When Portillo's Comes To Town

Our LONG awaited Portillo's is finally opening! Well, actually in a few weeks. But still, I am excited. I got us tickets for the soft opening test run day and our tickets were for TODAY!

I picked drive-through tickets because we'd have M with us but honestly, that was such a good idea since parking was kind of a nightmare.

I clearly have gotten out of the "take a picture of everything habit" and got no pictures of us during the actual time on the Portillo's property. Ah well. They had drive through helpers who scanned our tickets and then gave us menus.

I had some momentary disappointment that Italian Beef was not a choice today but since it's before it opened for real and it was FREE I moved on quickly. Husband picked a Hot Dog and Onion Rings. I got a Cheeseburger and Fries. We could have gotten pop too but we both just got waters since we are fancy. 

Here are two of my favorite people with their lunch:

Oh Portillo's we are so happy you chose our town to open up a new location! YUM! What a great way to make a Monday not feel like a Monday!

Friday!

Oh man, I am excited that it is Friday! Yesterday I went to C's classroom and talked about writing. It was pretty cool. Yesterday was the first day it got into the 80s in 2019 so they were little sweat balls all rolling around on the carpet.

Obviously, the high temperatures rustled up a pretty good thunderstorm last night. It was glorious. I love a good rain storm. Also obviously, this has canceled soccer for tomorrow already because of field conditions. Poor girl. She will be disappointed. I'm not going to tell her just yet.

Wednesday was the most perfect day ever though. Mid-70s. The kids came home and immediately went back outside.

We played bubbles for like an hour. Then after dinner, we went back out all four of us and played bubbles for another half hour. 

What a wonderful world that gives us sunshine and perfect days. I am wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

What's Up Wednesday

Hello!

We are keeping busy with lots of fun things. Like cupcakes from friends.

This kid got to pick out his birthday book from the library. There is a little card inside celebrating him and he is the first to check it out. 

Then later he kept the tooth fairy busy by losing one of his front teeth! I will spare you all the picture and video of just how wiggly it really was. I was really hoping he would get it out before dinner or sleeping because I was certain he would swallow it. 

Picnic playdates with friends are keeping my girl busy. Today we took it easy and just stayed home besides school Mass. She needed a calm day. Don't we all sometimes? 

I am thrilled it's in the 70s today. Thrilled. Happy Wednesday! 

Muffins With Mom

Today C's class hosted Muffins With Mom! We got an invitation:

Today I came to school and waited for a minute in the hallway looking at the nice artwork.

Then we got to go in and sit with our kindergartener and look at the muffin they made us!

After we prayed a decade of the rosary as a class, we got to read through the I Love Mom books they made for us as gifts. Here are some lovely highlights.

He's not wrong. I do love a good Bobbie! 

Shell noodles are a household comfort food staple over here. And as it happens, Husband and M do not appreciate them on the same level as C and I. So this is spot on as well. 

I do like to write reviews. (Well, let's be honest, sometimes it feels more like work than other times but that's okay.) 

I am so glad I got to go spend some time with my C today. The perfect kickoff to Mother's Day Weekend! 

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Not Much To Tell

Hello! I wish my nearly week-long absence was because of something super interesting but no. Just life. Last Saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day but soccer was canceled because the fields were basically a swamp.

We took a family trip to Freddy's. We've never been there before. But it's basically if Steak n Shake and Culvers had a baby. It was okay. That giant sundae there was a mini! (I was shocked. It was like twice the size we normally get the kids.) 

But they liked it. Also on Saturday, I was reviewing a show that was family friendly so the whole crew came with me. After that, we went to Mass because Sunday was First Communion and we figured we'd give the families space to celebrate! 

But that meant Sunday was a nice lazy day of nothing. Which was really wonderful! Then the rest of this week has been pretty life as normal. The school year is winding down. We are starting to finalize summer plans. Swimming lessons and some day camps are booked. VBS planning is underway. 

Weatherwise it's still very rainy and cool. The high is only 55 today. But... I don't think that it's supposed to rain today which is encouraging. The river is receding which is definitely good news. Hopefully, we will be able to have a soccer game this weekend. We did wind up having practiced in the sprinkling rain Tuesday evening. And only 6 kids showed up, but that's okay. 

And now it's already Thursday. Seems crazy how fast this week has sped by!

So Much Excitement!

It is actually sunny today! And it's not supposed to rain again until Sunday! The Mississippi crested at the highest it has ever been so 2019 has been breaking records right and left. Snow, cold, water. Yay.

Anyway, a while back C wrote a letter to Pakak the walrus. And I wrote an accompanying letter to Erika, Pakak's head trainer. And included some pictures of C through the years to demonstrate his true love for Pakak and walruses.

Because, if you've been here for any length of time, walruses are a big deal at our house!

Yesterday, we got some very special mail because Pakak and Erika wrote back! And my guy's day was made. These are screenshots I took from the video of him opening and reading the letter. The joy of getting the mail long before he is home from school is I was bursting with excitement and prepared to capture his reaction.

I pre-opened the envelope before handing it to him since sometimes he rips the envelope to shreds. They included a special picture of Erika and Pakak holding a sign for C. And I was a fan. So was he.

I mean, it's likely that Pakak doesn't get a whole lot of fan mail, but still. It was exceptionally cool that they took the time to take a picture and write him back.

Most walrus calves are born in May, so that's when the zoo celebrates the birthday of the walruses.  (since they are rescues with no known actual birthdays) Wednesday was the day for them! So here is my guy's favorite guy with his birthday ice and fish cake.

Pakak and C are both turning 7 this May. Isn't that amazing?

Okay well, I hope your weekend brings you as much joy as a kid who got a letter from his favorite walrus.

Flood

So... I don't know how newsworthy it is nationwide but we are definitely flooded.

These are from Tuesday when the HESCO barriers failed. But it just keeps raining. That is the bridge Husband would normally take to work but you almost can't get off of it because there's so much water. It's restricted to one lane each way right now. In theory, the river crested yesterday but there's still rain coming. 

When it really gets down to it, this is a fairly small chunk of our city but it's still pretty crazy. There's just so much water. Our yard has standing water in it because there's just so much rain.