Paul Birthday

We celebrated Paul's birthday over three days :).  On Saturday, Paul and I went on a birthday date, on Sunday we gave him breakfast in bed (and he took Summer to the MN United game!), and on Tuesday went out to dinner as a family and did presents!  Unfortunately, due to our sick kiddos, we had to miss our birthday lunch with Grandma and Grandpa T, but I'd say its the thought counts!

Saturday Date

Grandma and Grandpa K babysat our three munchkins (and did a great job entertaining them on a very rainy day!) while we headed out on an afternoon and evening date!

Our first stop was the Swedish Institute Museum.  It's been on Paul's list of things to do for a while, and because it poured rain the entire day, it was the perfect day to go!

We got to see a massive mansion, built by a man who ran the largest Swedish newspaper at the time.

It was very interesting, and a retired gentleman volunteer enjoyed our enthusiasm and questions and ended up going from room to room with us explaining everything in much more detail than we would have gotten by just walking around, as well as taking us to several behind the scenes rooms closed to visitors! 

We then went to one of the best rated Mexican restaurants in town.  It was delicious!

We stopped at T-Rex Cookies and Coffee Shop for their giant homemade BEST EVER cookies and coffee/tea/conversation.

Then we headed to a new indoor mini golf place called Can-Can Wonderland.  The place is full of atmosphere and each of the 18 holes on the course is created by a different artist and is fascinating!  There were ferris wheels, large animals, band instruments, and many other things that made the holes interesting!

This hole had an optical illusion to look like a giant hole in the middle of the course!

This hole was set up to look like "Grandma's living room"

This hole requires you to putt through a waterfall.

For this hole, your first hit is done with a baseball bat!  Then you continue putting from where your ball lands.

 Sunday

We started off Sunday with breakfast in bed

After church and lunch, Summer and Daddy headed off to the Loons game.

Summer has been looking forward to her "turn" to go with Daddy!

 Tuesday, May 23

After work on Paul's birthday, we went to Chili's for ribs for Paul!

And one of his all time favorite desserts, the chocolate chip cookie skillet!  Then we sent Daddy off to go get a massage :).

 We love our daddy so much!  He is such a godly husband and father and we are so thankful for him.

Larkyn's Last Day of Mom-and-Me Gymnastics Class

Larkyn and I have been doing the Mommy-and-Me gymnastics class all year and it has been so cute and so fun!  Larkyn LOVES it and gets excited when I tell her it is gymnastics day!

Because Larkyn will turn 3 during the next session, she is ready to move up to the big kid 3 year old class, and will no longer have me in the room with her.  She is SO excited to do big kid gymnastics like Summer :).

Thursday morning was the last day of her current session, where they get their ribbons!

Since it was also a big last for her (and for me!) to no longer be in the toddler class, I took videos of her doing some of the things she does in class.  Here is compilation video of some of the clips I took, culminating in her little ribbon ceremony.



Its bittersweet but exciting having our Larky-Loo grow up!  She is the cutest little energetic gymnast and I love watching her have fun with it!

Mother's Day

 

I felt beyond blessed this Mother's Day.  I seriously have been given the greatest treasures in the form of moms and kids and a hubby who makes sure I feel so loved and special!

On Saturday, my sister and I gave my mom her combined birthday/Mother's Day present: going to the Mother's Day Tea at the St. Paul Hotel.  It was my first time at a tea and my favorite parts were watching Summer love pouring her lemonade out of a tea pot, seeing how they decoratively made all the gourmet mini food items, and most of all, spending uninterrupted and relaxed time with such special ladies!  Oh, and the tea was so delicious!!

Then I had the most relaxing Saturday afternoon, as the kids all played so nicely outside in the water table/sandbox/yard and I just curled up on a lawn chair and read (Ah-mazing!) while Paul smoked a turkey in his smoker and made dinner for us!

I woke up Sunday morning to breakfast in bed from 3 excited kiddos who showered me with the most wonderful homemade cards and treasures!

Eggs, bacon, strawberries, and pineapple- YUM!  The kids helped me eat it ;).

Summer made me a bouquet of paper flowers, a jar of like 50 notes of encouragement for me to draw one out each day, and a coupon for a massage and spa day (which she gave me on Monday, including painting my nails, doing my hair, and giving me a massage!).  Colton made me two cards. All three kids gave me candles with Daddy's help :).

My favorite memory from breakfast in bed was the following:  Included in the decorated spaghetti jar of encouraging notes from Summer, was a note (the very first one I pulled out!) that said, "You chose a good man." !  I absolutely LOVE that Summer chose to write this in my encouragement jar because I often talk wonderful things about Daddy and how important it is to look for a good guy (who loves Jesus and is respectful and kind) to marry like Daddy, and it is so great to see how Summer internalized that and also looks up to her Daddy!  So, not only do I love that she put that note in the jar, but it was funny because I pulled the same note out like 3 times and it became a fun catch phrase of the morning.  So, when Larkyn went to pull a note out of the jar and pretend to read it, in her little Larkyn voice, she "read", "You chose a good man!"  We all laughed!

After church, I asked Paul if he would take pictures of the kids and I, since I am not usually in pictures with them as I often take them!  He did a great job and just having these pictures is a Mother's Day present itself :).

On Sunday after church, we headed home for a quick snack, and then to change into hiking clothes.  We hiked some new trails that led to a lake, and the kids had fun splashing around the edge of the rocks and exploring on the beautiful 82 degree day.  I was in heaven, hiking with my hubby and kiddos on such a gorgeous day.  Seriously...if you know me at all you know that it doesn't get any better than this!!!!!  I was in my happy place!

We stopped at home quick to get cleaned up for "Linner" (our 3 o'clock meal that was a combined lunch and dinner) at Perkins (a family favorite ;) ).

We had tickets to see the 5pm showing of Frog and Toad at the Children's Theatre.  All three kids love the Frog and Toad books and we have read them multiple times and even gotten the audio version from the library for a road trip.  The show was very well done!

Truly, I was beyond spoiled this weekend, not only with all the activities, time with family, and love shown in various ways, but just the amazing blessing of having family.  I love both my moms and learn so much from both of them.  I love being Mommy to the three kiddos God let me borrow, and I am just so, so thankful!