easter----finally

ah, yes easter was a solid month ago, and yes i'm just blogging about it now. let's remember i have a kinda crazy life----with the husband's craaaazy schedule, the kidlets, & working on the house i don't have much downtime. so here we go.......

i took my very 1st solo flight with the kids to go home to PA a couple days before easter. we zipped through security (which was my big concern). HUGE thank you to the nicest tsa worker EVER. you were fabulous & nice. the best i've encountered. once we had our sweatshirts & shoes back on, we headed for a potty break. come on, with a 2 & 4 year old it had to be the 1st stop!! after that we hit the mcdonald's for our breakfast of champions!! we enjoyed a leisurely meal of pancakes, sausage, & hashbrowns while calling MiMi (my mom ) to make sure she was awake & ready to pick us up in philly!

after eating we trekked down through the terminal to our gate. we hit up the bathroom one more time & waited to board. now, rae didn't want to fly. she wanted to drive so we could stay at a hotel. beast, on the other hand, was super excited. he just kept saying "i'm gonna fly! i'm gonna fly!" so, which one was the problem when it was time to board the plane? beast of course!!! he hates stepping on cracks in the floor, so the teeniest tiny space between the plane & the airport thingie (the name escapes me right now!) set him off. let the tantrum begin! so, i had to pick him up & carry him back to our seats while everyone gave me the shut-your-kid-up look. yes, i was THAT person. great.

we make it to our seats, & he keeps freaking out b/c he didn't want to sit in his own seat. i held him until he settled & gave him oreos (his snack of choice). when the 1st bag was gone & he asked for more, i told him he couldn't have them until he sat in his own seat & put his buckles on. after 10 minutes of negotiating, he went for it. then he was fabulous!!! both kids played their leapsters (or, as we call them, nintendos!). beast even stayed in his seat while i took rae to the bathroom.....again. yes. everything was great until the descent. it was cloudy & windy. as i was getting nauseous, rae was having fun & beast was white knuckling his armrest & my hand. poor guy. i asked if he was ok & he just shook his head no. finally he fell asleep until we touched down.

we found MiMi easily, grabbed our bag & headed for home.

on thursday the kids, MiMi, & i headed out to glance at houses (seeing as i miss the place so much!), say hi to 1 of her coworkers, grab lunch, & hit up the mall. it was a nice, easy day---except for when rae turned around & walked right into a display. she cried but didn't make much noise in the store. she's pretty tough, but her middle name most definitely should NOT be grace!

friday we got up earlier & went to a different mall in search of a cream sweater for rae to wear on easter. do you have any idea how difficult it is to find cream?! geez! everything was white, but i finally got what we needed.....along with a dress we did NOT plan on!! but my shopaholic ways got the best of me. it was a steal at 1/2 off & it's GORGEOUS. that evening i headed out for dinner with 2 of best friends, jen & melissa. i've known jen since kindergarten & mel since 7th grade. it was so much fun catching up. i miss them terribly.

saturday 2 of my other fabulous friends from my days at LHU drove up. i hadn't seen them in almost 2 years so it was crazy! we had an awesome time just talking & hanging out at my parents'.

that night we colored eggs of course!!!

it was all fun & games until beast dropped 1. and then another!!!

the kids had a great time with uncle j (who they don't see nearly enough)

(self-portrait)

we ended the night with my fave snack from home---middleswarth bbq chips!!!

easter morning the kids got up & ate breakfast. they didn't even care that the easter bunny had left a FABULOUS trail of candy from their room to their overflowing buckets!!! we all got dressed up for church & a trip to southern PA for some family stuff!

beast didn't want his pic taken with rae, so he tried to push her away.

princess rae

handsome man beast

the fam minus daddy (he stayed in MN to work so we could afford the trip!)

after church we drove down to my aunt's amazing house. the 3 youngest (well not counting the newborn) had an egg hunt. these are my gpa's 2 youngest great grandkids & his great great granddaughter!

rae, mckenna, beast are just too cute!

i enjoyed some much needed time with my cousins & the rest of my fam. it really made me realize just how hard it is to be away from them. these 2 were teasing me b/c i'm the oldest & used to be the tallest. now i'm the short one!

lauren, tiff, & me

and i of course had to steal some time with baby noah!! he's just so perfect. and the fever kicked into high gear!!

after a few hours with this side of the fam, we headed to my grandma's house & spent the night.

when we were done visiting with great MiMi we headed back north. beast & uncle j had a very serious convo about oasis. beast even asked to hear the song again!!

when we got back to my parents', beast & i crashed. it was a crazy busy weekend!!!

that day was also my bday. we didn't do anything too special. i got to choose my bday dinner which is custom at home. we enjoyed takeout from romeo's. they have the BEST chicken cheesesteak & wings. yum!!! and we had some ice cream.

tuesday was our last day at home. we just hung out at the house & packed up. the kids & i enjoyed our last couple hours with MiMi, PaPa (who was working nights so wasn't involved in too much of our trip :( ), & Uncle J.

wednesday we headed back to philly so we could fly back to daddy!!! again security was easy, though the workers weren't nearly as nice!! so much for the city of brotherly love! we did have to wait extra at the airport due to weather but we managed. the kids got "wings" at the ticket counter even though they already have a bunch at home!! there were no issues boarding the plane this time & we had 2 of the same flight attendants! the head flight attendant remembered us (well, she said she remembered how cute beast is!). beast's only issue was takeoff. he reached over & grabbed my hand. it was pretty damn cute!! we landed in minneapolis, hopped off the plane, & headed to grab our bags & see mattie.

(edit: when we exited the plane & got into the terminal there was a guy who i suppose kinda looked like mattie standing there. rae screamed "daddy!!" & took of running toward him. i had to stop her from wrapping her little arms around some random stranger!)

the kids & i were starving so we grabbed some lunch at red robin, but poor beast was so exhausted he slept through the entire thing!! he just laid in the booth next to me & slept. i ended up sleeping on the way home & all evening, straight through to the next morning!! good thing i work from home & just had to crawl out of bed in my pjs & walk downstairs!!

it was a FABULOUS trip.

but it was hard to leave.

i'm proud of myself & the kids for braving our 1st flight without matt. and although it was much, much better than i expected, i don't plan on doing it again anytime soon!! (oh, and rae LOVED flying & no longer feels the need to drive the 18 hour trip just to stay in a hotel!)