Variety Fair, Sleepover with Tiz, and Lakeside Park

It's Saturday night.

We just returned from taking Tizita back home after our sleepover.

John brought Tiz home with him on Friday so she could help me at the St. John's variety fair.

With the help of my preschoolers we had transformed our classroom into a Nursery Rhyme Land.

Tiz worked in the Barbershop from the nursery rhyme, Hippity Hop to the Barbershop.

She also reunited with two of her little preschool friends, Sinai and Aquila.  The three of them had so much fun together.  It was a great night all around.

We had ten different nursery rhyme areas set up in the classroom.

Everyone said they really enjoyed themselves as they explored each area.

Here are some photos:

This morning, we took Tizita shopping since that is what she wanted to do.

We hit up the dollar store, Kohl's, and Walmart.  Tiz was very happy with her new shoes with heels and her new purse plus a few other items.

After lunch at Arby's we took her back to Oshkosh and then went to explore Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac.

It was another beautiful day.

After dinner at Fazoli's we headed home and here I am in my comfy chair and blogging.

Our Frist Bike Ride of the Season is in the Books and a Soliana Sleepover

Soliana came home with John on Friday so we could have a sleepover.

It was so much fun.

 We took her to Culver's for dinner, her choice.  My mom joined us.

After dinner, we did our grocery shopping at Aldi and Walmart.

Soli is such a good little shopper.

She helped Gigi buy some of her items as well as picking out a new swimming suit, a pair of high heels, and some Barbie make up.

She is totally ready for a beauty pageant.

She wore those heels all night long and slept in her swimming suit.

She also has to ride the elephant and the pony at Walmart.  Sadly, she said her legs are getting too long for the elephant, so her riding days may be nearing an end.

We watched some ICarly before bed.

Today (Saturday) I had the Early Childhood Fair at the High School.

It is the 25th year for that fair and I have been at every one of them.

We had a good turn out.

John brought Soli to the fair and she had a great time making crafts, playing on the equipment, and checking out the animals in the petting zoo.

She and grandpa had some serious bonding time today.

We enjoyed brats from Glenn's to support St. John's for lunch. Yum

After lunch Soli drove me around in the Escalade before we took her to the meeting spot at the ice cream shop in Waupan where Courtney and Tiz came to take Soli home.

Since it was such a beautiful day, John and I took our first bike ride of the season.

We rode around Horicon Marsh on the auto tour route.

It was an easy first ride and we made it without any trouble.  Maybe we are not as out of shape as we think.

Now we are enjoying a Marco pizza for dinner.

It was a great weekend so far and tomorrow promises to be just as nice, weatherwise, so it should be another day to be outside.

An Enchanted Weekend

John brought the girls home with him on Friday night.

His working in Fond du lac is certainly coming in handy for such visits.

We all enjoyed our first Schuett's of the season.

My mom could not stop talking about the delicious foot longs!  I have to agree, I miss those during the winter months when Schuett's is closed.

The girls enjoyed their food, too.

A sign that summer is right around the corner, Schuett's is open again.

After our dinner we watched The Wizard of Oz.

What a fun movie!

Then a few episodes of I carly before bed.

Soli slept with Gigi.  This is the first time she actually stayed in there with her for the entire night.  She was enticed by the electric blanket and how cozy it was.

On Saturday, after a few cartoons, we watercolored.

Tiz is so talented and she created some beautiful pictures in a short time.

I am happy to have some new artwork from both girls to decorate my walls.

 

We left for Kids in Motion after painting.

First visit there, the girls loved it, I was not impressed.

Seemed unorganized, understaffed, and just plain messy, but as you can tell by the photos the girls had fun:

I think their favorite part of Kids in Motion was the large bean bin.  They loved rolling around in those beans!

After a stop for some ice cream treats which may or may not have gone well, we were off to First Stage at the Marcus Theater to see Ella Enchanted.

We have taken the girls to two Christmas productions there and have always enjoyed them, so we decided to go with the package deal this year and buy three shows.  This was our second.

We all enjoyed the show.

Great acting, funny lines, and just the right length for kids and adults, like me, who are easily bored with such things.

The girls each got a fairy dust necklace. 

Here are a few photos:

After the show, Soli asked if we could go see the lights.  She was remembering that after the Christmas shows, we always go and see the Christmas light show at Country Springs.  Such a good memory!

We took the girls back to Oshkosh.

We were supposed to call Courtney when we were about a half hour away so she and Paul could get us a table to Christiano's for our pizza dinner.

Well, my phone had no battery left and John's phone was at home.

Let me tell you, there is no pay phone to be found anymore.

How do people communicate without cells?'

How did we ever get along in the olden days without technology?

At any rate, we went over to Christiano's and luckily Courtney and Paul were there waiting for us.

It all worked out swell.

John and I came home and stopped at Firecracker for a much deserved pitcher after a great, but tiring day.

What an Enchanted Weekend we all had.

 

Stepping out of our Comfort Zone

It all began with a $50.00 gift card from one of my favorite Preschool families, the Budreaus.

The gift card was to a place called Splash Paint Bar in Milwaukee.

They had given it to me for Christmas 2014 and it has been sitting around here ever since.

I, at first, thought the girls and I would have fun painting and drinking, but that never materialized, then I was going to give it to Courtney and Paul to use, but that never happened either.

On Saturday, John and I were heading into the Admirals game and decided to go in early for some fun.

I debated using the gift card but it seemed so far out of our comfort zones.  I went back and forth between yes we are going and no we are not.

Finally, I just decided we would step out of that comfort zone and bit the bullet and go.

Luckily, I am married to a man who will put up with my crazy indecisiveness and go with me wherever I decide except Disney on Ice, but that's a whole "nother story!

 

We went to Splash and absolutely had a great time.

We drank some fancy drinks, I had a red and John had a yellow.

We looked through art books for inspiration and then we began to paint and drink.

Here are some photos:

Here are our finished masterpieces.

Mine is called, "Two Sisters at Sunset."

John's is called, "Yellow on Bar."

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After about two hours at Splash, we headed over to Buck Bradley's for an early dinner.

I had shrimp and John had a swordfish sandwich.

We enjoyed this turtle cheesecake for dessert.

Then it was on to the Admirals game.  Here are a few photos:

We had a very pleasant surprise after the game, a concert by Dennis DeYoung.

What a great way to end a perfectly fantastic day!

So, I guess a lesson to be learned here is that sometimes it is good to step out of one's comfort zone and experience new things!