What a weekend!!

When Monday morning rudely arrived this morning, it was anything but a welcome sight for ... well, basically all four of us. We had one of those weekends that leaves you needing a weekend to recover.

On Friday, Eric went to dinner with his best friend (hi, Uncle Dave!), so the kids and I had a little bit of a date night. After dinner, we swung by the fabric store so I could pick up some tulle for an upcoming cookie project (see Sunday below). My hope was to "pop in and pop out", so I told the kids "stay close, we're not buying anything except what I need for the cookies, got it?" They both eagerly agreed to the conditions of the store stop. I then spent the next 30 minutes either calling out Conor's name so he could fine me (Marco Polo of the parenting world) or telling him to return the bolt of fabric that he was lugging around to the spot he found it. The rest of the time was spent explaining to Annika who every pretty and sparkly fabric that caught her eye wasn't "exactly perfect" for my project. Shockingly, I found my 1/2 yard of tulle and made it out of the store with both kids in hand.

After that, we made our way to the local frozen yogurt shop for our official date. I'm pretty sure that the kids rehearse their approach to the frozen yogurt shop when we aren't looking. While one kids distracted me, the other would fill a sample cup that is supposed to old about a teaspoon of frozen yogurt with about a 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt. Then, when I was wrangling that kid, the other would do the same. Smart little stinkers, I tell ya! Finally, we had our frozen yogurt (yes, too much, because they employed the same method when it came to move from the tasting cups to their actual bowls of frozen yogurt) to the "not, you cannot have more toppings than what you already have, I don't care if your brother/sister has marshmallow fluff and you don't.. you already have 2 kinds of candy on yours" discussion. By "discussion", I mean me removing the serving spoons overflowing with candies from my children's hands while (a) trying to to spill any candy, (b) keep an eye on both kids at the same time ... and, yes, they were going to  different directions, and (c) not look like "that" mom. Eventually, we got our frozen yogurt served and paid for. Not long after, our friends the Halls arrived. The funny part is I considered inviting them, but decided not to because if it being a Friday in Lent and realized I probably shouldn't even be taking my kids out for a treat, let along tempting another family into doing the same thing. Great (and sinful) minds thing alike!! Amy (the mom) and I got a big laugh out of the fact we both ended up there.

On Saturday, Annika went on a playdate with her friend Allison for a few hours, which left Conor and me to take a solo walk/bike ride along the Urban Trail while Eric continued his work on building more of our new kitchen drawers. Even after a bit of an epic wipe out on his Big Wheel (and a little first aid), Conor and I had a great time out together. We met a lovely couple who was walking their dog, and even let Conor throw the ball for their dog a few times. (Buca doesn't fetch, so this dog actually bringing the ball back was quite novel for Conor!). Eventually, I had to put an end to our Urban Trail fun so we could return home and I could bake the cherry pies for my brother's birthday celebration that evening.

As we were about to walk out of the door and head to Sammamish to celebrate my brother's birthday, Conor sheepishly approached Eric and me and told us the accidentally broke a window. (EEP!) After quickly assessing Conor and making sure he wasn't hurt, we had him take us to the window. Apparently, he was (once again) zooming and crashed his elbow into the lower window of the door that leads to what we call the dog run. Fortunately, Conor was wearing his winter coat, so he wasn't hurt at all; talk about dodging a bullet! Another fortunately: The window he broke is in an interior door, not nearly as big of an issue as an exterior window would have been. We cleaned up the glass and went on our merry way to my brother's birthday celebration. Later that night, I put cardboard over the hole to keep the basement from getting too cold... not sure what our long term fix will be, but we'll figure one out.

That leads us to Sunday, which was yet another full day. Conor and I went to 8:30 mass and then Fred Meyer for our weekly grocery shopping excursion. The kids' had a playdate with their buddy Valeria Sunday morning into the afternoon, which was really fun. All three of the kids play beautifully together and have so much fun with their imaginations. While they were busy playing, Eric continued his work on the last two kitchen drawers... I just have to say for the record, my husband is amazing!! I am so impressed with his drawer-making abilities. Beyond that, he had a lot of fun with the project and got a few new toys tools, so we're both happy campers, to say the least. Most of my Sunday was spent making sugar cookies for an upcoming event at the kids' school. Each year, the 8th graders have what is called a Potlatch ceremony, which is basically a coming of age/bridging ceremony. The kids work for months to prepare for this event and do a lot of introspection along the way. It is a chance for them to really consider what kinds of people they are and who they want to evolve into as they mature into adulthood. As a symbol of their journey, each student picks a Native American totem. I was asked to make a cookie for each student that has the person's name and the totem he/she chose. It was a very fun project, but also very time-consuming. I have to say, though, I'm quite thrilled with the final results and hope the kids are, too, when they get them on Wednesday. There were 17 cookies in all and 9 or 10 different animal totems.

I have to say, I basically fell into bed last night and was so grateful for the soft landing. You know you're tired when your dreams include you having jet lag! It was rough waking up this morning, but after such a full weekend, I'm not at all surprise. :)

Cabo Vacation Recap (pt 3)

One of the things that most excited our kids about going on vacation—aside from the fact they'd be in a pool every day of it—was the fact that their big cousin Ian would be on the trip with them. I'm pretty sure our kids think Ian walks on water; he is marvelous with them... truly, the King of Patience. One of the activities that he devised was to make forts out of the various patio furniture cushions for Annika and Conor. They LOVED this activity... and Ian built countless structures for them... mostly because we were there for an entire week and Conor thought he was Godzilla and the cushion buildings were Tokyo in need of a good crushing.

Annika and Conor enjoying Ian's architecture skills

The creations were everything from forts to jails to bridges to boats

Ian rocks!! (just ask our kids if you need  more details)

One of the nights we were gone, Troy and Staci offered to watch our kids so we could have a date night. Sweet!!! Because we did the all-inclusive package at the resort, our dining options were somewhat limited, but Troy called the bar in the main building (aka the bar that had Eric and Troy's new best friend, aka Delfino the bartender) and confirmed that we could eat there while everyone else ate at the restaurant one level below. He was told that it wouldn't be a problem at all.... insert we think this is where the language barrier comes into play. Eric and I sat down at the bar, ordered drinks, and then asked for the menu. The waiter, quite confused, informed us that they don't serve food there, only drinks. Hmmm... so, we decided to risk going downstairs to the same restaurant as the rest of our crew; fortunately, they put us at a table hidden behind a column that blocked the kids from seeing us and, thusly, deciding to come on over for a visit. At one point, we sent drinks to Troy and Staci as a thank you for watching our kids... plus, we were on the all-inclusive, so we weren't even out anything. (Yes, we are THAT cheesy!) Even though the evening didn't quite turn out as expected, it was still incredibly fun and the added humor of hiding from our kids made it even more memorable.

Eric and his date night beer

Meredith and her date night wine

Little did we know at the time, but a hurricane (Hurricane Cosme, to be exact) was brewing in the Pacific, which caused insanely HUGE waves for us to ooh and ahh about. These suckers were a good 12 feet tall and raged as they crashed onto the beach. Because the ocean was so stirred up, the resort posted workers to patrol along the beach to keep people a safe distance from the water. I got as close as I could to get a few photos of the gorgeous waves, though.

Annika posing
(this is what I got when I said, "look over your shoulder at me.")

Did I mention the cushion creations??

 The kids were enamored with the fountain on our building. Every time we were near it, they insisted on taking a look in the collection pool and playing in its water. Once we even found two dead cockroaches in the water ... that was a bonus, just ask the kids!

This picture makes me giggle. A lot. I think Staci was either being held up by a really funny bandit or is doing her best mime impersonation. Your thoughts??

Stick 'em up, Staci!!

The last time we were in Cabo, Annika was 6 months old. Naturally, she doesn't remember anything about the trip, but we sure do. One of our favorite photos from that trip was her in front of this very swim-up bar splashing in the pool water. It tickled us to have a picture of our baby at a bar. Because of that bit of history, having the kids (again, really funny that our 3 and 5-year-olds are sitting at a bar!) at the bar just seemed to be an imperative for this trip. Before much longer, Annika is probably going to feel like Norm from "Cheers"!

Conor and Annika at the bar
(fear not, they only had a bottle of water!)

 

Annika at "her" bar

Conor ponying up for a refreshing cold one ... bottle of water, that is!