Toast 2 Mom

The Full Weekend

It's the end of a three day weekend (after our summer has officially begun) - and I'm just getting around to typing. That's the sign of a good, eventful weekend.

We had a rib party yesterday. I had time to make my girls a full, hot breakfast! We swam. We biked. We had just a great busy weekend. 

A few words and a few photos is all I have tonight. I might actually put myself up to another photo challenge this summer. Taking pictures to document my days might be more reliable than my words as I know this summer will just fly by. 

Some pics...

 

Surprises

I am a big fan of surprises and this weekend was full of them. This weekend is always a double bonus weekend for me because it's my wedding anniversary and also Mother's Day.

On Saturday, I spent the morning running errands, while Hubby and my girls did the same. I was told to be home by 3 o'clock from Hubby. When I arrived, he handed me a card, told me to load up the girls and follow the clues. We were going on a scavenger hunt! Yay!! The first stop we went to Hubby's office. The girls had spent the morning with Daddio going around town placing the clues. I still can't believe it, but they didn't give away anything. 

From the office, we went to our gym. Hubby had put the next clue in locker #11 - our anniversary date. Seriously, he's super clever!! That clue told me to go buy the girls some frozen yogurt. Upon entering the yogurt store, the owner handed me my last clue. I felt like I was on Amazing Race. 

My final clue said, "go to your favorite store in NYC." I was stumped at first - because I love a lot of stores in NY. But ultimately they is a store that is always visited during our trips to New York..... Tiffany's. And NYC has the mothership! 

We drove from the yogurt store to Tiffany's. When we arrived, I wasn't sure where to go to collect my treasure! This was the first time Sydney was very helpful. She told me what door I needed to go to. Waiting for me was a beautiful silver ring! The girls and I had so much fun on our creative scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt was significant because Hubby sent me on a hunt when he proposed to me - ten years ago. Even cooler this time to have the girls go with me for my 10 year present!

That evening we had a sitter, and Hubby wasn't done with surprises yet. He took me downtown to dinner at the Driskell. The Driskell is the most well known hotel in Austin. It's beautiful, old, right in the thick of action and very elegant. Hubs and I share a lot of interests but fine dining is not really one of them. So the fact that he put this evening together was a surprise - and very delightful. We had a great time. 

And yesterday was Mother's Day. The girls had already given me plenty of gifts. We began the day with breakfast together at our favorite Mexican place. Then we went to see the movie Chimpanzee. After that, the girls and Daddio took me to the gym for a sweat while they went grocery shopping. I had lunch waiting for me when I got home. While the girls rested, I did a few things around the house. Then early evening we went swimming. And Hubby grilled out some ribs for dinner last night. 

Weekends go by so quickly. That looking back when I write about them I love toe remember just all we did. And this weekend it was a lot!! I could not have asked for a better weekend!! Thank you Hubby and thank you girls!! 

Ten - Just Like That!

The picture below was taken at our Omaha wedding reception. Ten years ago today, I married that cute man in the photo below. Three houses, two kids, five cats, multiple jobs, two states, multiple cars, births, deaths, epic travels, birthday milestones, big house projects and lots and lots and lots of little things in between have all added up to one fantastic and extremely memorable decade. Happy Anniversary Hubby! 

The Culture Club

The Hubby and I are feeling very culturally satisfied this evening. We've had quite the weekend, filled with some wonderful theatrical experiences. 

Last night Hubs and I went to the opera. He got some tickets from work. It was my first opera. While I was not all that excited to see it, I was intrigued - and in the end pleasantly surprised how enjoyable it was. It was everything I thought it would be - dramatic, emotional, moving, captivating. Being a closet opera singer myself :) - I am not sure why I wasn't excited to attend one. I just wasn't feeling very opera-ish. But it was a great evening. And the venue was also so nice. During the two intermissions, we were able to go to this very large outside terrace area to enjoy the beautiful night and the skyline of our city. 

This morning Hubby woke up early for a race. He signed up for a 10 mile race, his first in awhile. I enjoyed being on the spectator side today. The girls were great cheerleaders and gave him motivation to hit a very well respected time - considering he didn't train much....and he'd say that too.

This afternoon, we all went to see the Broadway tour of Mary Poppins. Thanks to grandpa and grandma for the Christmas gift we got to enjoy this afternoon. It was extremely well done. The production itself was amazing. The only thing a bit rough was it was long. The show began at 1:00, and we left about 3:45 - a long show for a four and six year old. But they did enjoy it - despite their many wiggles during the show. 

And last but not least, today is our Sydney's half birthday - 6 1/2!! A musical show could have been enough to celebrate the occasion - but we made it a little better with some ice cream (the 1/2 birthday girl's choice).

So, I'm not sure how we top this weekend - because it was a good one! Happy weekend!

The Ski Report

Well we are back from our ski trip. We headed over to Ruidoso, New Mexico to introduce the girls to skiing - and in many ways snow! Since we've lived in Texas for over three years now, the girls just don't get to experience snow at all. In fact, when we were driving into Ruidoso, it was snowing and Cheekers said, "what's that stuff in the sky." Seriously. The good news is that the resort where we were got 12 inches of fresh snow the day they arrived. For a season that was quite sparce, that was a real gift to us.

The first day the girls went to a ski camp. Sydney lasted the whole time. Natalie ended up getting checked out of the camp early. She was a little slow to warm up to the day. Daddio ended up taking Natalie around for the day. After a few times on the bunny hill, she kept asking about going for a ride on the gondola. Deciding to grant her wish, Daddio took her all the way to the top of the mountain. And the only way down was to ski it. With Natalie between Daddio's legs, they went all the way down! 

The next day they took a one hour lesson which still proved to not be the greatest money spent. In the afternoon, I took Natalie and Daddio took Sydney - and off we went. Considering Natalie was slow to warm up to the idea of skiing, she was actually quite a natural on skis. She was very stable and really understood the concept of keeping them straight and not crossing the tips. Sydney, while older, was probably not quite a natural on skis. It really wasn't until the third day that practice started to pay off a bit. But they both enjoyed it overall - and so did we!

We joined another friend and his daughter for the trip. The place where we stayed had a hot tub. I would assume if you asked each girl what they enjoyed about their trip, the hot tub would top their list!

Here are some photos from our spring break mountain adventure!

 

A Mighty Fine Weekend

I'm taking an Oscar break to blog about our weekend. It was very eventful. Friday night was date night for Daddio and Cheekers. Sydney and I had our own date and watched The Wizard of Oz. It was Syd's first viewing - and she loved it!! No monkey nightmares either. 

Saturday was hang around the house day, and Hubby and I had a wedding reception that night. The girls are so sweet in helping me get dressed. They are very complimentary in my make-up, hair and attire selection.... really boosts my Mommy-ego for a night on the town. 

Today the girls and Daddio joined some friends for a hike and a breakfast picnic. Then this afternoon we all had tickets to see the Hansel and Gretel performance at the Ballet Austin. It was an interesting show - not quite what we expected - but the girls had a fun time. 

We then headed over to a burger joint for some post-ballet treats - a burger and milkshake hit the spot. 

And this evening we joined some friends for an Oscar party. We dined on yummy appetizers and prosecco cocktails. The girls are wiped to say the least. 

Thank goodness for DVR machines.... Now I can sit down and catch up on the show where I left off... Happy weekend!

 

Daddy Date Night - Part II

Natalie's long awaited evening has arrived! She gets a date with Daddy. She was very giddy - and took an awesome nap in anticipation of the late night :) They went to go see The Secret Land of Arriety. And Natalie chose the most appropriate movie attire - her Christmas dress. 

What a cute couple!