Pre-Easter

I think it is safe to say that I AM CAUGHT UP! This post starts on Sunday and ends on Thursday night.  I am writing this on Thursday night.  I'm seriously almost live blogging!  That's how caught up I am!

I made waffles for breakfast on Sunday.  Look how fancy.  

We spent the day doing yard work and trimming trees.  I took before pictures, but I never took any after.  

We went to Palm Sunday mass that evening. I got out shorts for Elliott to wear, but he insisted on pants and a tie.  Then Michael decided to go fancy too. 

Spencer spent the night at Julian's on Sunday night, so Elliott and I went out for a special breakfast with just the two of us on Monday morning.  

Then we picked Spencer up and went for allergy shots.  There was something really wrong with the fish tank. 

After shots we went to a great park in Mesa that has all sorts of climbing stuff and a zip line. 

Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and ate lunch at the restaurant there.  Their fish tank looked much, much better. 

We all got the weekday lunch special:  a double cheeseburger and fries for $6. 

The kids went back to school on Tuesday.  Spencer had brought his school picture home before break. but Elliott didn't get his until after.

My parents finally redeemed their Christmas gift from me on Tuesday.  A horseback ride through the desert.  My mom emailed me these pictures. 

Also on Tuesday, Michael mounted the kid's footprint chicks from 2015 (middle) and 2018 (bottom).  I mounted 2012 (top) when we made them, but I somehow made it three years with the 2015 ones sitting in a folder next to the computer. 

He made a huge mistake on Elliott's chicks.  Do you see it?

The mistake was fixed on Thursday.  Thank goodness.  I could barely breathe with that out there in the world. 

Which brings us to today.  Thursday.  Current time!

I worked a busy, full day.  Then I stopped at Target for a huge pre-Easter shopping trip.

Easter shoes for me. YES!

Surprise for Spencer

A family movie we watched tonight.

And all of the haul for the Easter Bunny to deliver. The twinkies are for making Peeps driving cars. 

Like these, but with brown cars. 

A split spring break week

Three things:

#1)  When I was typing the title for this post I wrote "A split spreak". I think my brain went too fast and it's a combination of spring and break.  That should totally be a thing!  "What's happening next week?  Oh, just a week off for spreak."  See?  It's awesome!

#2) Sorry to cram so much into the last two posts, but once I get through this post we will be at this past Sunday, March 25th, in the timeline!  That was just four days ago!

#3)  The split in the title refers to the kids still being on break and me being back at work. 

On Sunday the 18th Maryellen hosted our March get-together.  We had brunch at her house. 

I went to the bathroom and came out to find everyone sitting on the floor. 

Maryellen and John got a new puppy.  Her name is Lucy.  We had Lucy join us for our group shot. 

Lauren and Joni were twins. 

When I got home that day I took pictures of the St. Patrick's Day decorations and then took them down and packed them away.  I have not yet checked when Easter is in 2019, so I don't know when I will see them again.  

On Monday the 19th I took the kids out for "design your own donuts".  Unfortunately they were cake donuts and no matter what the glaze or topping situation is, cake donuts are the worst.  Blech. 

Then we parked and walked on the pedestrian bridge that goes over a major freeway. It has always fascinated the kids. 

Elliott was terrified to go close to the edge.  That's why he's holding onto Spencer. 

Elliott insisted on walking all the way to the bottom on the other side. 

That night Spencer went to spend the night at Julian's house so we took Elliott out to dinner as an only child.  We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory and got to sit in the caboose.  The caboose!

I stopped and ran some errands after work on Tuesday the 20th.  I bought these candles.  The coriander smells a little bit like pickle.  There was also a paprika one but it was awful. 

I got some ice cream cups for Ginger. 

Michael mocked me for it, so I made him take a picture of the three of us. 

Ginger took two licks, walked away and then never went back.  She hated it.  Anybody want some free dog ice cream?

On Thursday the 22nd I actually finished a tin of altoids.  I think it took three years. 

Elliott had a play date at Jeffrey's house on Friday the 20th, so Spencer and I planned an afternoon for ourselves. 

We went out for coffee (Spencer had a vanilla steamer), 

and then went to paint pottery. 

I made the second in a planned four part pig plate series. 

My first plate is on the left.  I brought it with me for reference.  Now that I've made a second I don't like the first.  The big dots around the edge weren't planned and I've never liked them.  The paint exploded out the nozzle on one of them and then I added a few more so the one wasn't so ridiculous.  I might use the first one as a back up and have five total in the set. 

On Saturday the 24th we went to March for Our Lives- Phoenix.  It was awesome. 

My dad served four terms in the House and was the minority House Leader.  I wanted to take another picture under the Senate side because I used to work for the Senate, but there were a bunch of people sitting under it. 

Best hat ever.

That afternoon we went to the airport to have happy hour with Nathan, Kendra and Bella as they flew home from Utah to Florida.  Bella had been asking for days when she was going to see her cousins. 

Nathan and I have now met three times at the Phoenix airport.  If we keep it up we could end up with an epic 40-square comparison grid.