Visit with Mom

I'm a bit behind on blogging these days.  Other projects have distracted me.  Dave and I spent Memorial Day working on our garage which has been a bit of a mess ever since we moved in to the house last August.  We were quite successful thanks to Grandma Cecile watching the kids all day.  I had no idea how much happiness a clean and organized garage would bring!  I may just go sit in it for a while.  

Anyway, two weekends ago, my mom came out for a visit.  Every year, Dave joins approximately 40 other guys (including my dad and brother) for an annual golf trip.  And my mom comes out here to spend the weekend with me and the kids.  This year was no exception as the boys took off for four days and six rounds of golf in Tuscon, AZ.  I'm jealous of the 4 days of sunshine, not the 6 rounds of golf.  

We had a lot of fun during Grandma Linda's visit.  And for once, nobody got sick (past golf weekends have included pneumonia, stomach flu, and various other bugs).  Mom and Kate had a couple of days of one-on-one time while I was at work and Jack was at daycare. She got some great pics of Kate at play during multiple hours at our neighborhood playground.  

During her visit, we also made our first trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop.  Dave and I had been once when Kate was first born to make her a bear (Henry).  But we hadn't been back with the kids.  It was a lot of fun.  But after one bunny who needed an outfit, pajamas, shoes, sunglasses and a cell phone (huh?), as well as an outfit and pajamas for Henry the bear, I left the store with significantly less in my bank account.  And this was after saying "no", "maybe next time", and "put it on your wish list" more times than I can count.  Thank goodness Grandma paid for Jack's monkey!  

Kate watching her Bunny being made

Jack watching his monkey being made

Hugs for the monkey!

Kate with her Bunny all decked out and with Henry in his new outfit

Basketball monkey!

The other highlight of the visit was a 3 hour digital photography class that we took while the kids were at school.  I took the day off and we spent the morning learning more about our cameras and how to take better photos.  I basically learned that I need a new camera because mine is outdated :).  But we got some good tips and tricks.  We then had lunch followed by some shopping at the North Bend outlets and the scrapbook store (of course!).  It was a great day and a great weekend!