Our quiet weekend...

I sat last evening, after getting the kids to bed, typing a blog post about our weekend.  Only to have it deleted by Blogger.  Twice.  And so, at 11 pm, I put away my iPad and went to bed.  But I wanted to make sure that a quick update about our weekend and a few pictures made it to the blog. 

There has been so much happening at our house.  I feel like I usually feel at this time of the year--- like I'm chasing my tail (moreso than usual).  Between PSU football games, birthdays, other commitments and just our general activity level, we are looking at an October that doesn't have a single empty square on it.  And that makes me tired just looking at it.  Sadly, November and December don't look much better.  We don't have a totally free weekend from now until after the New Year.  And that is either very cool or very sad.  Or maybe a little of both.

Friday evening, Jason had been given some tickets to see The Velveteen Rabbit at the Community Arts Center along with a back stage meet & greet for the kids, so we decided to give it a shot.  Taking all 3 of them to an evening anything is usually a challenge, but we were feeling strong and mighty and decided to try.  The story was as cute as it always is- and reminds me so much of Joshua and Lauren's relationships with their friends Bear and Monkey.  But I believe much of that was lost on the kids.  In fact, we asked Joshua on the way out of the theater if the story made him think at all about Bear.  To which he replied, "Huh???"  And there you have it.  However, they did enjoy the cute music, and they didn't seem as bothered as we were at how abstract the whole play was.  Joshua especially loved the back stage tour and loved asking the actors questions.  Lauren thought touching the Velveteen Rabbit puppet was cool.

After this, the magic had worn off for Lauren.  She sat and whined from about 5 minutes after the show started, asking when we could go home, then complaining that she was hungry.  And then tired.  And then just generally cranky.  Joshua did pretty well and seemed to enjoy the music and the funny parts of the play.  He did pretty well at sitting still.  Honestly, he is a real joy to take places most of the time.  He enjoys it and seems to appreciate the experience, which makes all of the running around worth it.  I know Lauren will get there eventually, but it wasn't like the Max and Ruby show that we saw where it was cutesy and easy to get the story line.  During all of this, Mara wanted to be anywhere BUT in my lap, and ended up crying during the show when I wouldn't put her down to crawl.  And so, I did the only thing I could think of to keep her quiet-- feed her.  I believe she ate about half a container of puffs and nursed for the entirety of the show.  Whatever.

Saturday morning we did a little shopping after dropping Daddy off to pick up his rental car for his trip to New England on Sunday.  Santa got some great ideas after seeing the kids' reactions to things, and has made plenty of notes about things that just might make some special kiddos happy on Christmas morning.  I find it sad that I am in serious Christmas prep mode in October, but honestly, it's better for me to get it done.  Things have already started to arrive at my office, and I have already broken my promise (that I make every year) about wrapping it as it comes in instead of waiting to be totally overwhelmed by the job.  Maybe I'll get a jump on that soon.  But probably not.

Saturday afternoon I hit my stride in the kitchen.  I had the oddest combination of food smells going in the house--- chicken corn soup on the stove for our Benezette trip this weekend, oatmeal cups in the oven, hot dogs and sauerkraut in the crock pot for supper that night and topped off with a loaf of banana bread for the kids to use up the brown bananas in the basket.  It was an odd combination for sure.  But I was happy to get it all done to get a jump start on the weekend prep for the trip with my family on Friday.  Still lots to do, but it's pretty low key, and pretty low on the mess factor, which is important mid-week.  While all of this was going on, the big kids wanted to play on the deck, and ended up constructing a booby trap for monsters.  Please make note of the trip wire on the deck.  I was just pleased that neither of them broke their necks.  Because a trip to the ER on top of all of the cooking just might have driven me over the edge.

Sunday morning was the normal church run, which I still can't seem to get a handle on.  I don't know what on Earth is so hard about getting everyone up and out to be somewhere for 9:00.  For whatever reason, the children who are awake with the roosters on  Monday-Saturday mornings decide that Sunday morning is their day to sleep, and I'm stuck dragging them out of bed and yelling at them to get up and get moving.  Get moooooooving!!  PUT ON YOUR SHOES!!!!  If you don't eat that breakfast, and I mean fast, we are going to be late.  You don't want to be late do you?  What do you mean you don't care?  It's not pretty, and I always feel as though I need prayer and forgiveness every single stinking Sunday morning.  But I believe God is happy with me for making the effort to get them there, and the kids absolutely love it.  So do I, but it takes me until about the end of Sunday School for my blood pressure to return to normal levels after all of the yelling and rushing around.

However, when we got home and everyone had some lunch, I was able to snap a few pictures.  I was in love with Lauren's dress, and really wanted to remember it.  By the rate she's growing, she might not get into this one again, and I don't think I can wait to see Mara in it in another 2 years.  This girl can be as sweet as she can be sometimes, and I normally just want to gobble her right up.

And then there is this one.  Love love love!  I'm thinking it is frame worthy.  Certainly may make an appearance on a Christmas card if the ones I try to take don't work out in their Christmas clothes--- which you can almost count on.  I honestly think I could sit and look at these three sweet faces all day long.  How blessed am I, really? 

And here's my sweet baby girl- moving like crazy.  She is standing almost 90% of the time now- and you can see the wheels spinning inside of her little mind as she tries to figure out how to walk.  She's such a joy.  And that smile makes my heart sing.

Jason has been gone since Sunday morning, and we are all quite ready for him to return.  The kids are so good for me and seem to understand that there are two less hands to help them with things, but they've missed their Daddy and so have I.  We are so lucky that his trips aren't more frequent than they are.  We'll be really happy to see him later this afternoon when he returns.

See you tomorrow!