birthday, holidays and how i gained 16 pounds

really has it been that long since my last post? before my birthday which seems like a long time ago. so let's start there:

had a great birthday celebrating with my family for breakfast, lunch and dinner. and always a dessert to sing "happy birthday". waffles with lots of whipped cream for breakfast, strawberry shortcake at lunchtime and mochi with chocolate syrup for dessert. i had the best day and even managed to watch andrew play some t-ball in between. so that's how the first five lbs came on.

a few days later i got a delivery. these beautiful flowers from bobby's boss. the note said: happy belated birthday wishes, gioconda. have a great year -michael
it was so thoughtful and amazing. and he even knew what my favorite flowers are, hydrangeas and ranunculas. how cool is he!

then we had a fun st. patty's day celebration. first at school with green bagels and cream cheese and a leprachaun hunt. then at home for a "green dinner." spinach pasta, ceasar salad, green milk and cupcakes with lots of green frosting. (+2lbs.) the kids thought the idea was cool but they were not fans of the pasta.

that same week was andrew's invention convention at school. each of the kids was asked to bring in househould items that would have been thrown away. at school they used these items to create something new. andrew's was called "drillhead" and he invented it to make him any food he wanted. ironic, seeing that he's not a big eater.
it was fun to walk into the classroom to see each child with their invention in front of them. we went around and asked them questions about their inventions. bobby's favorite (after andrew's of course) was the one that could do homework for you while you played video games. super cute ideas.

the next day was easter/spring celebrations and a bake sale at school. i made chocolate covered pretzels and smores for the bake sale and ate a few (+1lb.) then we had lunch with the third graders from el pollo loco, mac and cheese and cookies (no pounds gained because i was so busy helping the kids that my plate of food was thrown away twice. and the cookies were gone by the time i got to the dessert table.) right after that i went to andrew's class for an egg hunt and coloring some eggs. (no pounds gained because there was no food to consume.)

finally that brings us to this weekend. we had the best time at "the heights" celebrating easter with bob and d, the dakes, and our friends the conroys. i worked with juliet back at dreamworks and we have been good friends ever since. we packed in as much fun as possible into four days. the boys took skiing and snowboarding lessons at sierra vista. andrew had his first lesson and did awesome. smiling and plowing and falling but still smiling. bobby took a snowboard lesson with jord. from what he said and by how he looked when they came back, i think he will stick with what he knows best.

they also went quad riding, fishing, took the kids to the park, played for hours outside, had the best easter egg hunt, colored eggs (without a kit), played sequence (juliet and i smoked bobby and bill in our tournament on monday night. can you say 15 to 2, or something like that.) oh and we had dessert upon dessert. strawberry triffle, caramel loaf, cupcakes, banana boats with chocolate chips and ice cream, and easter candy. (+8lbs). it really did feel like i came home with extra weight and a lot of fun memories.

so now the kids are home the rest of the week. today was declared a pajama day, except for bobby who had to go to work, sorry (but you had coffee this morning and i didn't, so we're even.) we are going to the movies tomorrow with sue and to the park on friday with my mom and sister-in-law. and then the week will be over.

starting some spring cleaning this week. kitchen pantry and fridge + all the laundry from the weekend. definitely going to make some of these, with this
i'd love to get to sofia's room and clear out the junk and old clothes. but i am so tired and have no energy at this point.

hope everyone had a happy easter. i'm off to exercise or have a slim fast or take a nap. see you all soon.