 8 years ago...at a bar :-) Anyway, the front desk clerk brought us a bottle of champagne on the house for us to celebrate! We enjoyed the champagne our first night and went out for a modest dinner. On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, had a nap, walked around downtown Cleveland and had lunch, had some more champagne in the room, and then ate at the Chocolate Martini Bar in the Arcade - highly recommend the Chocolate Martini Bar, amazing desserts and drinks, they had entrees on the menu but I opted for multiple desserts instead. We had Easter Brunch at the hotel Sunday morning before we headed back to Chris's parents house.

For Easter, Ginger got the kids Easter baskets and filled them with yummy treats and I had her put legos and a book in each of the boys baskets as well. We spent the day very low key. The boys were eager to tell us about their adventures with Grandman and show us all of their new toys and candy. Rylan was very happy to see me, but also very comfortable being held by others or playing with her brothers - so nice to leave her and come back and not have her holding on to me with her death grip:-) Meredith, Todd, and Dylan came over in the afternoon as well. It was a very nice day of catching up and relaxing. Now that I'm a mom, I find holiday's so much more enjoyable when we do nothing ;-)

Chris had to stay in Cleveland for meetings so I drove the kids back by myself Sunday night so the boys could go to school Monday. The drive home went well, but Rylan didn't want to go back to sleep until after 11pm when we got home. I guess her staying up late is better than her screaming for most of the drive home. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so appreciative that Ginger and Pete were willing to watch the kids so Chris and I could enjoy some quiet time!

Rylan being silly

Todd and Dylan


Grandman with all of the Grandkids


Brenden practicing his meditation on the wii


Chris and the boys playing angry birds :-)


Fun with Transformers!


I don't want my picture taken! Or maybe I do!


Cheesy Smiles!!

Glasses

The boys had their yearly check up at the doctor yesterday. Overall, they are very healthy (and skinny) boys. However, Brenden's eye exam left the doctor wanting him to see a pediatric ophthalmologist. According to their eye chart test he is 20/70 in one eye and 20/50 in the other. So I made an appointment at the U of M Kellogg eye center for Tuesday and I will keep you all posted if it turns out he needs glasses.

We will be off to Cleveland for Easter weekend. The kids are going to stay with Pete and Ginger and Chris and I are going to stay downtown to enjoy two nights of quiet - Yay for Grandparents! Have a happy and safe holiday, everyone!

Soccer for the Boys and Reading for the Little Lady

I signed the boys up for Soccer through Dexter Community Recreation last month and Saturday was their first day of practice/games. Chris took the boys and I had to stay home with Rylan for her nap so I missed out, but they told me all about it when they got home.

Brenden is in the preschool league. They have practice for about 30 minutes where they work on various skills. There are two coaches that are parent volunteers. After they practice they have a 30 minute game. The game is 4 on 4 with no goalie. According to Chris, there is absolutely no organization to the game, just a bunch of 4 years olds chasing after a ball in hopes of getting a chance to kick it. Brenden was very sad that he only got to kick the ball once, but Chris let me know it was because he didn't want to chase after it, he was content hanging back from the mob. Brenden did say he got to kick the ball a lot in the practice and took some shots on goal.

Jake is in the K-1 league with Kindergarteners and 1st graders. There was no one signed up to be the coach for his team so Chris and another dad agreed to be co-coaches. Jake's league has a 40 minute practice followed by a 40 minute game of 5 on 5 with a goalie. I didn't get to hear much about how the practice went because Jake was the star of the game and super excited to tell me about it. He scored the only two goals of the game! Chris said he was super fast and running non-stop trying to get the ball. Jake was so proud of himself - as he should be!

They both seemed to have a great time. We will be gone for their next game because we are going to Cleveland for Easter weekend, but the following week their games are at 9am so hopefully I'll be able to take Rylan and see some of the game.

The boys showing off their new soccer gear

While I did a few things in Rylan's room tonight before bed I put Rylan down on the full size bed in her room with a book to keep her occupied. She sat and played and "read" her book the entire time (about 15 minutes). She was having lots of fun turning the pages and trying to get the lady bugs on the page, it was very cute to watch :-)

Spring is here!

Spring is in the air...Finally! It is a beautiful day today, sunny and somewhere around 60 degrees. With this glorious weather I thought I would take Rylan outside to enjoy it. She only lasted about 10-15 minutes before we headed back inside. She was fine when I had her on the brick patio. She crawled around a bit to explore and stood up at my leg while I sat in a chair for a while. When I put her in the grass she seemed interested until something really bugged her and she started crying. I'm not sure if she didn't like the texture or maybe the ground was cold, its still a little cool and wet where as the patio was nice and warm from the sunshine, in any event she didn't like it. I'm sure as we spend more time outside she'll warm up to it and start exploring the yard.

I also got a good video of my chatty girl. She's been a lot more "talkative" lately and its been pretty fun to chat with her :-) I have to enjoy as much of it now as I can before she starts talking back ;-)

One last note, Jake lost another tooth! He lost his top right middle tooth. It had been loose for quite a while and he had been trying to pull it out for about a week. On Wednesday last week while he was eating it loosened up some more and finally fell out. He looks pretty cute with his giant gaping hole in the front.

Babies!

I've reached the time in my life where everyone I know is starting to have babies - YAY! One of my friends, Lindsay, is expecting twins this summer so me and two of our other friends, Molly and Lisa, had a baby shower for her this past weekend.

The shower was on Saturday at my house in the early afternoon. Lindsay is a very popular girl, this was her first shower of five! But seriously, because she didn't want to be overwhelmed and really wanted to enjoy the time with her friends she decided it would be better to have several small showers, so our shower consisted of friends from grade school. We had about 20 adults at the party and 3 babies.

We had a lovely time of food, games, and conversation. There were lots of laughs and plenty of ooohs and ahhhs over the gifts - everyone was very generous and found lots of cute clothes and other necessities for the babies! All in all it was a wonderful afternoon. I was so happy to be able to do this for my good friend and was grateful for all the help from my other friends to make the day special.

Some of the decorations

The girls!


Rylan (7 months), Penelope (5 months), and Marcel (3 1/2 months)
One of the funniest "photo shoots" I've ever been a part of :-)