Sesame Street Live

Thursday evening we took the kids to see Sesame Street Live, which is basically as it sounds... basically a live episode of the tv show. We dressed the kids up their Elmo apparel and headed out to "skyscraper town"as Jackson likes to refer to downtown. We ate at the Whopper Bar before we made our way to the Sprint Center.

We arrived early to check out the play zone!

Hanging out in Big Bird's nest!

A quick visit with Grover.

Of course, we had to visit the star of the show... Elmo! 

And Jackson took a quick minute to play on Elmo's piano...

"La-la, la-la, La-la,-la Elmo's World..."

We found our seats and waited! 

And just one photo to prove I was there too! :)

And once this started....

My kids were mesmerized.

I wish I could have bottled up Jackson's excitement. I swear, I will never forget his amazement. Although we had told him we were going to see Elmo, he really had no idea what we doing. And when the cast came on stage; he just could barely believe it. He looked at me with a the biggest smile possible and said, "Mom! I love it!" Oh, it was so wonderful. 

Murray was there with the letter of the day.

After all of that fun... it was time to say good-bye. Literally. The kids both waved and said good-bye!

It was such a fun thing to do! Jackson said his favorite thing the singing. And I tried to ask Belle if she had fun, but she replied in typical Belle fashion with "no." But I know better. She sat so perfectly still, that's how I KNOW she had fun. Great Grandpa, Derek, and I... we all enjoyed the show too. But I bet we can all agree that the best part was seeing the kids so happy.

South 71 Cruisers Car Show

Throughout the summer months, Main Street in our little suburb hosts a car show on the last Saturday of each month. They close off the street and it is packed with cars and people. It’s a great {free} family friendly event—and what makes it even better is that it’s only a short walk from our house! But it’s worth it even if you have to drive! My dad loves coming down and he lives 35 miles away.

 
{courtesy: www.mainstreetbelton.com}

This was one nice looking Corvette! My father-in-law was drooling.      

Mater and Doc Hudson made an appearance too, which was totally exciting for Jackson!

The owner even took the time to put three Piston Cups in Doc Hudson’s back seat. This really made a certain three year old very happy to see!

This was by far, my favorite car. Maybe one day when I don’t have a van full of car seats I’ll be able to drive a cool pink car!

Now this cool car belongs to us. It’s not vintage, exclusive, or expensive—but it comes with the cutest driver!!

While this wasn’t on my original list of “field trips” for the summer, it definitely should have been! Here’s the lowdown if you want to visit too!

Destination: South 71 Cruisers Car Show
Location: Belton, MO
Date: Fourth Saturday of Month, 3pm-dark
Cost: Free
Pros: Family friendly, really cool cars, explore downtown shops and restaurants, close parking. {Also, you can take your kids to visit the trains while you’re there!}
Cons: It’s hard to keep kids from touching all over the cars
Time: Anywhere from 30 minutes to 3+ hours. Some people have their lawn chairs and hang out on Main Street the entire time. We spent about an hour walking from our house and back again. We didn’t stop for long while looking at the cars {see above about the difficulty of keeping kids’ hands off cars}. Next time, we’ll plan on getting either dinner or a snack while we’re down there.
Bring with you: You can come empty handed—or you can bring lawn chairs, snacks and/or money for food, and a camera!

Caller Number Nine

I left class early yesterday. I had just talked talked to Derek on the phone about how we were going to be playing pass-the-kids for the next few days and really not see too much of each other. I hate it when that happens, but some days are just busier than others and they seems to fall together in a big clump once a month.

So, then I’m listening to my radio station and hear: Caller number nine will win concert tickets for tonight. I decided to call in—and I was number nine {something I just have really good luck with}, which led to a whole restructuring of plans for the night, but it was such a fun impromptu date night.

Miscellaneous thought about the evening:

• I have really been wanting to include more live music in my life. And so this was a perfect opportunity to start.
• Amy Lee can sing. I definintely enjoy rock music more when a chick is singing. {And she has an amazing name}
• I love downtown and any reason to visit. Maybe I’ll be able to convince Derek someday to move into a loft in the city someday.
• And maybe we’ll start a band when we do. It will be called ACDC, ya know, for our initials. You may think that name is already taken, but instead of having a lightning bolt, there will be a heart in the middle. Totally different.
• Tuesday date nights that lead to not getting home until after midnight are especially rough at 7:15 the next morning.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! No one in our family is getting pinched today—we’re all sporting green! {my eyes closed in a picture… always happens. Ugh!}

We didn’t make it out to any of the larger celebrations around Kansas City like
last year, but we did go to our town parade! We had a good time. I love that downtown is super close. It’s barely over a five minute walk and we beat all the traffic!

My favorite St. Patty’s day picture EVER! {see how short she is?! These are capri pants, well, are supposed to be, but they almost fit like full length pants!}

Miss Cutie Patootie wasn’t too fond of holding still to take a picture. I love this shot—Jackson’s trying to so hard to get her to cooperate. I love these two together!

We got to kind of a grumpy start having to wait for the parade. And then the firetrucks came first with their sirens and Jackson really isn’t a fan of loud noises. Once the candy started being tossed, he loosened up and ended up having a good time!

Once she saw Jackson waving “hi” and getting candy, Belle started in on the action too. That little arm was waving like crazy!

And just because I can’t stop taking pictures of her cuteness, I snapped a few more on the walk home!

Along with St. Patty’s day, we’re also celebrating the anniversary of Derek coming home after spending nine months of Army training in Georgia!! I feel I summed it up best in my facebook status earlier today:

One year ago today Derek came home!!!!!! It was the longest nine months of my life, but I'm so proud to be the wife of an American Soldier. Jackson and Belle have had to sacrifice a lot too, and one day they will understand why Daddy has to go away sometimes. Great hubby, great kids, great country-- life is good.