Easter

We celebrated Easter in Rochester this year.  My parents' church had an Easter egg hunt with other fun activities that we went to in the morning.  Later in the afternoon, we had an Easter egg hunt at my parents' house and Easter dinner since my dad was flying out for work on Easter Sunday.

We went to church Easter morning and the girls were excited about wearing their new dresses:

The next weekend, we had an Easter meal in Albert Lea with Dave's family followed by an Easter egg hunt out at his aunt and uncle's house.

Abby turns 9!

Abby had fun celebrating her 9th birthday this year!  She enjoyed cupcakes from Cakewalk and opening presents the Friday night before her birthday.

That Saturday, she had a dance competition, then went to a Timberwolves game and stayed in downtown Minneapolis with my dad for the night.

On Sunday the 2nd, her actual birthday, she and my dad met up with the rest of us (my mom, Norah, and I, plus Dave's parents) at Chuck E. Cheese.

The next weekend, Abby had her friend Olivia over for a sleepover Friday night, and then we took two of her friends from school/daycare (Olivia and Sarah) out for a pizza lunch and to the movies.  The girls had fun picking out a box of candy for the movie at Target before the show.

At Abby's 9 year check up, she was excited to not have any shots this year!  She weighed in at 52.6 pounds (12th percentile) and was 4 feet, 4 inches tall (44th percentile).  I can't believe that she will be in the double digits next year!

Abby's 9-year interview

Favorite color:  blue
Least favorite color:  black
Favorite book:  Out of My Mind
Favorite fruit:  canteloupe
Favorite vegetable:  cooked broccoli
Favorite TV show:  Camp Lake Bottom (on Netflix)
Favorite movie:  Baby's Day Out
Favorite food:  fish and mac & cheese
Favorite lunch:  pizza
Favorite thing to wear:  footie pajamas
Favorite snack:  Goldfish crackers
Favorite zoo animal:  zebra
Best friend:  Avery and Sarah
Favorite cereal:  Cinnamon Life
Favorite drink:  Fiji water
Thing I like to do with Mommy:  have her read to me
Thing I like to do with Daddy:  play with him
Thing I like to do with Norah:  play with her
Thing I like to do with Sadie:  cuddle
Favorite store:  Target
Favorite toy:  fidget spinner
Favorite game:  Sequence
Favorite song:  I'm Still Standing
Favorite thing to do outside:  play with Lily and Gavin
Favorite holiday:  my birthday
What I want to be when I grow up:  teacher
What makes me happy:  when I get to play with my friends
What makes me sad:  when it's raining outside and we want to play outside
What I like about Daddy:  scratchy beard
What I like about Mommy:  snuggling
What I like about Norah:  I can read to her
What I like about Sadie:  petting her
If I could go anywhere in the world, I'd go to:  Florida
If I could change my name, it would be:  Tori
One thing I do the best:  reading
Favorite thing about school:  Media
The coolest person on earth:  Greg
Favorite sport:  dance
If I had one wish, it would be:  to have a baby sister or brother (or a cousin)
Something I used to do when I was little:  sleep
3 words that best describe me:  talented, helpful, reader
Now that I'm 9:  sometimes I don't have to sit with a carseat

Matilda

This year for the girls' birthdays, my parents got tickets to see the musical "Matilda" at the Orpheum Theater during our spring break.  Since Dave wasn't getting around too well, my sister joined us for the show.  My dad had hotel points, so was able to get us a room at a hotel just around the corner from the theater.  It was such a great show and fun to stay downtown!

Norah's 5-year interview

Favorite color:  red
Least favorite color:  green
Favorite book:  My Little Pony books
Favorite fruit:  blueberries
Favorite vegetable:  carrots
Favorite TV show:  Elena of Avalor
Favorite movie:  Aladdin
Favorite food:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Favorite lunch:  peanut butter and jelly
Favorite thing to wear:  Elena shirt
Favorite snack:  crackers
Favorite zoo animal:  zebra
Best friend:  Harper
Favorite cereal:  Chocolate/peanut butter puffs
Favorite drink:  strawberry milk
Thing she likes to do with Mommy:  play Barbies
Thing she likes to do with Daddy:  play wrestling
Thing she likes to do with Abby:  play Barbies
Thing she likes to do with Sadie:  feed her
Favorite store:  Target
Favorite toy:  Barbies
Favorite game:  Zingo
Favorite song:  Let it Go
Favorite thing to do outside:  swings
Favorite holiday:  Christmas
What I want to be when I grow up:  doctor
What makes me happy:  playing with Mommy
What makes me sad:  when Mommy is gone
What I like about Daddy:  when he tickles me
What I like about Mommy:  when she's here
What I like about Abby:  when she cuddles with me
What I like about Sadie:  when she barks
Now that I'm 5:  I can color

Norah turns 5!

Norah turned 5 on March 3rd...I know I repeat myself every year, but I truly can't believe how fast time has gone.  This year seems extra crazy, because I know she is going to KINDERGARTEN in the fall!  I just went to her kindergarten roundup a few weeks ago, and it's hard to imagine that she will be starting this August.  In some ways, she seems so little, but I know she is excited for it and has loved her year in preschool.

Norah's birthday was unfortunately on a weekday this year, so we had to wake up early.  Luckily for Norah, I guess, she woke up really early--around 5/5:30 and that gave me time to run to the bakery for birthday donuts in the morning.  It also gave Norah time to open all of her presents.  She really didn't have any special things she was wishing for, except for a mermaid tail Snuggie that she had seen on t.v. and at Target.

My mom had sent some packages for Norah to open for a few days leading up to her birthday.  In one package was a gift card to Papa Murphy's, so we had a pizza supper after school/daycare and watched Norah's choice of movie (Aladdin) and had some neighbor friends over to play for a little bit.  With Dave being so immobile from breaking his ankle, we really didn't do anything big to celebrate.  Hopefully over spring break we can do something fun to celebrate both Norah and Abby's birthdays!

The week after her birthday, I took her to see her doctor for her 5-year check up.  She was healthy, and did great with everything leading up to her 4 shots.  She was not excited about that at all, but she celebrated the shots being over with a dilly bar on the way to pick up Abby from school.  She weighed in at 35 pounds (17th percentile) and was 3'5" tall (22nd percentile).

Elena party

Last weekend, we hosted the girls' joint birthday party.  Greg and Rose Mary flew in from Seattle, both of my grandmas were able to come up from Iowa (along with all of my aunts/uncles on my mom's side and one of my cousin's sons), my parents and sister, and Dave's parents joined us.  The girls wanted an Elena of Avalor themed party, which was perfect since Dave's mom had given them Elena dresses for Christmas for our trip to Disney World.  Friday night, the girls helped decorate the house and cupcakes.  Everyone came up for lunch on Saturday and stayed until early afternoon.  We had tacos, chips and salsa, fruit, veggies/dip, and cupcakes for dessert.  It was so nice to be able to use our basement and new couch to hang out in.

Greg and Rose Mary spent the night, so my parents and sister also hung around for awhile that evening until heading back to Rochester later on.  The girls had fun getting some extra time in with Greg and Rose Mary on Sunday as well, and going out to lunch with them before they had to leave for their flight.  It was a fun weekend, and the girls have lots of thank you notes to write for the nice presents they received!