Happy Birthday Ella!

Saturday, June 25th was my neice Ella's 2nd Birthday.  She's 5 weeks older than my Malena. Friday night Mom and Dad drove up for a little family celebration, then on Saturday was the big party with all of Ella's friends.  I brought the girls over to see Grandma and Grandpa, of course, and Uncle Jake was there with his new girlfriend Valerie. It was actually my parents' first time meeting Valerie- the first impressions were good!

Jake and Valerie

My sister had a lot of fun getting everything together for the party- she's very into event planning.  The party theme was cupcakes, and most of the decorations were handmade- right down to the party hats. At the beginning of the party everyone was in the backyard enjoying the sunshine, socializing and playing... there was a table set up with cupcake crafts, but the girls were a little young to enjoy it. (Next year!)

Ella gave us a somersault show.

Maira laid on a blanket in the shade and just worked on being cute and chubby. 

The main attraction at the party was the cupcake table.  There were three or four different flavors of cupcakes, and a few flavors of frosting, along with an assortment of toppings- mini Oreo's, gummy bears, Reeses pieces, sprinkles... All the party guests made their own cupcakes, yummm.

Mommy and Daddy love their 2 year old!

And I love my almost 2 year old.

Happy Birthday Ella K! Auntie Becky loves you.

FLASHBACK...Grandma's 2009

I was 8 months pregnant with Malena...it was one of the hottest days of summer...and I watched Jake cross the finish line. I am a really good sister!

Curious Jake...

Marathon Feet.

Got some sun that day!

Grandma's Marathon 2011

My sister Ang and brother Jake ran in the 35th Annual Grandma's Marathon this weekend in Duluth.  They've each run it a few times, but this year for the first time they ran together.  Did I feel a little left out?  Maybe...but not enough to want to run!
This year was super cold and wet.  It had rained the day before, and the forecast for that day had actually called for rain again.  But an hour after the race began it was still dry, so I packed up (and bundled up) the girls and we headed down to watch from the sidelines. 

Malena keeps warm in her stroller.

Maira says "Go Runners!"

We met up with Mom and Dad, who were watching Ella while her mommy ran. Ella and Malena were excited to see eachother- they may not talk well but they know how to cheer!

 Auntie with Ella

Ella was a little unhappy with the weather.

After sitting for quite a while cheering on strangers, we finally saw Angie and Jake!  They looked amazing- more like they were in the first 3 miles than the last 3.

Jake and Angie both thanked the girlies for coming to support them.

Their final time was 4 hours, 43 minutes.

WAY TO GO GUYS!

We all hung out at Ang and Pete's house after the race. My legs were tired from pushing the double stroller uphill to where we'd parked...but I had to remind myself not to complain in front of the marathon runners.  ;)

Grandma gave the girls rides around the house in Ella's wagon.



Weekend Travels

Well, I'm back at work today after having the last 3 days off. But I spent my entire 3 days driving around the state seeing family and friends. The girls and I packed up and left Thursday morning.

Our first stop was at the St. Cloud hospital, where my grandpa Scott is in critical condition after a fall down the stairs. He was in pretty rough shape, as he's 82 and doesn't have the best health to begin with. It was nice to see him, even though he was hooked up to all kinds of machines and monitors.  Mom and Dad and Grandma met us at the hospital, then we all went to Jimmy's for a delicious dinner.

Thursday night we stayed at my parents' house by Pequot Lakes. Friday morning we relaxed and sat out on the deck, then left for Minneapolis after lunch.

In Minneapolis we met up with my friend Rachael. She pointed out to me that we've known eachother for just short of ten years.  WOW...we were neighbors our first semester of college in the dorms at UMD... Boy did that make me feel old.  We went to a few stores and then out to Applebees.  Very relaxing!

We slept in Rachael's guest room, which happened to be filled with toys belonging to her boyfriend's 3 year old.  That made Malena pretty happy.  She woke up at 6:30am ready to play...I made her go back to sleep.

Our next destination was Maple Grove, where we met up with Danae and her new baby Jamisen (8 weeks old.)  I hadn't seen Danae since her wedding last October, as she and her hubby were living way south of the cities.  They just moved back to her hometown of Elk River. We walked around and did some window shopping in the sunshine.

Our final stop was in Andover for my cousin Jenna's High School Graduation open house.  We saw all kinds of family, Angie and Pete and Ella were there, as well as uncles Mike and Jake, and of course my parents.  Grandma Scott made her famous lemon bars.  There was a taco bar, and a tower of cupcakes... GOOD JOB on the food Auntie Jane!!  I'm not real close to my cousin as we've always lived hours away from eachother (And oh yeah...I'm 10 years older).  But I was glad we could support her and congratulate her! And of course...eat the yummy food.  It was a fun celebration!

After 650+ miles, a mild sunburn, and way too many calories in 3 days, I was happy to sleep in my own bed last night.  We all were- we slept like babies.  hehe

Don't Talk

The Alamo Drafthouse is a chain of movie theaters in Texas- at this particular theater in Austin, they decided to make an example of a customer who was texting during a show... (found on AlamoDrafthouse.com)

"...Recently, we had a situation where a customer persisted in texting in the theater despite two warnings to stop. Our policy at that point is to eject the customer without a refund, which is exactly what went down that night.  Luckily, this former patron was so incensed at being kicked out, she quickly called the office and left us the raw ingredients for our latest "Don't Talk or Text" PSA. You can check it out below, or come to the Alamo this weekend where the video will be playing before all of our R-rated movies.

Ma'am, you may be free to text in all the other theaters in the Magnited States of America, but here at our "little crappy ass theater," you are not. Why you may ask? Well, we actually do give a f*$k..."

Kitchen Pet Peeves

aka 'why I'm glad I'm the only adult in my kitchen'
These are little things ive come to hate from sharing a kitchen at work and with roommates in the past...

-leaving rags or towels scrunched up, especially in the sink
-not refilling an ice cube tray, or using all but 1 or 2 cubes
-putting food or garbage in a sink with no garbage disposal
-leaving peanut butter or mayo on spoons, in the sink or dishwasher
-putting a bag in the trash can, but leaving a lot of air between the bag and the can- so the next person has to let the air out to make room for garbage
-leaving food on dishes in the dishwasher
-not rinsing dishes right away- letting the food dry on
-leaving a ton of ketchup or condiment on a dish
-putting dirty dishes back in the cupboard
-letting the garbage overflow
-leaving clean dishes in the dishwasher while piling dirty ones in the sink

Finally Summer!

I'm passing my love of sunshine and green grass down to my girls... It's so nice to enjoy the beautiful weather through their eyes.  Now that it seems to finally be here to stay (hopefully).

Maira's first time in grass

She's saying "Hiiiii babyyyyy!"

 I don't know what we would do without our new double stroller.  LOVE IT.