One sweet weekend

I think it's going to take a couple days to come down from the sugary sweet high we're on after this weekend.

The fun all started when my sister (Erin) and her step-daughter (Kailey) came down to visit us from KC. They weren't in town 30 minutes before we were on our way to a favorite boutique in town, Frou Frou, for girl things -- you know, shoes, jewelry and hand bags. This is Kailey modeling her sparkly green earrings and special "K" necklace that she left with. After hitting a few other shops, we met up with Craig for lunch before hitting the craftaholic's heaven, Hobby Lobby. The goal was to just get some thread for Kailey to make a Shocker-inspired friendship bracelet but we left with a whole new project -- material for me to make Kailey a new blanket so she could have a back-up to her special blanket she's been carrying around since she came home from the hospital seven years ago. I was terrified. This would be my first project without a pattern and instructions! But Aunt Carrie couldn't disappoint. (more to come on that in a future blog)

After burning some calories playing doubles tennis on the Wii, the girls headed out for a sugar fix at the new Sugar Sisters. I highly recommend the wedding cake baby cakes (that's fancy talk for oversized cupcake) or the sugar cookie topped with more sugary goodness.

Next on the agenda: the ultimate sweet treat. Pedicures. And then it was back home to start on the blanket project.

After dinner at Felipe's (a Howard family favorite for over 20 years!), Craig and I sent Erin and Kailey off to the movies and the two of us went to a good friend's 40th birthday party. Shawn Money (check him out here) and Craig go back 11 years to Craig's first job out of college and they've been swapping music and stories ever since. We had a great time celebrating a great friend. Happy Birthday, Shawn!

Erin and I made history this morning by jogging together for the FIRST TIME EVER. While I've been running since high school, Erin has just recently found the joy in running (or at least the joy in completing a run). Today, I took her on our favorite three-mile route to Eastborough Park and back. Tomorrow, we'll conquer a 5K together. (Now we just need to get dad back in those running shoes.)

As for the icing on the cake, the four of us visited my uncle Ed and aunt Linda this morning to see their new miniature Australian Shepherd, Buddy. This little fur ball has that blue merle coloring and is already fetching, sitting and melting hearts. He's a cutie.

That sums up our action-packed weekend as captured by my phone's camera (which explains the picture quality). Stay tuned for a few more updates as we wrap up the month of July.

Carrie