Busy Fun Weekend!

FRIDAY
This past Friday, the four of us, and Diego, drove up to my parents' house for a long weekend! We left a bit later than planned, but still arrived just after 7 pm. We had planned to take the kids to see UP! The movie started at 7:30, so we rushed to the theater after unloading the car--only to find they had changed the movie times. We ended up going to play Putt-putt. The kids had a blast! Josiah actually did very well, when he would stop and pay attention to what he was doing. But halfway through, he decided it was more fun just to pick the ball up and move it closer to the hole by hand. Elizabeth did very well, and even got a hole-in-one on one of the shots that took the rest of us four tries! We were at a dairy, so we went to see the animals in the petting barn. There were some very young baby goats that still had wobbly legs. There was also a mama-to-be that was so stretched, we could see the kid pushing the sides of her belly! We finished the evening with ice cream...yummm! (Unfortunately, the only pics from the evening are on my mom's phone. I'll have to get them later.)


SATURDAY
Saturday was a special day for Elizabeth and my mom! We decided to take Mom out for mani/pedi for her coming birthday. Becky, my brother's girlfriend, joined us...and we had a lot of fun. Elizabeth chose a very bright pink for her fingers and toes. And we convinced my mom to do a very pretty red for both her fingers and toes. I think Elizabeth was a little disappointed because the owner didn't let her do the full deal with soaking her feet and all. But she enjoyed it, anyway. This was my mom's first actual pedicure! I forgot to ask her what she thought of it :-D


While waiting for us, Becky took Elizabeth up to get some very good caramel, chocolate apples. And then we headed up for ear piercing!

**Elizabeth and Grandma, with some help from us, made the deal that when Elizabeth stopped sucking her thumb at night they would go to get their ears pierced. Elizabeth stopped sucking her thumb during the day years ago, but we have just not been able to break the habit during the night. With her turning five, and thinking about losing teeth, we definitely wanted to have her stop now. We have tried so many things, but it had to come down to her desire to do it! What finally ended up working was letting her choose band-aids to put on her thumb each night. She will still suck her thumb once in a while if we forget the band-aid, but she has been doing SOOO well! She is the one who remembers pretty much every night to put the band-aid on. So we are very proud of her!**

Anyway, back to ear piercing ;-) Elizabeth had been saying for a while she was going to pick pink earrings...not a big surprise. However, when we were there, she chose little diamonds! (We bought a pair of pink flowers for when she can change her earrings in a few weeks.) Grandma went first. We talked Elizabeth through everything that happening to Grandma...cleaning her ears, marking the spot, then putting the earrings in. Then is was Elizabeth's turn. I think she started psyching herself out. We had explained that it would pinch. But we asked her several times as they did each step if she wanted to do it. She kept saying yes, though each time was less enthusiastic. I think the pinch and the following sting were a little more than Elizabeth expected...that plus already having herself upset and being extra tired, she cried for a few minutes and just wanted to be held. But we did a bit more shopping, and she was back to herself. By the evening, she was showing everyone her ears. She has had a few moments of saying she wishes she didn't get them pierced. However, that is usually when they are a bit sore after sleeping. It is helping that she and Grandma did it together, so they are cleaning them together.

I think she made a great choice for the earrings, and they look great on her! :-D (The pic is while we're driving down the highway in my mom's convertible!)

We window shopped for a bit and then headed out for Mom's surprise! Post and pics to come.