water park fun!

Chad came up with an idea to take the kids somewhere for an overnight before spring farming and field prep is in full swing so we decided to go to a water park!  I thought it was a great idea to do something together as a family before he gets so occupied for the next month or so.  We were thinking the Dells, but some of the fun things we want to do with the boys (the Ducks, and mini golf) aren't open now so we opted for somewhere a little closer and just focused on going to an indoor water park.

It was a blast! We were there for over 3 hours strait, which as I write it doesn't sound like a ton of time but believe me it was. Not once did any of the kids whine, complain, ask for food--can you even believe it!!!!  It was Chad and I that got us moving because the two of us were starving.

There was a great area for the smaller kids which all ours loved. Ben did that area all by himself which was awesome. We all enjoyed the hot tub from time to time as well as the (not-so) lazy river. That got to be a little like bumper cars.

Alex sees the giant slides on the far end of the water park so I take him up. He decides to do the body slide. You know the slide where you lay on your back, arms and ankles crossed, flying through the tube? Yeah. He went down and I realized I had to go down too because he was alone at the bottom. Holy hell that scared the crap out of me! I'm getting too old for all that.  After my mini heart attack I found him and him and Chad did those over and over the rest of the day!  Of course Jack wouldn't even entertain the idea of going. He was more than happy to stay by the smaller slides. Maybe next time...

I didn't get any pictures, sorry. I didn't want to lug my camera to the water park and risk it getting wet or stolen. The other part of the trip was us sitting in our hotel room watching TV and eating cookies and grapes.  All in all it was a good trip, nice hotel with plenty of room for all of us and a great time at the water park.  We will definitely have to do it again soon.

march

March already?!? Summer vacation will be here before you know it and I am sooo not ready.  If anyone has any good websites/books with activities for 3,5, and 7 year olds please let me know!

Okay, lets get to the long over due photos...

 

February was filled with a ton of fun things. First was Jack's 7th birthday. To be honest, I had no motivation to throw this party whatsoever. It went just fine but with no frills by any means. This is why I need Lori to plan my parties =)   We were so lucky that Katie and her daughter Grace were able to come for the weekend and we finally got to meet the baby.  She is super cute and probably the best baby I have ever seen. So easy going and go with the flow--probably because she's a girl.

Mom and Dave came up quite a bit last month and helped with the boys. They loved it and we loved it too because it allowed us to spend a night away for my birthday (29 and holding, dammit!) in the Dells. So nice!

Hockey wrapped up last weekend and Alex got a metal and a certificate. He was so proud! They got their picture taken and are going to be in the "news" (local paper). Didn't see it in this weeks, so maybe next.

In an effort to be more efficient and to not have to go all the way back into the store, I have made up a grocery list template.  Hopefully this will work and I can be more organized in the store and get through my shopping quicker.

We shop mostly at WalMart so I organized the categories in order of aisles.  I found  some templates on-line but they weren't set up how I wanted and they were all full sheets. I don't want to carry a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper through the store.  The one I made has the categories we mostly use and the Misc. is for the household items, toiletries, light bulbs, Twizzlers ect. that are on the other side of the store.  I put 2 lists on 1 sheet of paper so hopefully this will be big enough. I'm not sure it will work for big-time shopping but it should be good enough for the week-to-week stuff.  It's a Word doc so I can tweak it if need be. And of course the reminders on the top to use my coupons and bring my re-usable bags. We'll see if it works!