Past week and week to come

Life is so busy these days. Particularly this past semester of class, our schedule is slowing down now that Acilia has completed poms. I love being busy! There is a fine line though because I do tend to get overwhelmed if there is too much. This past week was Spring Break for my kids, what a treat! It gave me a little taste of what this coming summer may be like. I took it upon myself to do a few fun things with the kids, enjoying each day, yet trying not spending a lot of money. I must say I really enjoyed the break from my alarm clock too!!

Spring break started with a night out with hubby. Friday night we hired a babysitter and went out to dinner with a group to celebrate hubby's brother's birthday. It was our first time at Buffalo Wild Wings and I must say, food was pretty good! :)

Saturday I took the dogs to the vet. That is always an adventure because neither dog really *likes* the vet (not sure if there are any dogs that do!) but top that off with a dog that sheds when he's nervous along with that same dog also having a history of getting car sick (thankfully he didn't get sick, but it's still an "edgy" sort of feeling when he's in the car!) Acilia came with me, she was so excited to see what they do at the vet. If she doesn't grow up to be an Equestrian I can 100% see her pursuing veterinary practice! She just loves animals so much!!

Saturday night I snuck away with my mom. We met up with my sister in law for some shopping and dinner, and then we had a whirlpool suite reserved at Pheasant Run Resort. It was reallly nice to get away and much needed!! Mom and I used to go away for the night every year. Until I had babies, then our tradition fell by the wayside. We were determined to go for it again this year, we had to reschedule once due to Al's acute kidney failure in January, this time we almost had to reschedule because my mom had a virus that took her voice and made her cough quite a bit! We went anyway, and thankfully it worked out well and we had a great time!

Sunday was a low key day. I recall I went grocery shopping and we cooked out with our neighbors.

Monday was fabulous, I had my childhood friend Brooke and her new baby Jaxon over, he's so cute! I served up some sandwiches and we were able to catch up. My mom who was excited to meet the baby came over with my nieces and nephew, my kids were thrilled to have their cousins at our house. They all usually play at my mom's during the week while my brother and sister in law are at work :)

Tuesday I thought it would be fun to get the kid's dressed for an early lunch at a place called 2Toots. They open at 11, I thought by getting there at 11:30, we would beat the rush. I thought wrong! The line to be seated was out the door! It took us 30 minutes to be seated. I was so pleased with how patient the kid's were while we waited! They were treated to sundaes for their behavior and they both ate great too! I had to laugh, there was a little girl that sat behind us, she came in while the kids were getting their sundaes. She looked at me and asked why they get sundaes, I replied because they both ate their lunch. She replied "That's not fair!" and turned back around! Ha! Then a few minutes later she wanted to take our picture. She was quite amusing! :)

Wednesday we went to a place called Willowbrook Wildlife. We've been there before, it's always fun though! It's beautiful there and we get to see and learn about the animals that are rehabilitated there! It's really a great place! It was fun too because friends met up with us; that always makes it more fun :)

Thursday I signed Acilia up for football cheerleading. We live so close to town, I was able to go for a walk with the kids to the park district to pay for the program. On the way back we stopped at one of the kid's favorite places a local equestrian feed store. Acilia goes through all of the horse items dreaming of the day she gets to buy something for her own horse and Miles loves the golden labs they have :) We were informed there will be baby chicks there in the coming weeks, which means our trips there will be more frequent! After that we came home for a quick bite to eat and headed out with the dogs to the dog park. Acilia had her horse lesson after that and then it was off to school for me!

Friday I took the kid's to my moms because I had work, I brought Acilia's best friend home with me so they could hang out for the afternoon! Then we had a sitter come by, which happened to be a thrill for Acilia because the sitter was Acilia's pom coach, Acilia talked about it for two days leading up! She was beyond thrilled!! They had a great time with this new sitter because Acilia asked when she can come back again :) I did feel bad though because when her sitter got there, Acilia asked her if she wanted to see her hamster (we've had the hamster for three years!) Acilia discovered her hamster had passed away. Sweet little thing :(

Today (Saturday) I woke up with a stiff neck which I've been babying all day. I also had the brilliant idea that I wanted to make homemade laundry detergent. It was sort of a experimental type thing. Acilia and I snuck away for a few hours, stopping at different stores gathering what we needed and just enjoying our time out. this blog was my guide. I just washed my first load and I am hoping that it turns out well, according to all the comments about the detergent recipe, I have a feeling they will be just fine! I decided not to use the fels naptha soap, instead I bought a 2 pack of Toms bar soap in the lavender scent! :)

Tomorrow we will make it to our own church! It's been weeks since we've all gone together for various reasons and a few visits to my old church has me yearning for our own service again!! I plan to do my "beginning of the month" grocery/household item shop and we will have our "Family Sunday Dinner", do baths and early to bed to prepare for the early Monday wake up again!

Monday it's back to school for Acilia! She is pretty excited because her teacher had a baby at the end of January and she's scheduled to return on Monday! Acilia also starts up an 8 week "cheer tumbling" class with two of her cousins! I look forward to seeing what she's capable of after that class!

This next week I am on spring break from my A&P class. A welcome break indeed!! I think Al is pretty thrilled too, considering my night class is messing with his work schedule. He says he always feels behind with work and I can't imagine that's a good feeling. I did schedule an appointment for us to meet with a new marriage counselor. I feel like we still have some things we need to work on, mainly with communication with one another. A different story for a different day :) Wednesday is that appointment. Al isn't sure he will make it. There is talk he might have to go to Texas for work. Thursday I am planning to go to a mom's night out dinner. Mom's from Acilia's old school still get together on a fairly regular basis, I try to make it as often as possible. Our group has gotten considerably smaller since our kids all started new schools almost 2 years ago.

Friday Acilia is off school for Good Friday, we are looking forward to Easter festivities next weekend, and I am thankful that Acilia will have off school the Monday after Easter too! It pays to go to a Lutheran school! ;)

So, that's it! I told you, life is quite busy! It's the good kind of busy though!