Birthday Bonanza

Whoa. We've had quite a fortnight. Ella was FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY picked as the *Star Student* at school, which means she got to bring "Buzzing Bee" home (the class mascot), and bring in a poster covered with her favorite family photots. She also got to fill in an info sheet All About Ella. I learned some things. Like that she wants to be a bus driver when she grows up. Suh-weet!

Star-Student Friday coincided with Earth Day. They attempted to make ice cream. (It ended up being kind of a cold milk with sugar/milkshake, but they were sure excited about it...)



And they played LEAP FROG. Cause nothing says "Earth DAY" more than laminated disposable paper lily pads, right?



Ella may have been most excited about the Star Student thing, but MY weekend was even cooler. Mostly because I have the bestest friends in the whole wide world. My BFF/SoulSister-4-Eva, Lismarie, bought me a SURPRISE TICKET TO SEATTLE. She even worked it out with Colby so that I could leave the girls at home. I HAD A WEEKEND AWAY IN SEATTLE WITH NO CHILDREN. Yes, it was a slice of heaven.

Lismarie picked me up from the airport Friday afternoon, then we drove by my old house. Ok, you know that I have some "feelings" about my old house. How much I miss it. How much I loved it. It was so great to drive by and see it look EXACTLY THE SAME. And it looked like a cute little family lived there. The wisteria I planted was finally blooming, and the whole house looked so cute. I MISS YOU, LITTLE HOUSE IN THE "REGENTRIFIED ARTIST COMMUNITY" GHETTO!!!

We drove up the street and admired the adorable Pea Patch (neighborhood garden). They finally restored the Hat of the Hat & Boots. It all looked so good. The neighborhood looked so cute. I didn't even see one prostitute or drug deal. Sigh. Good times.

(Awkward photo in front of Pea Patch)



(Wearing Giant Orange Cowboy Hat)


(Lismarie is amazing and pretty and funny and kind and BOUGHT ME A FREAKIN TICKET TO SEATTLE!!!)


AND I got to see Janeece too. OMG. I love my BFFs. Janeece planned a dinner with all my old friends at my favorite restaurant. I felt so bad for our waiter. A Ladies-Night-Out party of 10. Where no one ordered any drinks (besides Diet Coke), and we stayed for almost FIVE HOURS. And we all had coupons for free dessert. We left him a big tip. Poor kid.

(Janeece in her swanky custom kitchen)



It was pretty much the best weekend ever. I don't think any birthday will ever top it. Thank you Lismarie, you are amazing and I am so lucky to have you as my friend. I don't know what I did to deserve you. I might as well just stop celebrating my birthday. I've reached the pinnacle of Birthday Wishes. (Did I mention the Chinese hot-stone massages Lismarie booked? No. Yeah, it was as amazing as it sounds... Seriously, nothing can top it.)

Then I came home. And I readjusted to my children. My tolerance for whining was greatly diminished by my relaxing weekend, so I had to really work hard at being a Nice Mom.

My Super Awesome Friend J has the hook-ups for all things Free & Fabulous. In the past two days we've:
-Gotten a free sitting for a photo shoot at JC Penney's & a bunch of pictures for only $11. (Gretchen is a model-in-the-making. She was totally into the posing. She even snuck into a few shots she wasn't supposed to be in.) (It was the first time I'd ever taken my girls to a photo place for portraits. I'm such a photo snob usually, I make Lismarie or Christiana take pictures. Because when your BFFs are professional photographers, why would you go to the mall??? But this was super fun. I'm totally sold.)

-Joined the "Kids Club" at the mall. And got free suckers from See's candy, stickers, t-shirts, and ree hot dogs. Dude. Did I mention we live across the street from the mall? We are totally going to get our $'s worth out of that.

-Went to Home Depot to do the free craft. Have you ever done this before? It is SO FUN. On the first Saturday of each month most Home Depots have a craft for kids. They get an orange apron, access to tools, and make.....something. And you don't even have to clean it up! (Well, we helped, but we didn't have to deal with the paint droppings my children scattered across the tarps.)

My High School self is making fun of me for how much time we've spent at the mall. We only let the kids ride this lame money-sucking ride once. But they stayed and played on it and TWO RANDOM STRANGERS came up and gave them $ to go on it. People in Reno are so nice. (And we need to talk to our kids about not taking stuff from strangers. But still, SO NICE.)




Gretchen was really really REALLY intense about her "Picket Fence Planter". She painted the whole thing by herself. Look at her concentration skills!



And then we met Ella's kindergarten teacher for Brunch. I love her. We're going to their house for a BBQ tonight. Her daughter is so sweet and quiet and REALLY not sure what to think of my girls. But they let us hang out with them anyway...



Birthday Bonanza. What did I tell you?

And yesterday Amber babysat for a few hours so I could go spend my birthday money WITHOUT CHILDREN. I got some cute stuff. And this morning I dyed my hair brown. It's like I'm a new woman. I know.

Now, if Colby could find a fantastic job, I'm pretty sure our life would be perfect.

The End.