Sunday, April 14, 2013

Spring Breakers...

Its hard to believe spring break has come and gone already!
At first I was slightly irritated at the fact that Gwinnett County chose to have their spring break on the 2nd week of April instead of the 1st week like it has traditionally always been.

But seeing that the 1st week of April didn't have 1/2 as nice of weather as the 2nd week did- I know they were smart in that decision making! Best weather ever!
Last year we spent some time in Chattanooga, TN for the girls break. I was nice! (other than the food poisoning or something we all got on our last day/trip home= no fun!)
I said then that this year we were just going to the beach! WELL- schedules changed, and a beach trip was impossible for all of us to attend. I am brave- but not brave enough to travel to the beach with 4 alone. No thanks! SO I promised the girls they were going to have a fun spring beach, beach-less. Leading up to the break I paid attention to things they always asked to do or wanted to do. And end result made a list of things to do every day!!
What was even more exciting- I didn't tell the girls what we were doing until the day of!
Some things they knew we were going to do- they just didn't know when!

Day 0, Sunday-
Originally I had nothing planned on Sunday but to go to Church, do laundry and get good rest for the upcoming week. BUT then with the help of my mom, we decided it would be a perfect night to go to the laser show at Stone Mountain! Brilliant! And girls were SO happy that their cousin, Hannah, got to join us!
Weather was perfect! It got a little chilly after dark, but nothing a hoodie couldn't handle.

 Check out girls shirts the picked out by themselves! SO PROUD!




Day 1, Monday-
My mother planned ahead and took this day off to have some fun with us. This was one of the best days! Girls had so much fun! We started early, Yellow River Game Ranch opened at 10- we ere there about 10:15. Girls had a blast! We originally planned to take sandwiches to the park afterwards for a picnic. However- my mother decided to surprise girls with Golden Corral for lunch. Seriously my kids ask to go there like every week, and the answer is always NO! lol so they were stoked to go!
After lunch we headed to Tribble Mill park. There has never been a more perfect day for the park. It was gorgeous. Kids were worn out after this! I thought they would all fall asleep, but nope! They slept good that night though!
 We had a visitor in the middle of our picture ;)








 Maggie has not been very photogenic... lol
At the park- little ones feeling real cool in those shades :) 
 With Nana!

 One of my favorite pictures of us, ever! Love it!








 Poor Abby took a little headache, she's the only one in the family pollen really bothers :(
 

 
Day 2, Tuesday-
Since girls are in school all week long, we rarely get the chance to visit Nana at work. And my mom talks about her grand babies all the time- her co-workers were in need of a visit!
There is this very delicious pizza spot down the street from her job, so we planned to go there for lunch! So delish! Nana's good friend Amanda joined us. We love her!!
My mom works in Clarkston, so on the way home down 78 we have to pass Stone Mountain. The girls wanted to play at the park again, so I figured why not take advantage of their awesome playground :) It was HOT- so girls only lasted about 30-40 minutes. But they had a blast!
And even better- they got ice cream after! Another awesome day!
 Sunglasses Clique!
 When girls got dressed Abby says"Mom! Why do we all match, again?!" She hates it. And honestly this time it was a total accident!!! lol It just comes natural now ;)
 Nana and Amanda!
 Nana and Mommy!
They were pretty tired of pictures by now ;)

At Stone Mountain park!

 
Five Spot= Delicious! 






 
 

 
 
Day 3, Wednesday-
This day was kind of a go with the flow day. Originally it was going to be our movie day, but because of rain moving in, we moved the movie till Friday and canceled our Friday plan. (drive through Safari- save it for the summer break) So Anyway on the way home from our busy Tuesday we passed IHOP. All the girls asked at almost the same time if we could go for dinner. Um no, too much for one day! So I surprised them with it for breakfast the next day! And luckily Daddy had a late night at work so he hadn't gone to bed yet. He got to join us for brunch!
After lunch Maggie and Madison went to my sisters to play while I took Abigail and Aaliyah to the Mall of Ga for some shopping ;) Abby had like 4 gift cards from her birthday, and they both are in need of some cooler clothes. Seriously girls grew a ton since last year. Aaliyah's shorts don't even cover her booty! It was nice getting some big girl time too!
 




 

 
 
Day 4, Thursday-
A while back I did a painting at Painting with a Twist (see my last blog post!) They were advertising a kids camp for Spring Break. I immediately knew that Abigail and Aaliyah would definitely want to partake! I originally hoped my niece would be able to join too, but the girls breaks were different weeks. Luckily some of Abby's friends were signed up too!
The original plan was to take girls to the sweet shop next door on the square in Lawrenceville after the class. But unfortunately a meeting at work was called that I had to attend. So while big girls were in their paint class, M&M and I went to get a snack and play, then picked up cupcakes from the shop to take back to Nana's for girls to enjoy while I snuck away to work for a hour. Poo! But girls enjoyed them!!

 With their friends!
 My little artists!
 This day was also pretty special- it was the 'birthday' of finding out there was going to be 2 of them!
 Picking up yummy cupcakes!
 We got back to the girls class right as they were finishing up and drying their work!

Awesome job they did!!
 M&M might have been slightly jealous and wanted a picture holding the painting too!
 
Day 4, Friday-
MOVIE DAY! The girls, well Abigail and Aaliyah, have been wanting to go see Oz the Great and Powerful forever! I wanted to save it for their break though. I was a little worried about M&M as they aren't really considered 'movie goers', and my niece had recently seen it and warned us of a few scary parts. I figured worse case we would have to hold M&M. So we went for it.
Girls were pretty pumped! We decided to go to the Discover mills theatre bc they had the best time for the movie. I wanted to go before 12 to get the better deal. I mean I did not want to pay $60 when I could pay $36! The movie was at 11:25- Perfect! Daddy had worked the night before so he was pretty tired, but he was awesome enough to have some coffee and stick it out to enjoy the day with us!
Movie was awesome. Michael and I might have enjoyed it more than anyone else ;)
There was definitely a few moments that were 'scary'. However M&M really watched about 15 min of the movie all together. They were more concerned with all the candy and popcorn they were getting to eat!! And switching seats every few minutes! But all in all it was a success.
1/2 way during the movie a narrator started telling the story of the movie. I thought it was awkward and couldn't figure out if it was part of movie or not. While walking out I was telling Michael I was going to the desk to ask bc the story being told was a few seconds before movie story line and I thought it was super annoying!! As we were walking out a guy was handing out passes to everyone and apologizing for the inconvenience of the narration! BONUS! 6 free movie tickets!! :) SWEET! So now we are planning another family movie night to see The Croods! I think M&M will enjoy that much better!!
After movie we walked around the mall. Then left to go have lunch at my job. Girls love to eat at Gary's Bistro, and this would be there last chance! My job is changing things up a little, so I knew the girls would want to experience what they were used to one more time! They enjoyed it!
It was another fabulous day, but maybe even more of one of my favorites because it was all 6 of us!!
 
 Awesome picture of Michael, I know :)


 

 
 
It was a wonderful week! I love getting to spend time with my babies! And nothing is better than seeing them all 4 get along and have fun together!! Even though we would have loved to have been on the beach, their Spring Break was awesome! And we will be on the beach the end of May!!
Come on sunshine!!