What a Weekend

So this past weekend was quite whirlwind! We were go, go, go everyday so it made the whole weekend just zip right on by.

The craziness kicked off on Thursday when hubby's sis, her husband and three kiddos came in town and stayed with us for the night. The rest of his family (his mom, his middle sis, her husband and their son) joined us for dinner and dancing. Dancing was provided courtesy of Just Dance 3 on Wii. Our living room was the stage for a kid vs. adult dance off (which the adults won, by the way).

Friday was an errand evening for me and Chris. When we arrived home after work, it was already almost 8:30 PM. After that, I started making my nieces and oldest nephew a couple of back-to-school gifts. All the kids received a bag of Swedish Fish with a note saying "You're O-FISH-ally in ___ grade!" My oldest niece is headed to 5th grade (in her school district, 5th grade is at the intermediate level) so she'll have her first real locker. We decided to buy a mirror for her new space with a note that said, "Life is like a mirror- smile at it and it will smile back at you," along with a little note wishing her a great year. The other two are still in elementary, but we didn't want them to feel less important, so we gave them each a set of pencils saying, "You're so sharp," as well as a wish for an awesome year. We got the the fish and the pencil idea from Pinterest, so I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. ;) You would think making something like that wouldn't take very long, but we didn't finish everything until almost 1 AM. I'm so sad I forgot to take a photo, but I'll ask my sis-in-law for pics when she gives the gifts to the kids on their first day of school next week. :)

Saturday was our youngest nephew's 2nd birthday. He's a huge Toy Story fan so that was his party's theme this year. Since Chris and I were Woody and Jesse for Halloween in 2008, we decided to reprise our roles for this special occasion-

Chris and I with our smaller versions

Sadly, our little surprise did not go over so well with the birthday boy, but the other kids in the play park seemed to enjoy us. :) We had a few kids come over and talk to us and a couple people ask to take photos. It was definitely a fun, memorable experience and we're both glad we did it.

I took some photos of the party and will hopefully post them here soon. Happy 2nd birthday, Jack! :)

After the party, we made our way over to Great Wolf Lodge, a family indoor waterpark resort, to continue our family time.

We started out in the cabana his sis rented by the pool and then Chris went to play pool basketball with our oldest nephew while I hung with our nieces and watched them collect bubbles in the hot tub.Unfortunately, a storm hit our area, so we had to head indoors. This just gave us time for the MagiQuest with the kids. This particular adventure has taken them three visits at Great Wolf to complete. But, in order to finish the adventure, you must defeat the dragon-

Chris and Julianne making their first attempt

After our quest, we had a couple more hours of quality time. We ate, laughed and rapped (yes, you read that correctly) before Chris and I headed home.

Sunday brought a brunch date with the Linvilles. We met Angeleque, Hunter and Hunter's parents at one of our favorite haunts, Oddfellows. We love seeing Hunter's parents because they're such warm, sweet people who are just nice to be around. :)

As an added bonus, we got to meet up with our friend, Suzanne, and brave the crowds at the mall during tax-free weekend. For all the hype, it really wasn't that crowded this year. And after a long day, we ended it with a quick trip to Velvet Taco for my new favorite snack, corn cups-

YUM!

So that was our crazy, full-of-fun, exhausting weekend. It was fun, but now is time for rest. Have a great week, all!