Grace's Big Birthday Trip

For Grace's fifth birthday we decided to do a trip to Chicago for her to get an American Doll. This was her one and only birthday gift. All of her grandparents, great grandparents, aunts & uncles, etc. gave her money to spend on her trip. We talked a lot about this idea before deciding to go ahead with it. Even though she had received a catalog in the mail and really liked it I wanted to make sure she wouldn't be disappointed when her birthday rolled around. It was so funny to here her tell people about our plan, "I don't get any presents to open (thats the sad part), but its okay because we are going on the train and I get to pick out my own doll and buy her stuff with money!" Here is the picture play by play of our special day.

Watching for the Train- Cold & Excited

Faith bundled up & ready to go.
Our tickets- I wanted to let Grace sign her own ticket, but the grouchy ticket taker insisted it be signed by an adult.

Grandma fulfilled a Humiston birthday tradition by taking Grace to purchase doughnuts from the cafe. She was very generous and shared with everyone.

Finally there- good thing is was SO hot on the train we nearly melted!
We took a cab from the train station to Water Tower. Grace could hardly wait to see Ruthie (the doll she had chosen from looking online). She kept saying, "Let's find Ruthie!" Here is her first glimpse.
Grace chose Ruthie, Kit's best friend, because of her curly hair and purple dress.

Grace getting Ruthie out of the box.

Love at first sight!
Our family had also generously given Faith some money to spend on the trip. Since Ruthie is from the Kit line you could buy both dolls, their accessories, and their books for a discounted price. By the time you figured the savings Faith basically had enough money to purchase Kit (and Gramy thought this was totally necessary). SO.....Faith got Kit. Here she is waiting for her doll.

They were having a special event and you could make a lei necklace for your doll.

Here Grace is showing Ruthie the different pets to see if she would like to purchase a pet...
We had some complications with making reservations at the restaurant. So, we ended up being on the waiting list for the 12:30 time slot. I was VERY close to giving up as the kids were basically starting to melt at this point. (They had been up since 5:30) But, I remembered Kara's pictures of her girls right before lunch and figured if we could make it to eat we'd get a second wind. I finally said we were only waiting 10 more minutes and then they finally called our name. I'm so glad as this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I would definitely recommend making it part of your experience.

Its funny looking around a restaurant and seeing all little girls. It was really geared towards kids. As soon as we sat down they brought us a "warm welcome" mini cinnamon rolls. Then they brought an appetizer tray with veggies & pretzel bites. Grace ordered a tic tac toe personal pizza and Faith ordered a mini hamburger/hot dog with a tiny dish of macaroni and cheese. All of the ladies had salad. The food was very good and speedy.
The best part was all the little touches. The dolls had special seats and their own tea set. Our napkins were wrapped with hair ties for us to keep.

I think we heard them sing Happy Birthday 10 times while we ate! There were a lot of little girl birthday parties. Even though we didn't get the special cake our server did bring Grace a candle to blow out with her dessert. Our dessert included a tiny cake, cookie, and flower pot with chocolate mousse.
During lunch Grace and I talked about how she would spend the rest of her money when she went shopping for Ruthie after lunch. While she shopped Faith (who was feeling awful & coming down with a horrible virus) slept.
Grace ended up choosing a pair of purple pjs, a purple dress/hat, and a pink skirt/shirt & pink shoes from the "shoe store." She did a great job of narrowing down her choices and making sure to get things that matched. I was so proud of her that she didn't ask for more, but was content with her choices. Even though we were finished at the American Girl Store we still had some extra time before catching the train home.
Josie & Joy (her roommate) Joy collected American Girl dolls when she was little and even gave Grace & Faith some extra clothes to enjoy.
We spotted the Ghirardelli Chocolate shop and stopped in to get a treat.
I ordered a peanut butter sundae to share with the girls. Neither of them would eat a bite! Grace fell asleep in my lap & Faith was crying because she didn't feel good and didn't want to share me with her sister. This was one of the more challenging moments of our trip. But, how many mamas get to snuggle with their five year old on their birthday, right?
I was glad when we finally got on the train to head home. Grace had fun drawing pictures of her day. She did some really great ones that I'm going to include in the book I'm making her.
Welcome home Ruthie! Grace requested to take her along to church. When we got there she said, "Welcome to our church Ruthie, this is where we worship God." (love it!)
Her first outfit change- to her comfy purple pjs.
She wore each of her outfits the first day. Here is Grace with their "matching" purple hats.
Grace,

I am so glad we made this special memory together. Seeing the joy you have gotten from choosing Ruthie made my mama heart SO happy. You really are enjoying changing her clothes and bringing her along everywhere we go! You are such a sweet girl and I love you so much. I can't believe I'm a mama to a (gasp) 5 year old. You are getting so grown up. Happy birthday my favorite five year old, I love you the purplest!

Mama

Happy Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day the kids and I loaded up and took a day trip to Bloomington to meet Kristina, Stephanie, and their kids. We were planning to go to a neat place called Make A Mess, but after much looking we discovered it was closed! This was a bummer, but we decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese instead. They had fun and it was pretty quite. That is a good thing because we are finding it harder and harder to keep track of our group and visit!

Titus loved trying out the rides with his big sisters.

I can't believe how grown up he looks here.
Titus dumped an entire bottle of water on himself in the car while we were trying to navigate. He was soaked by the time we arrived. But, luckily Stephanie snapped a quick picture of us before we took off his "Valentine" shirt.
This visit the mouse came out to meet & greet. Grace is usually afraid, but got a bit braver with Hannah & Sadie.



By the time we got home (it was a lot of driving!!) it was dinner time. Luckily I had left some dinner in the crockpot. Since Jeremy and I had just gotten back from our special weekend away we hadn't made any plans. We do however usually do something special as a family. I had planned to make and decorate a big cookie with the kids. But, they were so worn out from the day we just had dinner and then it was about time for bed. We gave the kids a Max Lucado book about adoption I had picked up for $1 at a used book sale in the mall. A very simple celebration this year, hopefully we can do something a bit more fancy next year.

Take me away!

This year Jeremy turned 30, so I wanted to do something extra special for his birthday. I knew he wouldn't want a party. His only request was a weekend away without the kids. While I thought he wouldn't enjoy a surprise party I thought he might enjoy it if we shared our weekend away with other couples. So, after Christmas I contacted the wives of the two best men, Joe & Brian, from our wedding to see if I could conspire with them to surprise our husbands. Joe turned 30 the day before Jeremy so Deidra thought this was a great idea. Hannah ended up having to let Brian in on the secret, but they were in too. It was a bit of a feat getting a weekend that all 3 couples could be gone and find childcare, but we did it!! Jeremy knew we were going away for the weekend, but had no idea where we were going (or that we weren't going along). We all met up in Peoria, IL. Jeremy was very surprised when we walked into the restaurant Friday night to find Joe & was even more surprised to find out that Brian would be joining us as well.

Friday night we went to Alexander's Steakhouse. Its been so long since I've been to a fancy restaurant I forgot we should probably have a reservation. We had to wait over an hour for a table. But, when you don't have your kids along this doesn't seem like a big deal. This is a total "man" restaurant. You choose a steak from a cooler and then grill your own steak at a big grill. The guys were able to grill their steaks and visit. They also made baked potatoes & texas toast. Us girls enjoyed the salad bar while they grilled.

In order to make our trip affordable I tried my hand at bidding on Priceline for the first time. With some tips from Stephanie I was able to get our room for $55 a night. We stayed at a Courtyard by Mariott (a business hotel). It was very nice. When we arrived to check in there were students everywhere! The state chess finals and Jr. High Believe were both in town. How ironic! Not exactly super romantic but when you can only get away once a year you don't care!

On Saturday we all met up at a place called Jillians. It had pool tables & an arcade.



After Jillian's we had to say goodbye to Brian & Hannah. Then the rest of us headed to the mall. After shopping for a little while we decided to meet back up that night for pizza and cards. Luckily, all the students had cleared out and the lobby was quiet and it worked out great! On Sunday Jeremy and I enjoyed a day all to ourselves until we picked up our kids that afternoon. We ate at a buffet and did some "window" shopping. It was a great trip and I think our favorite part was being able to talk without all the interruptions of our life with small children. I was excited to see our kids but, I always find myself looking forward to the next weekend away/date night as soon as we get home.