Papa Visit!! (Day One)

We were all excited to have Papa Sedenko in town for a two-day visit. He arrived this morning just before we had to take Nicole to school. He made us his famous "toad in the hole" breakfast, something I fondly remember from being a kid. I've tried to recreate it but his are much better. 

Then we went to the library for a cup of coffee (they have a great coffee shop in our library) and story time. While we were waiting for story time to begin, Allyson put on a puppet show for us.

Papa being silly! Here we are on our way to Nicole's school to have lunch together in the cafeteria.

After lunch they have "lunch walk."

And then we had to stop by the grocery store. Our store, Dillons, just bought kiddie shopping carts. I made a huge mistake letting Allyson know these exist and allowing her to "drive" one around the store. It was downright dangerous! 

The worst part was when she was driving it around and saying, "Idiot!" (Yes, I'm sure she's heard it from me driving and it is quite the wake-up call. Mom's going to be cleaning up her driving attitude pronto.)

She especially enjoyed being able to fill the cart herself.

Sorry, hon. We are not buying the sprinkles today.

We then came home for a quick rest, picked up Nicole, watered our garden and enjoyed a Mexican dinner before heading off to church. (Britt and I just started a 7-week parenting class so we didn't want to skip it.)

And look where we found Allyson as we were going to pay. Kind of reminds us of Nicole at Angela's wedding, ordering a drink at the bar. 

And, finally, after church, the moment we all were waiting for: ANDY'S FROZEN CUSTARD TIME!!

Most of the chocolate you see ended up on Allyson's dress. :(

There was a girl there with a brand new kitten. Allyson was so excited and got to pet and even hold it.

What a great day with Papa!

Papa Visit!!! (Day two)

Today I kept Nicole home from school since Papa has to leave tomorrow morning. We made plans to see a show in Branson, The Rankin Brothers. It's probably in the top three of shows I've seen in Branson. They sing tons of oldies from 50's to 80's and sound very close to many the original artists. (Here's a video if you're interested in seeing a clip.) 

Allyson had fallen asleep on the drive down and was cuddling Papa for the first part of the show. It wasn't long before she was dancing along, trying a lot of the moves the backup singers were doing. 

The backup singers are three very talented ladies called "The Rankinettes." When the show was over and the curtain went down, Allyson was upset, saying, "I can't see the princesses!" So, we went to find the princesses. She talked their ears off. They were so sweet to her (I think they are all moms) and allowed us to take lots of pictures.

 

 After the show we went to the The Grand Village which is an outdoor shopping center designed to look like the old town of Charleston, South Carolina. There is a giant rocking chair in the center of the village where we took some quick pictures before going to lunch.

We had lunch at Mel's Hard Luck Diner in The Grand Village. This is a 50's style burger joint where the waiters and waitresses sing. It just so happened our waiter ended up being Jason Yeager, a top 20 finalist in the 2007 American Idol show. He sang to Allyson who ate up every bit of the attention.

As I was taking pictures I suddenly realized I should take some video. I only caught the last few seconds. After he finished singing and walked away, Allyson said, "She loves me." (Allyson gets her pronouns mixed up a lot but meant "he loves me.")

On the way out, Allyson stopped dead in her tracks when she saw this gigantic Santa in front of Kringles Christmas Store. 

We pried Allyson away from Santa with promises of dessert. We went across the street to Cakes n Creams. It's a 50's dessert restaurant. We had ice cream, funnel cake, and everything to make these last two days some of the highest in caloric intake for, quite possibly, the entire year. Or at least since Papa's last visit! :)

After this we stuffed ourselves into the car and headed home. Nicole was asleep almost immediately. Allyson not long after that. Another great day with Papa!!

Savvy Shopper

Nicole still has some money on a Sam's gift card left over from returning a Christmas gift from her Uncle Jeff. She's been good about saving it and we've been looking for good deals. She bought a much-loved Chinese kite a while back and, the other night, she found a great deal on this Easter basket. Regular $20 marked down to $4.91! 

She learned how shopping after the holiday can save a lot of money. She scored a jump rope (already broken after a fun tug-of-war game), crayons, bubble gum machine, paddle ball game, stuffed chick, bubble wand, coloring book and candy. She carried this huge basket the entire time we were shopping.

And, just for future reference, I do not normally have her wear bib overalls, even though we do live in the Ozarks. We had been working in the garden! So, no, my kids are not going hillbilly!

Sleeping Beauties

Un-birthday Party

Over the weekend we decided to have an "Un-birthday" party. We basically made a cake, some crafts and decorated as if it was someone's birthday. Only it wasn't. Nicole was so excited and loved tying bows to the chairs and putting confetti (sigh) on the table (which ultimately landed on the floor and in the cake and, I'm still finding it). 

The funniest part was the night before when I asked Nicole if she would like to have an "un-birthday" party. Her first response was, "Well, we need to have a theme." What?! Oh, I've ruined her. Thankfully she wanted an Easter theme (check... decor already done). Nicole helped me made a lemon-blueberry cake. This was the first time I let her measure by herself (supervised). It was good fractions practice. We put a candle for each of us in it. And then we sang "Happy Birthday Dear No One." Pretty fun. 

Random surprises

Often, around the house, I get surprised by toys. Everywhere. Too often, it annoys me. And then sometimes, I have enough sense to realize I won't always have Barbies in my bed to greet me. It's those times, instead of being annoyed, I smile and realize I am very blessed. Now move over, Barbie. I need to get some sleep.

Plants!

Britt used string to make perfectly straight rows.

The tomato plants!

 I put the girls to work carrying weeds to the waste basket a little ways from our garden.

It didn't last long for Allyson. Pretty soon she wanted to play in the car. This time I made sure she wasn't near my keys. But I did find her playing with rope. (Yikes.)

Time to water the plants!

The garden... as of now. (We still have to get some lettuce and spinach to plant.)

Throughout the entire process of preparing this garden, Britt and I received tons and tons of "flowers" from our girls. How sweet is that?