Blown Away

Remember last Thursday when I was talking about how thankful I was for the MOPS playdate that made sure my bucket got filled?  Time with the ladies (just the ladies, with the kiddos being well cared for!) today filled it right back up to the brim.  I am one blessed girl.  I'm not sure what (other than overwhelming fear that I may never got out of the house with my 3 and 2 year old) led me to seek out MOPS, but thank goodness I did!  The friendships for me (and the kiddos) that it has brought into my life have so enriched my life.  We had a new Mom this morning and I hope she comes back - she's brand new to the area, no family here, with two little ones (one is only 9 weeks!) and I know how much I've benefited from our group and would think (hope!) she would have a similar experience.  Thank goodness for friends!

Speaking of friends, cupid was back this morning!  With mustaches!

Hanging on their doors was a bag of mustaches, with the words "I 'mustache' you to be mine!"  We of course had to try them out...

After MOPS the Bean and I went on a (failing) trip to try to track me down a coat.  No such luck.  So when we got home, we needed to bake!  She helped me make Olive Garden Breadsticks to go with our dinner of 3 Cheese Zucchini Lasagna (Kristi's recipe note - I know these roll up in the recipe.  And I intended to make them that way.  Then I realized I only had 3 of the right kind of lasagna noodles to do so.  But I had a half box of the no bake ones!  Score!)  and if that wasn't enough we made a Cinnamon Roll Cake for dessert.

My favorite little cheflette at work

Noah got home and we realized the flag was up! 

He read us the following clue:

Dear Detectives,

MOMG Intelligence has been picking up information that Nita is currently hiding out in state that was struck by a major natural disaster on August 29, 2005.  We have currently been able to verify the following about the event and the damage it did to the state:

1)       When it hit the state, the storm had winds between 100-140 miles per hour and stretched 400 miles across.  At its peak, winds topped 175 miles per hour.

2)     While the storm itself did a lot of damage, it was the aftermath that did the most hurt the state.

3)     It is estimated that the storm did $100 billion in damage making it the costliest natural disaster in US history

4)    During and after the storm, the largest city in the state suffered terrible damage – at one point up to 80% of the city was under some amount of water.

5)     For this type of storm, it was the largest and the 3^rd most powerful to ever make landfall in the United States.

We haven’t been able to figure out exactly what type of natural disaster it was or what it was called (that’s why we have you!) but are hoping that we’ve been able to give you enough information from what we have overheard to give you a solid clue as to where Miss Direction might currently be hiding.  Good luck, Detectives!

MOMG Intelligence

Based on the clue the Dynamic Duo felt they could safely narrow it down to Mississippi and Louisiana.  Noah then spent some more time perusing the map and found Lake Pontchartrain!  In Louisiana!  He feels pretty confident he's got Nita pinned down but decided to wait to see what tomorrow brings....

The kiddos then spent some time playing with the Snow Slime the Bean made at MOPS this morning (thanks MOPPET workers!).  I think they had some fun creating...

Noah's slime creation

We then sat down to our scrumptious dinner and dessert!  I'm not kidding on this one - both kids finished and had seconds within 15  minute tonight!  I had to tell Noah to slow down and breathe between bites at one point.  They LOVED this.

And this is our awesome dessert.  Mikayla did such a good job :)

And for comparison purposes, I asked Grant how he felt about this one compared to the Apple Fritter bread from the other day (the one they raved about on Tuesday) and he said, he actually liked this one better.  So there you have it!  I have been very firmly told to keep both recipes.

Now it's the normal bedtime routine for a school night around here before FRIDAY!  Wooo hoo!  The past two weeks have just been strange.  I not sure what normal looks like at this point, but hey, it's all good.  We'll be here tomorrow, so until then...