The Reunion

I have these wonderful friends. We met in college. Freshman year we were all in the same dorm. Before the end of college we had almost all lived together in some combination. They are my Hillsdale family. But somehow, over the years, contact slowed down. We got in touch about the really big things in our lives (expecting twins, a parent with cancer, nieces and nephews born - the life changing things), we knew we would all be there for each other at a moments notice if needed, but the day-to-day relationship fell by the wayside. In fact, we hadn't all been together Rebecca's wedding - 5 years ago. Sad.

But then our friend Michelle announced that she was engaged. She lives 20 minutes from me and mentioned that she was planning on inviting our group of 4. Soon I heard that Christina was coming...and then Lauren...and then Rebecca! And they were all staying with me!!! I was certainly happy for Michelle, but more happy for me. I was going to see my friends again!

We used the airport trip as an opportunity to go to Ikea...where my friends taught my children to play Angry Birds.

Like the community bathroom at Olds...only smaller :)

On Saturday, they joined us at the community Easter Egg Hunt.

with Auntie Lauren

All 4 of us (if you haven't figured it out yet, you will see a lot of pictures like this...)

Roomies!!!!!

Stealing...er...helping the kids get their candy out of the eggs.

Saturday afternoon, we went to the wedding. It was beautiful. It was also about a block from our old campus. So, we took a stroll down memory lane and toured the campus (a LOT has changed).

Trying to get a picture making fish faces in the room dubbed the "fishbowl" - one of the places that haven't changed since we were there.

We visited our old dorm. Where we met. Somewhere I have a picture of us all on this couch 10 years ago...with dear Metta in the background!

We checked out all of the new buildings - including the new student center and cafeteria. It's so much nicer than when we were there, but one thing hasn't changed - Saga Steve! He was one of our favorite people and we were so excited to see him there!

Next was the reception where we spent the entire evening hanging out with good friends. One dear friend commented that it seemed so natural to all be there together. It was as if no time had passed. There were husbands and children that were a clear reminder that time has indeed passed. But we talked and laughed as if the years/months (Lucas and I had seen many of the friends at the wedding at homecoming), were days or hours.

Even Lucas was reunited with some college friends!

The bigger group with the bride.

The bride and groom.

Sunday morning they all came to church with us and heard my husband preach for the first time! I would like to say that I loved sitting next to these friends through the service...but I didn't. I mean I didn't get to sit with them. I was outside hiding 400 plastic eggs for our Easter Egg Hunt (more details in another post). They did help keep an eye on my children, and that was wonderful.

Becca and her husband, Kevin, watching the egg hunt. It was COLD.

Lauren was the first to leave on Sunday. But we didn't send her off without a trip to the local ice cream place!

We also managed to get a few games in with these wonderful friends. Bananagrams, Friends Scene-it Trivia (Christina always was the Friends Trivia Master and she finally got to officially prove it!), and Quelf (one of the only times we have played where the other players actually enjoyed the game!)

Kevin drinking water upside-down as part of a challenge in Quelf.

Sadly, everyone is gone. The weekend together was so wonderful. It was great to reconnect and catch up, and I think we all left the weekend with a renewed commitment to do a better job of keeping in touch and make seeing each other a bigger priority. Friends like this aren't a dime a dozen, they are a treasure to be cherished. I'm so blessed that 10 years ago I shared a dorm with these wonderful girls.

In front of the dorm where it all began...

Easter Outfits

I have plenty of pictures and stories about our packed Easter weekend and all of our adventures, but - I'm not gonna lie - I really love these pictures and their outfits. So I'm doing an entire post. Just for them.

Why do I love the outfits so much? I made them. Not her cardigan or his shirt, but I made her dress and her teggings, his hat, tie, and pants. It was amazing. I have never really trusted my sewing ability. But I decided to jump in and try. The outfits were made from things I had on hand (her dress was made out of a shirt I loved but didn't love how it looked on me, his pants and hat were made out of a pair of pants that didn't fit, and his tie was made out of another old shirt of mine, I used an old pair of tights and various odds and ends that I had on hand). I spent a total of $9 on the cardigan and the shirt. I am amazed at the results, and how much I love them. I'm basically a kindergartner showing you their first fingerpainting. I'm just so excited about what I made! Granted, there are a lot of mistakes...but that's why I'm not showing any close ups :)

I couldn't get Allie to look up, and this is what Ryan does now whenever we say, "Smile!"

I think perhaps one too many people posted about the Newsies musical...because I definitely was feeling that sort of inspiration when making Buddy's outfit. My one sadness was that I couldn't find suspenders for him. Suspenders would have really made the outfit.

Hugs :)

Kisses (they missed...)

Wave to the grandparents!

I love the picture below the most because it looks like they are in a musical. He looks like he is singing and snapping his fingers while she does some great choreographed dance. I can almost hear him singing "Seize the Day!"

I didn't get a single picture of Allie looking at the camera with her eyes open. But there are still so many that I love. I'm thinking I might have to edit them to look a little "old-timey" and hang them on my wall. I might also have to put them in their Easter outfits and get video of them saying things like, "Extra, extra! Read all about it!" or singing a Shirley Temple song...

Popping In

We've been busy. We're always busy, but it seems like lately life is moving at a frantic pace and I can barely keep everything straight in my head. And since I want to attempt to enjoy every minute, I have to give things up. And lately it has been blogging...and picture taking...which affects the blogging. But I wanted to pop in quick before the Easter madness hits!

We have this pair of morning doves (at least that is what I think they are...) who have graced our deck since we moved in. We look for them every day, and frequently hear them cooing when we are outside.

They had a baby! They have been bringing him/her to our deck to hang out every day. It's like we are chick sitting. They leave and bring back food and fuss over him/her. It's been so much fun to watch!

This year I took over some of the Easter Activities in the church. Part of me feels like it was only natural. I'm an Activities Director. I can plan egg hunts and egg dying parties in my sleep :) Unfortunately, the twins woke up the morning of the big dying party with fevers (this was AFTER a night of waking Allie up every hour to check for signs of a concussion...yeah...it's been a fun week). Boo. So we dyed eggs at home!

Of course, an hour later Allie had hives all over her neck, chin, and chest. Turns out they cracked a few eggs while dropping them in (I didn't notice), and even though I had them thoroughly wash their hands after, the contact was enough to trigger an allergic reaction. Ryan broke out a teeny bit, but his eggs weren't nearly as cracked. I guess we have confirmed they still have an egg allergy...

Tonight is the first of the Easter week services at the church (We do Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Easter morning). Tomorrow, my dearest friends from college (we're talking my bridesmaids) are flying in from various parts of the country!! I can't wait! We haven't all been together since 2007! And we have a full weekend of Easter festivities planned, and another dear friend's wedding. So I'll have lots of pictures to share sometime later this month!

Determination and Courage

I mentioned before that while Allie was (IS) in love with her camera and taking pictures of EVERYTHING, Ryan really cared more about his bike. The truth it, it took a little while. An afternoon really. I encouraged them to try the bikes (on the carpet, in the basement), and it quickly became apparent that 1) they had trouble getting enough momentum to keep going and not get stuck every 30 seconds and 2) they had always had the option of pedaling backwards to go backwards and now that pedaling backwards applied the brakes it was really confusing and frustrating. So I worked with him (them, but Allie quickly gave up and went to take some pictures instead), and showed him tricks for getting going when stuck. By the end of the afternoon he would get stuck and immediately stick his hand out and say, "Don't help, mommy. I can do it myself." And he did. By the next day he was a pro. So much so that my neighbor's mom (who is in a bike club and goes on a two week bike trip for fun every summer) couldn't believe he had only been riding a bike for 24 hours. His favorite thing to do, now that he has mastered riding, is find ways to get himself stuck. And when he succeeds, that hand comes out and I hear, "No, mommy. I can do it myself." And he does.

I have seen that same determination in other areas, but today was exceptional. We went to this incredible place called the TreeHouse. It basically a gigantic play structure with all kinds of places to climb and slide and crawl through tunnels. The only problem is that the only way to get to the tunnel slides (Ryan's favorite) are to climb up these alternating shelves. Have you seen this on kids' play structures? The shelves alternate back and forth- overlapping a little - and the kids climb from level to level. The twins have always had trouble with these. Once Ryan got stuck in a Chik-Fil-A playplace because he was too terrified to come down after he was up, and we couldn't fit in. We had to enlist an older girl to help him down. These climbing structures are designed for fun, but they are our nemesis. So Ryan is desperate to go up, and asks me to help him. He gets to the second level fine, but panics when he tries to go any higher. Even with my help he couldn't get to the top before he dropped down - flat on his stomach - and begged for me to get him down. So I talked to him about why he was afraid. I showed him all of the things that were there to protect him from falling (the netting on the sides for example). I talked about how it wasn't any different than climbing on the couch. I told him that he was strong and brave and could do anything. He tried again, panicked, and ended up on his stomach on the third level. I told him it was okay to be scared, that I knew he could do it if he wanted, but it was okay to stick to playing on the other things that didn't require him to climb those shelves.

A little later I was sitting at the booth with the other moms. I realized that I didn't see Ryan with the other kids. I scanned the massive play structure and caught sight of him standing in one of the shelf climbing towers. He is on the second level, contemplating climbing to the third. He stands still for a moment and then drops to his stomach...and then climbs down and out. Pretty soon he is back. He stands ready to climb to the third level. He kicks his leg up to take the giant step. And then he drops to his stomach. And then he climbs out. I watch this play over and over - both aching because my son is struggling so much with his fear and proud because he just wouldn't give up. I turned to answer a question and turn back just in time to see a flash of black pants with a white stripe down the side fly over the 4th level. I grab my friend's arm. "I think he made it to the top!" Sure enough, he soon appears at the bottom of the tunnel slide, loops right back to the climbing tower, and goes up again! And again! In fact, I don't think he went back to the other slides after his triumph. It was such a big moment. I was so proud. I wanted to let him know I saw, and affirm his courage and triumph, so when he came over to me I bent down and said, "Buddy, I'm so proud of you. I saw you climb all the way up. You were scared, but you didn't give up! I knew you could do it! You are a brave and strong boy." He looked at me with a confused look and then said, "Mommy, I just have to go potty."

Maybe he didn't think his moment was that big. Maybe he did and he was just playing it cool. It doesn't matter. I thought it was big, and I'm so proud of my little man.

Party at the Museum

As I mentioned before, I decided to scale down from my usual party madness and just have a small, family party at home. But I still wanted to do something fun with their friends. Since pretty much all of their little friends are part of the moms' group, I kind of thought we would maybe just pick one of the fun places we had been thinking about going as a group and cover admission for that morning. But then we found out another moms' group attendee had a birthday the day after the twins, and we decided to jointly host a moms' group party. We picked the Kids N Stuff Museum (a place the group had been thinking about), and went for the full party plan (a bargain in my mind. The only thing we had to provide was lunch. It was so nice to have someone else do all the planning!). The museum was so great!

They had a huge train table, and it was definitely Ryan's favorite thing.

Allie tended to wander more, and since I followed, I got a lot more pictures of her at different stations. This was in the "glow" room with lots of different lights.

Two of the younger party attendees enjoying the toddler playground.

The water table was a HUGE hit. Such a huge hit that Allie was completely soaked from the waist up! She was especially thrilled with her yellow submarine (seen in her hand here). In fact, if you ask her about the museum, the first thing she says is, "They have a yellow submarine!"

Ryan quickly found a friend and they joined forces to catch fish.

There was a hospital area upstairs, and it was definitely a highlight, but there was a preschool there at the same time and they had it filled. Then they got called for lunch and our group rushed up to take over the hospital. Driving the ambulance was the biggest hit, but because the lighting was so different in the various areas of the museum, this is the only decent picture I got.

There was also an airplane cockpit (the front of the airplane stuck out of the front of the balcony). Here are the birthday kids flying the plane.

There was the giant, stuffed guy...with realistic, stuffed insides that you could pull out and examine. Which was sort of disturbing. All of the sudden we looked over and saw D sitting in his lap!

The music room was another of the twins' favorite. Allie is playing the piano below, but my favorite music room memory was Ryan playing the drums, while another kid danced, and Allie played the cymbals (jumping and kicking out her legs every time she clapped them together).

The grocery store was especially realistic. They even had coupons. Allie spent a lot of time shopping, checking out, putting it back, and shopping again :)

We joked that this was the biggest, coolest playpen. The kids climbed the stairs and ran around. They thought it was great and the parents loved getting to have 5 minutes of conversation knowing exactly where they were :)

Part of the party package was a special room for lunch. The museum provided Capri Suns, and the kids were so excited. These are a treat in our house - reserved for special occasions :)

I have amazing friends. They always check with me before they have parties to double check the twins' allergies and make sure they have food the twins can eat (they go as far as making special egg-free cupcakes for them). One of the moms told me that she was going to make special. egg-free cake pops to bring to the party. They were amazing. SO delicious (I'm going to have to get the recipe and see if I can convert it to cupcakes), and a huge hit. Why is food always more fun when it's on a stick?

The three birthday kids, eating their cake pops, all in a row :)

The twins had a blast. I hope all the other kids who came did as well (there were 10 total). I was so excited that the twins recovered enough from their sickies to go. In fact, they were so active the entire day that I was convinced that we were near the end! Then we had their 3 year checkups the next day and discovered that Ryan's pneumonia was worse and Allie had a nasty ear infection. Sigh.