It's Spring!

I am a week behind since I left to Spain last Sunday evening and unfortunately the blog didn't get checked off the to do list before leaving.  It was a nice trip but I am glad to be home and work travel free for at least the foreseeable future!

Last Weekend
Friday - Our good friends Trip & Lori came over for a visit after having not seen them in quite a few weeks.  This shows how icky winter has been since we use to see them almost every Sunday for football games and in the summer Trip/Clint are golfing quite a bit together.  It was nice to see them and share recent travel stories.  Miss M showed off the entire visit :) and we ate some yummy grilled steaks!

Saturday - We had our weekly gym class and Maci loved parachute time.  Clint got some great pics of her reactions!

Later in the day, Miss M got spoiled, what's new?!  We decided it was time to tear down her baby swing, amazing gift from Aunt Christie, but she is far too big now :-(  So to take up that corner of her playroom, we bought her an inflated ball house.  She LOVED playing inside of it, throwing out balls and then (like her mom's OCD) had to rush to pick up all the balls and throw them back in, just to do it all over again a few moments later!

While shopping for her ball house. . . we wasted time in the checkout trying on a variety of sunglasses. . . she thought she was very cool!

While I was gone in Barcelona most of this week (Sunday evening - Thursday evening), Clint did his amazing husband/daddy duty and sent me several pictures of Miss M.

So then I had to share some pics of my week. . .

I got over my jet leg much better from Europe than I had from Asia, I guess to be expected.  Friday was a busy/productive day at work followed by my good friend from Sidney plant days, Jim visiting. He was in town for work and we got to benefit from his last night in town.  He was very thoughtful and brought Clint his favorite shake as an early bday present, me an ice cream sandwich and Maci an adorably soft bunny (her 4th sleeping buddy)!  It was great to catch up with him over basketball, our brackets are DONE!

Saturday we had gym (fun as usual) and then errands/family nap time.  Come dinner we went out for Clint's birthday with two of our couple friends and their toddlers who are Maci's gym friends (Natalie/Harper).  Harper's parents (Halston/John) have been talking about Acapulco for some good Mexican food and so we finally had a reason to try it out.  It was quite yummy and the kids were really good.  They even danced to the 80's in the bar area for a bit before we left before their bed time.

Today was AMAZING weather!  Spring has sprung, finally!  It was in the low 60s and so nice.  We knew it was going to be great and with Clint's birthday being on a Monday, we celebrated all weekend long instead.  We ran some errands in the morning after sleeping in a bit.  At 1p we met up with the same friends from dinner last night for a day at the zoo, they also have memberships!  The kids had fun and we can't wait to do this more in the summer once the farm area with the petting zoo opens back up, only 2 more days!!!  We can't wait for this city to come to full life again, such an awesome city in full bloom!  We wrapped up the evening with a long walk around our neighborhood before dinner/bedtime.

Miss M went to bed about an hour early tonight and felt a little warm, please say some prayers she isn't coming down with anything, especially since Clint is off to DC Tues-Thurs of this week!  UGH

Have a great week!
Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Top O' the Morning to You!

Yay, it is almost St Patty's Day!  Maci has been wearing a lot of green leading up to this fun holiday and she will be all decked out tomorrow at daycare, along with Mommy at work.  We aren't sure if Daddy is wearing green tomorrow since he is left for Fayetville today and we didn't see if he packed green, probably not!

This was a busy past week and I suffered from some bad jet lag towards the early part of the week but I finally feel back to normal, just in time to leave for Spain not this week but next ;-)  I also had a hard time getting caught back up at work since I was only in the office Monday and Friday of the week.  Tues-Thurs I was in my 2nd module of Coactive Coaching, a great training session and valuable time spent but it has left me quite a long to do list :) Life goes on!

Last Sunday's zoo trip was a blast!  Miss M loves the Zoo more and more each time we go.  This time she got to pace with a Lynx cat, bought a sloth stuffed animal that is quickly becoming a 2nd fav behind lamby and she got to run around/ride on daddy's shoulders!  We LOVE the zoo and can't wait for fully warmer weather so we can enjoy all of the zoo, not just the indoor portions.

Maci had a lot of fun, as usual, at daycare this past week.  Enjoy some of these funny pics of our gal this past week.

Water Table Fun

Playing with the texture of noodles

 Lunch time with friends!

HA - Maci will NOT stop climbing on tables at daycare, they told her to put her feet down and this is what she did.... GOOF Ball!!

Clint and I enjoyed a date night on Saturday night and this is the text we got from our sitter, Ali.  Miss M must have been worn out by Ali because she fell asleep on the floor during PJ time :)

Have a wonderful GREEN week!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Ni Hao, Momma is back from China!

I had to share this one picture from the week before I left to China.  I didn't have time to write a post last Sunday before I left due to packing and watching Miss M while daddy was in Chicago with work (Wed-Sat).  However, I think the following picture sums up my thoughts from that week as well, exhausting!  Miss M couldn't make it from lunch to her cot for nap time, reminds me of Grandpa Mike ;-)

I had a very nice time in China but I am also glad to be home.  Shanghai was much cleaner than I remembered and much more modernized since my last trip 17 years ago!  It felt like NYC for the most part.  I struggled a bit with the true authentic Chinese cuisine but usually there would be one dish at the meal that I really enjoyed and would load up on that :)  We had a safe trip home and I have enjoyed my shortened weekend back with the family.

Tao our China Country Tax Manager & Host for the Week

 Dinner night 2 in Old Shanghai, very cool buildings

 Bund View from a Swanky Restaurant on Thurs night

Miss Maci had a great week with daddy but this week didn't involve much hair brushing or ponytails so enjoy the following photos :)

Right after Mommy Left

Rough Hair Day but at least it was "Green Snack" Day

 Thank goodness daycare stepped in and started doing her hair!

 Making Mashed Bananas - So Fun!

I got home Saturday morning 11a CST and even though I was extremely jet lagged, I was so happy to see my family.  Miss M did gym class with daddy right before I got home.  Below you see a picture of a spider web crawling thing they put up.  Dad was bragging when he picked me up that she was the ONLY kid out of like 15 kids that would actually climb through it - she is so brave!

After mommy got home and settled, it was time for her first haircut!  These pictures all week made me realize her hair is quite sloppy right now when it isn't pulled up so I took her to my salon :)  So fun!  She did great and I distracted her with a push pop candy sucker thing!

Well we are off to the zoo, it is in the 40s here today and so that feels like a beach vacation!  We hope you all have a great rest of your weekend and good next week as well.  We are happy to all be in town next week and enjoy some routine!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M