Date Night

A few posts back I wrote about the date night exchange we do with some friends. This past Saturday me and Jordan went out for one of our dates. We pick the actual days awhile in advance but they always seem to sneak up on us and then we never know what to do. This time around we wanted to switch it up a bit. We debated for awhile and finally ended up with a plan.

After dropping off the kids we headed out to Monkey Subs. Since we drop the kids off in the Beaverton area I looked for restaurants somewhere in that general area. I found some reviews on this place and we decided to try it. Super good. We love sandwiches and these were some great ones.

Next stop? Driving Range. I had never been before so I was super excited. Jordan is not a sports guy but he was totally up for this. We got a large bucket of balls and borrowed some clubs. There were two tiers to hit from and we chose to go for the upper level. Honestly, I was just giddy about the whole thing. We teed up and starting hitting, trying different drivers and clubs (is that even the right terminology?!) There were several instances of balls ricocheting off of the roof and railings and even more complete misses, but it was so much fun. At one point I even hit the ball picker-upper truck, although I did feel bad afterward and waved at the driver. (And no I wasn't actually aiming for it.) We finished up and both decided that we would like to become golfers.

After we headed over to Well and Good Coffee House. Its a great space and we had fun looking at all the fixtures, sipping coffee, and finding things we thought Jordan could recreate for us.

On our way back we made a quick stop at Target and then off to get the kiddos. They were happy as always and ready to go in their jammies. We both agreed that this was one of our most fun dates lately. So fun to try something new together and just be silly and goofy. Seriously though, I want to be a golfer.

Easter Egg Alphabet Matching

Every Holiday brings with it its own stuff. Birthday banners, Christmas trees, pumpkins, and plastic eggs. Easter isn't Easter without plastic eggs. I never know what to do with them after and always end up buying new sets every year. This year I decided to change it up. After looking at Pinterest I found a really fun idea on how to turn those plastic eggs into a fun Alphabet Matching game. This isn't an original idea from me by any means but super easy to do.

I cut the hinge on the eggs and wrote a capital letter on one side and a lowercase on the other. Lu has gotten really good at capital letters but we haven't done much with lowercase so I thought this would be a fun way to start. This site used sticker letters but I just went with permanent marker. 

After writing out all the letters you make a bug jumble and then the kiddo go to town trying to find the matches.

Here's what they would look like all matched up! I'm planning on adding this to her Busy Box. She really liked it, by the way, but I can already tell the activities are getting old. The first time we brought it out she was really excited but every other time she seemed to be expecting something new and when there wasn't anything else in there she was unimpressed. Hopefully this will turn things around! If you're interested in more ideas like this one head to Pinterest and just search Easter Egg Alphabet. There are tons!

Easter 2014

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year. After Jacksen's 15 month doctor's appointment (still can't believe he's that old), we hit the road headed to my parents' house in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Traffic turned our usually 2 1/2 hour trip into closer to 4, but don't worry. We broke up the time with Disney movies and McDonald's.

The day before Easter was really chill. We did some shopping and had a family movie night with Grandma and Grandpa. They had never seen Frozen and asked us to bring it. Of course Lucy was more than happy to oblige. After the kids went to bed, we went to work on the Easter baskets. Its always my goal to make it fun and special but to not go crazy. I like the things in their baskets to actually be usable. Not just like cheap plastic bunnies. We ended up with some candy, beach toys, and other fun things. And yes, they each got a bunny. From my Mom.

The kids woke up and Jacksen went right for the ball and truck. Lu was happy with her goodies too. Her Easter basket was actually a basket for her bike. It even has blinking lights. Score.

After church while lunch was cooking, me and Jordan set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Lucy could hardly contain herself and was peeking out the window trying to plan her egg hunting strategy. We gave each of the kids a sand bucket and led them outside and let them loose. Lucy was on the move right away. Jacksen was pretty confused. We had to put the eggs directly in front of him for awhile and then he started to understand what to do. They were both just so sweet to watch. 

Once the eggs were gone, we tried to take a picture of Lucy and Jacksen, but Jacksen wasn't finished. He continued filling his bucket, but switched to rocks.

After the egg hunt, we all had a great meal together. Lu even threw in a "He is risen indeed!" It was a great time celebrating Jesus. So relaxed and just so great to be together. Loved it.