happy birthday to me

These sweet kids made a list of the day on my birthday weekend

They had an early out Friday and they were so excited for the weekend

We went out to eat at Olive Garden

Then this was so funny- our sweet neighbors who are like second parents/grandparents came over to hang a shelf for me since Craig was busy working late!

Dick and Judy are so special and I loved spending part of my night with them! 

We all had cupcakes from Scratch- yum!

Then every year my mom takes the kids and I to stay in a hotel in Minneapolis for my birthday.

This year we went the first weekend in October because we all had a day off on Monday!  It was apparently too sunny for them!  Ha!

We went to the sculpture garden and of course they found a chicken!

Then we headed to IKEA!  My favorite!

We always say the play area is so nice there and the kids love to go- but the time limit is too short!  They can only stay an hour, which only gets us like 1/4 of the way through the store without kids- ha ha!

So we get them ice cream to bribe them for being good! #momoftheyear

Then we always love heading back to the hotel to swim!

After baths and in their Halloween jammies!

I could not love this more

The next morning the fascination with watching pancakes being made happens

We just love hotel breakfasts!

We always ask for a late check out so we can swim in the mornings!  Mom and I usually divide and conquer and someone watches the kids while the other packs up the room.

The next day we headed to a favorite destination!

First stop...

American Girl!

This is her happy place!  And if I'm being honest, it's mine too!

This guy loves this character statue from Ninja Turtles

He was finally tall enough to try the big ninja turtle ride!

It flies way up to the ceiling!  Scary!

He gave it 2 thumbs up!

They loved this huge Nickelodeon pumpkin

Ga Ga took this sweet girl for a few rides since she was too short for some rides Andrew wanted to go on.

And I took this guy on the Fly Over ride, which was so fun and we both loved it!  It's just like the Soarin' ride at Disney!

Afterwards we had a little time so we hopped on another favorite- the pepsi coaster!

He wanted to go on this haunted mansion ride where you shoot ghosts and zombies

Then he went on this super fast upside down coaster!

Several times!

He loved it!

This was the newest ride- it was a long drop!  He loved it- I would've freaked out!

Meanwhile this girl was getting spoiled

She loves the Wonder Pets ride!

We took a break for lunch at our favorite- Rainforest Cafe!

They always want to walk around and take pictures by all the animals

Of course we have to ride the carousel on the way out

We love the MOA!

I always love my birthday weekend with my favorite peeps!

We like stopping at this fun Minnesota travel plaza on the way home for a bathroom break and snacks!

Thanks for a fun weekend, Ga Ga!

fall fun

Every year for the Iowa/Iowa State football game Craig's family comes to either our house or his brother's house (depending on where the game is, it alternates each year) and this year it was at his brother's house.  This is the only picture I took the whole weekend- ha!  Cousins playing while adults were at the game!

My friend, Andrea came to visit for a game and we took our girls out to lunch while the boys went to the game. 

We taught together years ago and were pregnant with these two at the exact same time.  It was so fun being at school together as preggo mamas!  And we are totally fine with these two getting married someday- ha!

Some of you may have heard about "the wave" that happened this year at Kinnick stadium.  Every game the fans turn and wave to the kids in the hospital and it has become an amazing tradition.  While I'm a cyclone fan at heart, this is so touching and I'm proud of Iowa.  Andrew has spent many days and nights in that hospital (the old one, this was newly rebuilt last year), so this is close to my heart.  Anyway, this day I got to take my 3rd graders on a field trip and they had them turn and wave.  It was such a special moment.

Just a Saturday morning reading in mama's bed!

Lots of sidewalk chalk with the neighbors!

She drew this pretty picture for Ga Ga

And this cracked me up.  He wrote "HELP!  I've been forced to play outside!"  Ha ha ha!  This kid.  He's such a homebody and I have to make him go outside most of the time!

The one activity I can get him on board with is Taekwondo.  He loves when they do fun things in class like this!

Kerigan has been working hard in the gym all summer and fall, getting ready for competition season!  She finally got her splits!  Look at those legs #legsfordays

What can I say?  Getting back into the swing of homework is hard, so we have to make it fun around here!

All that work makes it worth it when my girl brings home something sweet like this.  I love that she loves our family game nights. 

We love fall nights having a fire pit with the neighbors. This night we put 2 together in the backyard and grilled hot dogs and made s'mores!

The kids all played football- it was such a fun night!

One Saturday I took the kids and a neighbor to look at Halloween decorations and costumes at this crazy store in town that has all kinds of fun things!

Who knew poop emojis were so awesome?  Ha!

They love all the creepy things that make noise and move around!

They tried on all the masks

A chicken for Ga Ga!

At school the kids had dress like your favorite character day- Kerigan was Laura Ingalls and Andrew was Dog Man!

Ga Ga was here so we went and had lunch with this sweet girl

I cannot get enough of this toothless smile!

Andrew's teacher posted this of the class!  Andrew loves fun days like this- and he has such a nice class with lots of friends!

Ga Ga and I took the kids to see this movie- Andrew had been wanting to see it!

The school had a fund raiser where the kids decorated pizza boxes and then parents could call and have pizza delivered in their child's box!  I thought this was such a cool idea!  Until Andrew's came in another Andrew from his class' box!  Oops!  We did end up getting his box back!

Fun night at the kids school is always a hit!

This girl won the cake walk, and I may have squealed- Ha!

They have all kind of games and activities set up in the pods outside the classrooms

Then in the gym there are tons of bouncy houses and slides!

Andrew and his buddy Jack doing twister

Avery and Andrew loved their crazy glasses

We just love our school!

One day they had rainbow day where each grade wore a different color.  Andrew was blue and Kerigan was orange- they are in there somewhere! (And that's our neighborhood in the background- love being so close to school!)

More pictures on the playground when I get to school- I love seeing these two!  This day was pajama day in first grade!

Nutcracker practice underway!  The day they brought out Mother Ginger's skirt was so exciting!

Lunch date with this girl after Nutcracker.

It's been a fun fall so far!