Royal Wedding Fever

Did anyone see The Middle last week? The mom, Frankie, was obsessed with the Royal Wedding...While I am not that crazy about it (well..at least not yet) I do admit that I have Royal Wedding fever. I'm so, so excited for The Royal Wedding this week! I remember getting up while it was still dark to watch Dianna marry Charles (thank God we have DVR now so we don't have to do that) and ever since then I've been fascinated by The Royal Family. I remember being deathly ill at my BFF's parent's house in Ohio when Princess Diana died. So sad.

I think I'm also a little partial because Friday also happens to be my anniversary. How lucky for them that they will share an anniversary date with me and Paul!!

My plan is to DVR as much coverage as I can find. I'm not settled yet on which network I think will deliver the best coverage. Any thoughts? So, I'll DVR it all and I want to have a Royal Wedding Viewing Party that evening. Paul (fortunately for him??) will be away over the weekend with Lily (so sad that she will miss this) so it's just me and the other kiddos. I'm planning on serving all British-inspired food, tea and of course, cake. I'd like to dress up and wear a fancy hat or maybe my wedding veil(?) and I'm trying to encourage Emma to do the same but she's not quite on board with that yet. I'm also thinking that I may need to come up with a Royal Wedding inspired cocktail?

We'll see how all this comes together and if you live by me - feel free to come! The more the merrier!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had such a fun Easter weekend! Yesterday our family was reunited for the first time in 2 weeks - yay! We had planned to go to church last night - we've done Easter service on Saturday night for the past couple of years..it's sort of strange but it works - and we invited some of our good friends, the Keeley's to come along with us. Between us we have 8 kids so we are quite something walking in together - ha! The husbands got the seats (wow was church crowded) while Erin and I got all the kids settled - thankfully 3 of our kids all went the same rooms. After church we came back to our house for a cookout. It was so fun to hang out with them and the kids all played and played and we ate and ate - fun times!

This morning we woke up to find that indeed Easter baskets had been left. Lily was thrilled to get "Diary of A Wimpy Kid" a book she's been wanting forever...seeing her face light up when she saw it in her basket was priceless! I still had to serve at church this morning so Paul and the kids dropped me off so I could hang out with some of my favorite kindergarteners. They picked me up right after church and we went out to Paul's mom's for her annual egg hunt and brunch. We were excited to have Aunt Mimi and Waggy there and Paul's Aunt Judy and cousin Kevin. We had a great brunch and then the kids set off for the egg hunt. Lots of candy and treats to be found!

We got home put Jacob down for a nap and the girls and I headed down to our neighbor's for an Easter gathering. More food, friends and fun! Paul and Jacob joined us after he woke up from his nap. It was a great way to spend the afternoon!

A great holiday weekend!! Back to routine this week - here we go!

Track Out Fun

My kids go to a year round school so every 9 weeks (or so) we have 3 (or so) weeks off. We love, love this schedule - it works great for my kids and our family. We are wrapping up our last track out of this school year (holy crap has it flown by) with one more day off on Monday and then back to school on Tuesday for their last quarter. For the first time since I've had elementary school kids and preschool kids the April track out and Spring Break coincided so we actually had an honest to goodness week off of school for everyone! How fabulous to not have to drive ANYONE to school this past week!

We've had a really fun track out and it's flown by. Like flown by fast enough that I'm *almost* not ready to go back to the daily grind (though by Tuesday I'm sure I'm won't be able to get the older girls to school fast enough). Over this track out Paul and I got to get away for a couple days (thanks again Mom and Aunt Pam), Emma spent nearly 2 weeks at Camp Gagi, I got to spend to spend a lot of time with my Lily, Lily read lots of fairy books, we had some fun with neighbors, played outside A LOT and we all got to spend a few days at the beach with my mom.

Emma had a great time at Camp Gagi! They got to do some really fun, cool things and she got spoiled completely rotten! I am so blessed that mom is able to take the kids for vacations - it helps SO much and means so much to the kids. The house was really different with Emma gone for so long. We missed her a ton but I'm not sure the feeling was mutual - I think she rather liked being the only child and getting all of Gagi's attention!

I brought the other kids down to the beach on Tuesday and we had a nice few days down there all together. We did a little shopping, a lot of swimming and some playing on the beach. Jacob absolutely loved the beach! He loved the ocean, the sand - all of it! I think half the beach is in my van! Can't wait to take him back when it's warmer!

Bloody Mary

So maybe you remember that urban legend that if you go in the dark bathroom in the night and say "Bloody Mary" three times and turn around that "Bloody Mary" will show up in the mirror. Are you with me? Apparently some little snot at gymnastics told Lily this story and she repeated it to all her sisters one night a few months ago. Well it put the fear of all that is holy in Julia and for weeks she refused to go anywhere in the house by herself. She'd randomly break out in tears that Bloody Mary" is going to get me. Forget it if she had to go to the potty after dark and the light wasn't on in the bathroom. Paul tried several times to put an end to the drama, and we both took turns going in the bathroom, demonstrating the chant and showing them that there is no. such. thing. as. Bloody. Mary. It took forever but they finally got over it and I haven't heard them mention it all lately. Until tonight and here's the conversation that went down:

Jacob (2): I need my paci, come 'stairs with me.

Me: Go up yourself if you want it (I know..mother of the year)

Jacob: No, I scared

Julia (4): What are you scared of Bloody Mary? You think Bloody Mary gonna get you?

Me: (eye rolling) Julia, you know there's no such thing as Bloody Mary

Jacob: Right, Bloody Mary is just a drink

Well....at least someone was listening.

Observations from the Masters

Paul and I are so lucky to have such an awesome family. A few weeks ago my dad offered us some tickets to the Masters practice round. Now I'm not a huge golf fan but I know enough to know that the Masters is one of the most famous tournaments of the year and that Augusta National is one of the most famous golf courses in the country. So we said yes please! We had some child logistics to work out but the stars aligned and my mom and my Aunt Pam were able to tag team and help us out with the kids. It also worked out beautifully that Paul had a stores to audit in Augusta so he was able to work while we were gone.

We left Monday morning and headed down to GA. I was hoping to be able to check into the hotel early and then Paul could get to his store. He asked me: Are you sure you just want to sit in the hotel?" Me: "YES! TV! Bed! Shower! No kids! Silence! Why would I not?" But unfortunately the rooms were not ready so I got to hang out at Walmart for a few hours. After which my husband actually wondered why I had purchases. Seriously? Did he expect me to walk around a new, clean Walmart for 2 hours and walk away empty handed. Does he not know me at all? Anyways..I digress. He worked. I shopped. We finally got to the hotel. We went to Chang's (I know sort of lame to go to a big chain but I love Changs and we never go there). I noticed on the way to dinner that there was an honest to God Christmas Tree Shops in Augusta. I can't tell you how happy I was about this! I haven't been in a CTS since we left MA and I have been in withdrawal. I mean the bargins! The cheap goodness! The stuff I never knew I needed! I begged and begged Paul to take me after dinner and we actually did need sunscreen. He caved and we went. I was happy. And the treasures! Exciting!

There were terrible storms in Augusta Monday night and unfortunately we woke up to no power at the hotel Tuesday morning. Which meant no hot water and no breakfast. Boo hoo. But it was still nice to relax that morning. The day was nice but it was really, really windy and a little cool. We made it to the golf course late morning. And to get to the point of the actual blog post here are some Observations from the Masters from a non-golfer perspective:

1. There are no cell phones allowed on the grounds of the golf course. There are about 10 million signs reminding you of this and remarkably I didn't see one person challenge this. Apparently if they find you with a phone they will confiscate it and ban you and the person who got you the ticket from the Masters for life.

2. There are A LOT of people at the practice rounds. I mean A LOT. Thousands and thousands.

3. Augusta National Golf Course is unbelievably beautiful. The grounds are impeccably maintained. Absolutely gorgeous.

4. If you are a single lady get yourself to the Masters (or probably any golf tournament). I think the guys outnumbered the ladies about 4:1

5. This is the only event I have ever been to where the line for the ladies room is shorter than the lines to the mens room.

6. Food is cheap at the tournament. Merchandise is not.

7. I have never seen so many people in one place as was in the golf shop late in the afternoon. Wall to wall does not begin to describe it.

8. They give you a great spectator guide when you check in. This is very helpful if you aren't too sure who the golfers are.

9. Fortunately the caddies wear the name of the golfer they are caddying for on their backs. This is very helpful.

10. We sadly did not see Tiger Woods. He and Mickleson did not play yesterday due to the windy conditions. Bummer. They were some of the few we knew.

We got home today and the kids were great. They were very well taken care of my dear sweet aunt had cleaned the house AND done laundry. So lucky I am..so lucky!!!