Happenings and Such

If I told you that I actually jot down notes so I remember things to blog about, would you think that I was a dork? Well, that's what I do. Otherwise, I would be sitting here, staring at the computer screen, painfully trying to remember the events of the past week or so. This past weekend was wonderfully busy and filled with fun.

Every year, for the past six years, I have joined my mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law for a weekend of shopping, eating, drinking, and sleeping (now that I have kids.) We meet in Appleton, WI and start the weekend off right by going to Olive Garden. Yum! We had a cute waiter from Holland...not sure how he came to work at Olive Garden, but I digress. Julia and I (the mothers with babies) slept in until 9:00 on Saturday morning! It was amazing! A full night of uninterrupted sleep. Oh how I miss it. We spent the entire day shopping at the mall, and finished our shopping adventures at Kohl's. Guess what? Kohl's was having a sale! We had dinner at TGI Friday's and then saw a movie. There were slim pickings, so we went with "17 Again" with Matthew Perry and that kid from "High School Musical." It was predictable but cute. Joe and my brothers-in-law took all the kids up to Joe's parent's house for the weekend and then met us at the mall on Sunday. I was so excited to see my babies! I missed them! Ella had a bit of an adventure however. A tick decided to take up residence behind her right ear. Luckily, Joe spotted it and attempted to remove it right away, but was unable to get the whole thing, so they had to make a trip to Urgent Care. They numbed the area and then had to remove the tick with a needle. Ella was a trooper, according to Joe, and got a special treat from McDonald's on the way back to Grandpa's. I'm already looking forward to next year.

When we returned home on Sunday afternoon, we quickly unpacked and waited for our friends Gretchen and Mike to come over for a visit. Gretchen is completing her residency in radiology in North Carolina and her husband Mike works in editing for the show, "Jon and Kate Plus 8." I bet he has LOTS of good gossip! I didn't get a chance to ask him about it though. Darn! They were in town for a wedding and had a little time to stop over. Somewhere along the way, we didn't communicate well, and we ended up having a mini college reunion. It was a nice surprise! Many of my college house-mates came into town for the day, including Kathleen, Katie, Niki, Al A., Al B., Gretchen, and me, Al. M. Yep, there were three Allison's living in the same house. And we all go by "Al." It was a nice day, so we were able to enjoy the patio, and Ella was able to run around. I do not see those girls nearly enough. It's crazy to think how that at one point we were all living under the same roof, and now, only three of us live in the same state! I miss them.

We decided to pack up the kids and head over to the Elm Grove Memorial Day Parade on Monday morning. We actually made it on time, but were confused to see people walking the opposite way. We found a parking spot and started to unload, when a gentleman approached us and said, "You know the parade is cancelled, right? Someone was hit by a train." WHAT?!? Amazingly, no one was killed. You can read the whole story here. So we went home, ran some errands, did some stuff around the house, and went to the parade in downtown Milwaukee. Ella had a blast clapping and waving. She told Joe and I that she wants to be a baton twirler. We'll see Ella...we'll see.

The garden has been planted! I'm attempting to grow squash this year, since I've been making it for Nathan. Ella likes it too. Joe and I do not. I'm also trying to grow peppers, green beans, yellow beans, and cucumbers. I tried to organize the garden a little better this year and put down some pavers to make it easier to get in there once things start to grow. Aunt J bought Ella a "Dora Fairy Garden" and we planted it today. Ella was in awe.

And here is a short video of Nathan, just being cute.