Our Weekend in Pictures

This weekend was just the kick off to my Thanksgiving break that I needed.  I was getting a little down in the dumps.  I have been missing my dad and feeling the holiday blues creep in lately.  Plus, the kids at school have been driving me insane!  They were ready for break and I was ready for break and we all desperately needed a break from each other!  My own kids have been in a bickering on/off phase for the past few weeks and I was just about to lock them in a room and let them duke it out for a few days.  But Chris reminded me that that wasn’t “good parenting,” and that “technically” it might be “frowned upon” to have “fight club” with your own children.  Whatevs…

So, this slow paced, laid back, no schedule weekend was just what I needed.  And, apparently, so did the kids because they were blissfully cooperative, too!  Let me give you the run down:

FRIDAY NIGHT:  Hallelujah!  We finished the last of the Halloween candy.  Well, not really.  I’ve secretly been siphoning it off into the trash can a little bit every night.  But, the last official piece from our big communal pumpkin was eaten on Friday night.  Bean had his first “Pop Rocks” experience, and he thought it was the greatest thing in his life so far. (We try to keep our kids’ expectations low in life…)

Also on Friday night, Lucy hurt her leg somehow. I’m not really sure what happened. She was standing there one minute and writhing in pain the next. And then she started biting at me when I went to help her. So, I blocked her off from the kids and threw some pillows at her until Chris could get home to help me get a better look. When he walked in, Lucy let him walk right up to her and PICK HER UP! She let him feel all around on her leg and didn’t utter a growl. I was pissed! MAN’s best friend is right. Girlfriends are important in life, too, Lu-cy.

After the Pop Rocks/Lucy incidents, I know you couldn’t possibly imagine my night getting more exciting… Oh, but it did. I’m just full of adventure. I met two girlfriends for happy hour and then we went to see “Catching Fire,” which was, in my humble opinion, even better than “The Hunger Games.” I spend the entire movie waiting for Gale to come back into the scenes. Yumm-o.

(No picture from GNO. Cameras and phones are poor form during ladies nights.)

Saturday morning, before I had even opened my eyes fully, Gracie came charing at me with her Ariel stickers, demanding to be fed waffles and pancakes and cupcakes. She received only one of her requests. The chef was nursing a wee headache. No doubt from all the cranberry juice she drank the night before. Couldn’t have been the vodka.

Saturday was actually a busy day, which was kind of strange because even though we were so busy, we didn’t have a schedule. It was actually lovely!

Allow me to brag on my sweet husband for a minute. A few months ago, the Children’s Director at our church asked Chris if he could help them design a new worship area for Children’s Ministries. Chris was originally going to just give them some options for what they could do with the space (which was old and outdated, but still fully functional). He has ended up designing the entire space and then project managing the building and renovation. He brought in his own painters, contractors, electricians, and tech people and they have been working for the past few months on the renovation. The flooring just went in and the stage was finally built this past week, so Chris and our friend, Tray, went up there this weekend to install a steel track in the ceiling, which is part of the “scenery” for the stage.

I have been so proud of Chris for making time in his already busy schedule to use his talents to serve. This is really the first church service he has done, and I think he has surprised even himself as to how good it feels to do something for others with the talents that God has given you.

Like this particular talent of ghetto-rigging a “ladder” when they got to the church and realized the work crew had taken the ladder for the weekend. When I protested as they started strategizing how to get up to the ceiling, Chris looked at me in complete seriousness and said, “Kate, we are professionals. Trust us.” And then he proceeded to swing a CHAIR onto a plastic folding TABLE.

Professionalism at its finest, kids.

I took the kids up to Chris’s workshop while they were building the track system, and they had a ball “helping.” They always love going to Daddy’s work.

Sunday morning, we skipped church (sorry, God) and did some heavy duty steam cleaning of carpets.

I can feel your jealousy through the internets.

And then we went to Home Depot to find paint for our darn living room, which, we have decided, is unpaintable. We have tried five different colors in there and just can’t get it right. We are just about to give up and leave it the boring eggshell color that it is. But we hate white! We love color! We just can’t get the color right. Poop. We’ll keep trying, I guess. But it’s driving us both insane.

This particular color is really pretty (Fudge Truffle” by Behr, if you’re interested), but it doesn’t go well with our dining room and kitchen. And since all the rooms are attached, we need them to all go together.

Or maybe not.

What do I know?

After a long, relaxing day around the house taking care of this and that, we ended the day by tucking both kids AND both dogs in by 7:00. Apparently, Chris and I were not the only ones working hard this weekend!

Also, my Fantasy Football team is in the crapper. Victor Cruz is dead to me.

So, that was my weekend. How was yours??????