Da' girls, in Da-lute!

I had a great weekend away with 5 of my dear friends! We were blessed with a whole weekend together in a hotel up in Duluth, MN. Our friend, Jody's husband does a lot of travel with his job. They had a lot of points stored up for hotel stays, and she graciously covered the hotel fees using their points~ thank you so much, Jody!! It was so much fun to go away and be Sarah for the weekend. I did bring little Cole with me, because I am nursing...and he is only 3 months old today! I still can't believe he is 3 months old already! Anyway, my husband came home at about 11 on Friday (April 3rd) and I was getting ready to go. I was the designated driver, because I am one of those cool moms who drive a mini van! ~lol. I first picked up Anna, then Lisa, next Jeannie, and finally Jody and her princess~K. It was a full van with 5 women, 2 babies (and their car seats)...not to mention all of our stuff.

I am the driver, Anna is in the passenger seat, Jeannie is behind me, and in the front of this picture you see Jody on the left and Lisa on the right. Baby K is in between them.
We all did a good job packing lightly, and I have to say I am mightily impressed!
Friday night, we had dinner at the Giant Panda (a Chinese restaurant). We all enjoy Chinese, but I think we were all a bit disappointed with this restaurant. They didn't put in fresh food, or restock what ran out, we didn't get our beverages refilled~ actually the waitress never came back, except with the bill, and their ice cream machine was broken (looks like it had been like that for a long time). I would understand if they were super busy, but that wasn't the case. At least we still had fun and great conversations. I was shocked at this lady that was there, though. She came over to us and wanted to see Cole. No biggie...but then, she squatted down to see him and was touching him over and over. I am very uncomfortable with strangers touching my kids, especially my newborns. I don't mind people admiring my cute kids, but caressing their cheeks, putting their nuk in their mouth, touching his chin and his hair....PLEASE, have some common courtesy. What do you do? Do you tell them to back off and stop touching your baby? She just talked on and on for about 10-15 minutes. I think it was a bit rude, especially since we were all there to socialize. There is something to be said about manners and etiquette.
Anyway...we were off to the Comfort Inn and Suites. We had 2 double beds and a hide-a-bed couch in the room. We also had a refrigerator and a microwave. It was just right for our girls weekend lock-in! We had to snap a few photos of us all giddy. Jeannie had a timer on her camera, so she jumped on the end of the bed to get in the photo for these.
From Left to Right: Lisa, Anna, me, Jody, and Jeannie. See our hands? Yeah, it was planned.
Time to make the kissy faces! We had this on-going teasing about the "control freak" a.k.a. Lisa, but come to think of it, I think I may have stole that role for the pictures...I kept saying, "Now lets do this...."

I love this photo best! I love how happy we look to have such a special weekend away together!
Psst...I didn't have my foot up for this photo, either. Opps, I missed that instruction! :)
This picture is of us in the van driving down the super big hill. You can see Lake Superior from this glance. The lake is HUGE...one of the biggest, and it is beautiful anytime of the year.
This is a photo of the back of the hotel. There are walk paths all over. Duluth is a big-time tourist city. It is a favorite city of mine living here.
The three amigos! We always have a grand time together! I think Jody should get square-shaped glasses, too!
Sweet baby Cole sleeping so soundly. I love watching him sleep! He is so snuggly~
The babies loving on each other. Cole is not going to let her go.
We had a great time, soaking our feet, painting our nails (fingers and toes), and Jody and I died our hair. I gave Jody a hair cut, too! It was fun to pamper ourselves and each other!
Me and Anna!
Miss K, Lisa and I! I love the look Miss K is giving us!
Jody and I!
Jeannie and I! Notice my hair color? This is pretty much my natural color these days. Terry didn't notice, although I really wasn't surprised. It is OK, it just isn't his thing to notice that.
Yep, we had a pillow fight on Saturday night. This was so much fun! Lisa and I had a blast! My favorite was tackling her down on the bed. We even got security to come and knock on our door from the racket! Yes!! We got in trouble!
Two on the bed, and the little one said, "Roll over, roll over...."
Sleeping so peacefully! Doesn't he look snug as a bug?? The beds were very comfortable and great to sleep on. We did get a night in the hot tub. A few of us jumped into the pool~ literally...Jeannie was happily floating a long, and Lisa and I did a cannon ball near her! It was a hoot! I wish I would have had pictures of us gals in the hot tub. None of us thought of it, though.
Here are the little ones on our trip...Cole and K. It was their first weekend in a hotel together. They were so good the whole weekend! They got along great, too!
Brrr....it was chilly, but great to have this photo! We asked a guy who was running by, and he got a bit overwhelmed when we all handed him our cameras. He joked and even said he could go get his camera.

Then, we headed home. It was sad to end our time together...but we had a grand time! We definitely want to plan something like this again! It was so refreshing and therapeutic! This is a good portion of ladies from my monthly ladies night out that I talk about. We so much enjoy each other's company. Thank you Jody, for supplying the means to escape life for awhile, and thank you to all of you ladies for a great weekend...and lasting memories!

You gotta check out this contest...

My friend, Jody over at Make a Joyful Noise, has a very creative and fun contest going on! You have to go check it out, try your guessing, and enter to win an amazing Tastefully Simple treats! She has a list of 13 random Christmas Songs (OR lines from the songs), that has only the first letters of the word. If you can figure out all of the songs, you will be entered into the drawing for a chance to win. The prize is the Artichoke & Spinach Warm Dip Mix, Warm the Oven! Savory Dip Mix, Spinach and Herb Dip Mix and the Bountiful Beer Bread Mix - Retail Value just over $35.00 with Shipping and Handling. Make sure if you are entering that she knows who you are and has a way to contact you back in case you are the winner! (HINT: You don't actually have to know them to enter, that would require thinking - just post a comment!)Here is an example: H A H J C would be Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
Giveaway ends on Saturday, December 20th at Midnight and the winner will be chosen by Random on Sunday. What a fun contest, and you may find your self singing as you are playing along! Thanks for the fun contest Jody, and the chance to win your generous prize!

We had a busy weekend...

Friday night, I went to the monthly Ladies Night out at our church. This month we did a Christmas-y themed get-together. It was a cookie exchange (which I didn't do, because it wasn't until last minute that we decided I could go...so no time to bake). Plus, it was a $10 white elephant gift exchange. I brought 2 books that I have reviewed previously, to give as gifts. It was such a fun night, and we even had new visitors. Lisa, Jody, and our friend Anna did the planning, organizing and preparations. You ladies did a fantastic job, and I want to say THANK YOU for all your work to make it a great night!
They did a fantastic job! They decorated the ceiling with Christmas bulbs hanging, table clothes on the tables, and we each had name tags. The name tags were fun because they all related to Christmas or winter. I picked the name Vixen because I thought it was fitting to me. ~lol. We each wore a pin with balls hanging on it to play a game. We had to use our "nick names" when we addressed each other, and if you "caught" someone using the person's real name, you could take their balls away. The winner with the most collected balls was given a prize at the end. That was a fun game!
To get our white elephant gift, we played the game where you roll dice to get double numbers to get a prize. Then, once we all had a gift, we opened them, and then did another 10 minutes of rolling dice where we could "exchange" our gift with someone else. I had originally opened up a butter container. It was an OK gift, but my eyes were on the Mikasa martini glasses (set of 4). I did end up getting them, and I was so thankful! Not only do I LOVE Mikasa, Terry and I do enjoy martinis and entertaining. Of coarse, I haven't had a martini in a long time, and they are saved for special occasions, but they are tasty. These beautiful glasses can be used to put dips and desserts in them, too. I was so happy that I got it. The lady I had switched with ended up really needing the butter container, too...so it was a win win.
After the gift exchange, we played games. Lisa had 3 new games that we needed to help her try out. She got the games to review, and it was fun new games to try. The night ended about 1:30'ish this time. I wasn't planning on staying after 1:00 AM, because we were leaving early in the morning, BUT it was Ladies Night Out, and that just happens once a month. I really hope to make it next month. It is right around the time when my baby is due...so we will see.
Saturday morning, we finished up packing, loaded the car and headed on our way to my husband's side family Christmas. On the way, we stopped at a train show. Terry and the boys went to the train show, and Madelyn and I went to the mall for girl time and shopping. We had a few items to pick up, and a few Christmas gifts to purchase. It was fun to have some one on one time with Madelyn, and Terry had a great time with the boys. After that, we stopped for lunch, and went up North. There were a lot of people in Grandma's house! We snacked, opened gifts, and had supper. Then, Terry, our family, his brother and his family, and Terry's Mom went downstairs and did our family Christmas. It was fun to have that time together. Madelyn got a little cell phone with a purse, dress up shoes, and a necklace...then, when it was all on...she wiggled her little booty and said, "Oooo, Look at Me! Look at me!" It was so funny!
Sunday, we went to church, and then watched the kid's Christmas program. It was snowing and blowing like crazy, so we knew we needed to head for home right after church. We did stop at Terry's Grandma & Mom's house to grab a bite to eat and pack up the van. Then, we made our way through the snow and ice. We did get together, part way home, at my friend's house. We had planned on getting together to celebrate our friend's birthday. It was a fun time to get together, eat some great food, and just touch base again. I miss the days that we just went up to Perkins and talked for hours and hours. Now, with marriage and kids, our lives have become so busy. I was thankful for our time together, though.
It was a great weekend, and now it is good to be home. We got snow and ice over the weekend, and I think more snow is in the forecast. I do love snow, just the -40 below wind chills are a bit much.

An Old Fashioned Christmas

Last night, Terry and I went to our annual "Old Fashioned Christmas" at church. This is a fun event where people can host a table. With being a host, they can decorate it as they choose. Then, they invite people to sit at their table. The evening is filled with fun entertainment and catered food. It was a fun evening. This year, we sat at our friend's tables. My dear friends, Lisa and Jody, hosted their tables with their husbands. Another friend that sat at the table was Jeannie. Lisa and Jody made a "girls" table, and their hubby's hosted a "guys" table. It was fun and inventive. They did this last year, and it was such a hit, they did it again. Last year, Terry and I hosted a table. Terry is a big time train hobbyist, and we had a train running around our table. You can see pictures by clicking here.
This was the "guys" table. It was the hunting theme. The "gifts" (hand warmer and beef jerky)was wrapped in duct tape, and I thought that was pretty clever! The salt and pepper shakers was a fish head/tail.
The "girls" table was a pretty snowflake theme. There was a fun winter scene in a glass cake container for the center piece. The lights were candles and blinking snowflakes. I thought it was cute how Lisa put the napkins in a tied ball ornament. She also tied ribbon around the mugs to spruce them up...so creative!
I took pictures of some of the tables, but the one picture I missed taking was of Terry and I. I even said something to him last night, and we just didn't get the photo. Him and I were pretty tired that night, so I think that is why we missed it.

The entertainment was a barbershop men's quartet. They were pretty good. When I think of Barbershop, though...I think of acapella, and they had music. At one point in their performance, they had 2 of our elders and the pastor come up on stage. They sang part of a Christmas carol, and the guys had to sing the next line. I think they did great! Terry was very witty that night, because he had made a few other comical fill-ins to the songs! One that Terry filled in (just singing it to me) was...."All I want for Christmas is my...." to which Terry said, "A good night's sleep!" I gave an AMEN to that one! Unfortunately, Madelyn had a horrible night Saturday night. She was up from about midnight until 4:30 AM. She cried and hollered on and off every 10-15 minutes. She has been waking up a lot in the evenings and we aren't sure what is going on with her. We definitely would love a change with that.

Anyway, the evening was fun...fun to dress up, spend time with friends, have great laughter, eat some great food, and have some entertainment. Thank you Lisa and Jody!