Back to School Dates

School is about to start and that means one thing- "back to school dates" and this year did not disappoint. 

I got to take 3 of the 4 kids on dates this year and it was so fun. 

First up, I took Benson out for his date. He chose to go to Poke Bowl for dinner. That kid loves poke bowl so much and its so funny. The bowl he loves is the "ocean bowl" and its filled with raw fish like tuna and salmon. It also has crab and shrimp. Benson loves it. 

After dinner we went to get snow cones from Brain Freeze. 
This place has the best whips as well and we both got snow cones with whips on top. They were delicious. 

We followed our dessert with a night at the pool. The pool was mostly empty so we enjoyed playing together for about an hour. Then we headed home to take showers and get ready for bed. 

That same night Chris took Tucker out for his back-to-school date. Tucker chose to go to "Flying fish" and he loved his meal. Tucker said he wants to go back to "Flying Fish" for his birthday lunch too. He really enjoyed it. 

After dinner they went out to Braum's to get ice cream. Tucker got a huge cookie dough sundae and he was so excited about it. 

Then Dad and Tucker played at the neighborhood park and then the pool. We passed them on our way home from the pool. 

They had so much fun throwing the football in the pool and playing together. 

Tucker said he loved his date with his Dad and it was so good for their relationship. 
Tucker is typically a mama's boy so I think it made Chris happy that Tucker chose to go with him on his date. 

A couple of days later I got to take Bailey out on her date. 
She picked "Olive Garden" for her dinner and that was no surprise to me. She loves "Olive Garden" and was so excited for her meal. 

Then we left to go over to "Petland" at the mall in Rogers. 
I had made a reservation and so we got to go in and pick a couple of puppies to play with and just snuggle.

They want you to adopt the puppies, but the do allow you to just come play with the dogs too. 
They put you in individual cubicles and let you play as long as you want. 
Bailey was in absolute heaven! Honestly, I was too. It was so fun. 

We picked a bulldog puppy and a cavapoo- which is a puppy that is half cavalier and half poodle. 

These puppies were the cutest and we had so much fun playing and snuggling them.

 

 

 

We ended our date night at Andy's and enjoyed some delicious frozen custard. 

The next night I got to go on my last back to school date. 
I took Tanner out and we had so much fun. 

First we went out for sushi. Tanner is my sushi kid and is always game for it. 

Then I took him out to "6th Dimension" and we played virtual reality games together.

This was seriously so fun. I was terrible at it, but we laughed and had a blast. 
Tanner was way better then me and I offered to just let him play a solo game, but he wanted to play with me. We played "beat saber" and it was a really cool game. I was just not very good at it. 

After playing at "6th Dimension"  we went to Andy's to get dessert. 
As per usual, it was delicious.

Now all the back to school dates are over and school starts in just a few days. I really can't believe we are about to start another school year. 

I feel like our summer flew by. We were gone for most the summer. I think we were only home for about 4 weeks total. But it was such a great summer. We made countless memories and had so many adventures with cousins and friends. 

Now onto another school year. Stay tuned for our first day of school!

Bailey's 12th Birthday

We just had a great time celebrating our girl. 
Bailey turned 12 today and I can hardly believe it. 
We celebrated by getting lunch followed by a boba smoothie- courtesy of Aunt Sarah. 
Aunt Sarah always sends money for the kids to get a treat on their birthdays. They love it. 

That afternoon I set up for her birthday party. 
It was just a small family party this year and it was just our family in attendance. 
We literally got home from Oregon on Monday so it's been a quick birthday window. 

But Bailey loved her party and I did too. It was the perfect theme for my favorite book-loving girl. 

She asked for a chocolate Bundt cake and this one was a delicious chocolate sour cream with a fudgey ganache topping. It was honestly one of the easier birthday cakes that I've made over the years. 

I did buy these mini bundt cakes called Bundtinis from "nothing Bundt" and they were all delicious. There were four different flavors and we had to all try them all. 

We also served root beer because its one of Bailey's favorites!

The last treat was this zebra popcorn. The little popcorn cones made from book pages is one of my favorite little details. 

 

This theme was so fun to style and sometime in the next few days I'm going to move the book collage to her room and install it over her bed. It just screams Bailey. 

I love this girl of mine. 

 

We finished off our night by having one of Bailey's favorite meals, Steak, fettuccini alfredo and broccoli. She was one happy girl!

We opened presents and then just hung out and watched a movie together. It was a really nice quiet day spent celebrating our favorite girl. Happy 12th Birthday Bailey Boo!