January Traditions!

Last weekend Scott and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary (holy smokes!) with a night out.  Scott surprised with me a beautiful bouquet of roses and white hydrangeas (our wedding flowers) and wrote on the card, "Where are we going in 2 years?"  Umm let the 10th anniversary vacation planning start!  Caribbean?  Hawaii?  Ahhh so many choices, but definitely somewhere warm.

We went to downtown Detroit for dinner at Andiamo's on the riverfront.  After we parked we realized the sun was setting and quickly walked through the Ren Cen to head out front for a few pictures before going in to eat.  It was stunning!  Especially since seeing the sun in the winter is a rare thing in Michigan.  Totally romantic!  Dinner was spectacular, as it always is at Andiamo's.  After dinner we drove back to Plymouth and just happened to run into my sister-in-law and her husband out celebrating his birthday!  Small world!  We grabbed a drink together and then went back home.  A fun night out - even if I was slightly hungover the next day!

The next morning we had plans to meet the boys and Scott's family at the zoo to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday.  We were blessed with amazing weather - a nice balmy 47 degrees - and very active animals!  It felt great to get some fresh air and Sean enjoyed getting face to face with one of the wolves...until she snapped and growled at him through the glass.  Oops!  We grabbed lunch at Crispelli's in Berkly afterwards and it was delicious!

We also spent some time over the weekend having a play date with my friend Trisha and her 3 kids in Troy at their house.  It was fun watching the kids all work together to build a Lego set.  Bailey also tried out a new doggie daycare in Livonia since her existing boarding place closed a while ago and we'll need a place for her when we go to Disney soon.  From the words of the employee's mouth, "She didn't do BAD, but I'm not sure this would be a good fit for her."  Great...at least she enjoyed her car ride in Sean's car seat.

We had a pretty eventful week.  I had half days most of the week since my students were all taking exams and Sean had half days on Thursday and Friday.  It made for some crazy scheduling, but we managed and Sean actually spent an afternoon at my school.  My parents left for Arizona for the next 6 weeks, which will create some more crazy scheduling.  Sean had a fun project due on Friday.  He had to decorate a person to look like who he wants to be when he's older and explain why he wants to do that job.  He, of course, chose to be an archaeologist so naturally we decorated him like Indiana Jones and talked about how artifacts should be in a museum so we can all enjoy looking and learning about them.

A former student of mine that is now a senior painted this amazing door sign for my classroom that took her a year and a half!  It was quite honestly the most thoughtful and amazing gift I've ever received in my 11 years teaching.  I love it!  Princess Ariel is my girl!

This weekend is off to a fun start!  We had our new tradition of a Disney movie on Friday night complete with snacks all themed to the movie (post to come soon!).  This morning we went to go see Scott coach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girl's basketball in Southfield.  In all the years that he's coached, this is the first game I've been to and I know exactly why I haven't come sooner.  The kids can't handle sitting that long at something "that boring".  But, it was still fun to see Scott in action and his kids won!

We ate lunch at Kerby's after the game and then the boys were off to Scott's parent's house in Troy for the night with Scott.  They have their annual "Boy's night out" for the Monster Jam!  The boys were so excited!  And they got to wear their new shirts that were Christmas gifts.  Hopefully they enjoy their night out and see some cool flips and tricks!  Meanwhile I'll be having a "Girl's night in" with some Disney related crafting and drinks with my friend, Sarah.  Sounds like a fun night for all of us!

What January looks like...

January, while typically a month stuck indoors recovering from too much holiday cheer, has been quite eventful so far!  Especially given that part of our Christmas break went well into January.  In fact, Sean and I didn't go back to school/work until January 9th.  It was really nice having some days off not related to the holidays.  We were able to do quite a bit!

A trip to the library complete with a puppet show and computer games...

Exchanging Christmas gifts at ToysRUs and running some errands...

And lots of play time at home...

The last weekend before school and work started back up Sean had a birthday party at Pump It Up for a girl in his class turning 6 and it was the ice festival downtown!  Unfortunately, Evan came down with the stomach bug the afternoon/evening of me and Scott's night out, but my parents still kept the kids at their house for the night.  We were able to enjoy dinner at Sean O'Callahan's downtown and then walking around the ice festival.  It was freezing cold this year, but the sculptures were stunning!

We tried to keep a low profile at home Saturday afternoon since we were all on edge about who would get the stomach bug next.  Sure enough, Sean came down with it Sunday morning.  Luckily it didn't stick around for long.  We managed to escape to the ice festival with the boys for a bit for some fresh air.

Last week was our first full week back, with the exception of Scott who had to go back middle of the first week in January and we went right back into the swing of things.  Swim class, basketball coaching for Scott, and still made time for making blueberry muffins Wednesday night.

Friday night last week, Scott was miserably sick.  Apparently the stomach bug took a full week to hit him and by the time he came home from work, he wanted a shower and bed.  I took the boys with my parents to Panera for dinner and then to see Moana....for the third time.  Don't judge!  It's an amazing movie with incredible music.  Of course the boys had to bring some of their Moana toys from Christmas.

Saturday afternoon we had lunch at Atwaters Brewery in Detroit and played at the DNR Adventure Center with my friend, Adrienne, and her two kids.  Scott was coaching and was on the mend so it was good to be out of the house!  The kids were a handful, but we had a great time.

Sunday I decided to go skiing with Sean and we invited the Saling family along with us.  It was a little rocky at first with Sean.  He had the whole, "I can't do this" mentality that we had to work out, but after some pushing and with some support from his aunt and uncle, he did great the rest of the afternoon.  We even did the chairlift several times and went down a long hill that quickly became his favorite.  He said as we left, "This is so easy".  Yeah right, kid.  But, we're getting there!

Monday, Scott and Sean were off for Martin Luther King Jr. day, but I had professional development.  Sean had a friend, Preston, over for a play date and we ended our evening with swim class at Aqua Tots.  It was a nice long weekend!

This weekend we are going out Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary and hopefully having a play date with my friend, Trisha.  Sunday we'll be celebrating Josh's birthday by going to the zoo and lunch!  Should be fun with these unusually mild temps predicted!  I'm just hoping I can find some healthy options for eating that won't blow my Weight Watchers progress this far.  8 days in and down 4 lbs.  I can do this!