Jane's Bachelorette Party

We had one wild girl's night out on Saturday. Eric's sister Jane is getting married in three weeks. So we got all the ladies together to help her celebrate.

The night started off at our place with delicious food made by Matron of Honor Gina and her mom, Cathy. And Beata was in charge of making the signature drink of the evening (Raspberry Mojitos - Recipe at the end of this post).

The weather didn't cooperate so we weren't able to have the party up on the roof deck but that didn't stop us from having fun. Jane received quite a few fun gifts for the honeymoon both for indoor and outdoor activities.

After gifts, food and drinks at my place, we headed out to Flirty Girl Fitness for their "Coyote Ugly" dance class. The ladies learned how to shake it on the bar and at the end of the class even got a chance to show off their moves up above the crowd.

Our last stop of the night was Plush for some more dancing, drinking, and laughing (and a few tears , hugs and I love yous once the beverages really kicked in). We did manage to stay off the bars there thought so that's a plus.

The next morning was a little rough for Jane but hopefully it was worth it!
And we went out for Brunch at a restaurant called Jane's in her honor. Jane stayed back at my place and recovered.


Next Stop - The Wedding!

Raspberry Mojito Recipe

Yields: 1 Cocktail

3 lime wedges

5 mint leaves

1 tsp white sugar

7 fresh raspberries

1/4 oz grenadine

2 oz Rum

splash of club soda

Crush the limes, mint and sugar together with a steel spoon or muddler. Add 5 raspberries and continue crushing. Put mixture in a non-stemmed glass and add rum and ice cubes and fill with club soda. Add a few extra mint leaves and raspberries for garnish.

Pink Tutus

Ellie started going to ballet lessons this spring and just loves it. Not sure if it's the outfits she gets to wear or the dancing or a combination of the two. Here are a few pics and little videos of Ellie in action.

Mother's Day 2009

We had a beautiful and low key Mother's Day this year. It consisted of church, a wonderful brunch with Nancy, Jamie and Colin at Bin 36 and napping. Couldn't ask for a better day then that. Hope all my other favorite mommy's had just the day they were looking for as well.

Easter 2009

We had a beautiful Easter weekend.

The Easter Bunny came to the Easter Egg Hunt in our courtyard with the neighbors. The kids had so much fun looking for eggs and eating candy. And they seemed to have a love/hate relationship with the Easter Bunny. The LOVED that he brought a basket full of M&Ms. They weren't the biggest fans of having their picture taken with him though. But they warmed up eventually. And Lucy even got to join in the fun as well.

On Easter, we started the morning with an Easter Egg hunt for the eggs that the Easter Bunny left for Ellie.

We braved the crowds and went to church. It was a beautiful service so it was worth waiting in line to get in. And we just happened to bump into our friends, Kathryn and Wes, so we got to sit with them as well.

That afternoon, we had a wonderful dinner at my parent's house with my family, Eric's family and Jamie's family. It was a big crowd and so nice to have everyone together. And Ellie had her third Easter Egg Hunt of the weekend. I guess hunting never gets old.

Follow this link to check out the great pics that Cousin Sar took at Easter Dinner. They're mostly of Ellie and Colin because let's face it, they're the stars of the show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55209897@N00/sets/72157616690567482/

Best Buddies

Colin and Ellie Up A Tree

Colin and Ellie Driving The Taxi At The Park

I am loving how much fun Colin and Ellie have been having this week while Colin has been on Spring Break. They have such a good time together and I love listening to their conversations.

One little conversation snippet while they were pretending to be on a boat ride with Colin the driver and Ellie the passenger:

Ellie: Colin, Where are we going?
Colin: Under the sea
Ellie: Oh, Ok. With the mermaids?
Colin: Yes, with the mermaids.

Vegas Baby!

Eric and my trip to Vegas last weekend for the NCAA tournie was so much fun! And we can't wait to go again after we've recovered from this trip. So I'm guessing we'll be ready to go again around 2011. The trip was filled with lots of amazing food, more then a few too many beverages, a little gambling, some laying by the pool time and plenty of basketball watching.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay which is gorgeous and smells like Hawaii when you walk in the front door. The casino itself smells like cigarettes but what are you going to do, it's Vegas. We ate at an amazing seafood place on Friday - RM Seafood, steak on Saturday - Stripsteak, and shared some small plates at Stack on Sunday before going to see Love (the Beatles Cirgue show). The show was wonderful but probably would have been less sleepy if we hadn't had wine with dinner and gone to the late show. Live and learn.

We mostly watched basketball in the sportsbook at Mandalay but next time we're hangin at the Wynn sportsbook. It has huge comfy leather swivel chairs.

On Saturday night we sat on the balcony in the bar at the top of TheHotel (part of Mandalay Bay) and watch the lights go out on the strip for Earth Hour.

Here are some pics from our fun:

Veiw of the strip from our room on the 24th Floor of Mandalay Bay

We wondered the strip on our first morning in Vegas and stopped at Paris for a Bloody Mary

To be honest - this really isn't my drink but I did find it amusing how many places had VERY tall specialty drinks and how many people were actually walking around drinking them at 10am.

First night in Vegas - watching some basketball before heading out for dinner.

Here's the reason we were in Vegas!
Here's the view of the strip from Mix (bar at the top of TheHotel)

View of the Mandalay Bay pool at night and about 60 floors up.
Eric and the Elephants
Mandalay Bay Beach (waves and sand and all)
The lion at MGM Grand
Picture standing under the lion. Those are some big paws!
Pretty lights and flowers at the Wynn. Some of the casinos are so amazing! Some are exactly what you would expect from cheesy Vegas. This was an amazing one.
Our last view of Vegas before getting on the plane.

Thanks to Grammy and Grampy and Aunt Jane for keeping Miss Ellie so happy while we got to go have some fun!

Ellie and Eric's Birthday Party at Dairy Queen

Eric celebrated his 30th Birthday and Ellie celebrated her 3rd birthday at Dairy Queen this year with family and friends. Everyone had lots of pizza, ice cream cake and blizzard bites. And Ellie's theme for the day turned out to be Accessories, Accesories, Accesories :-). Thanks to all who joined us. We had lots of fun!

The Birthday Girl and her Buddies

Ellie and a combination of some of her new accessories.

A Little Video of the Day!

A moment with the birthday girl before the party craziness.

Ellie and Gissela

Opening Presents
Opening Presents with Grammy and Great Grandma Arnqusit

Coloring with Grampy and Nonnie