What a Weekend!

Saturday, March 24, we had a lot of things to accomplish. The library was having their first ever Countdown to Kindergarten Carnival. After doing some housecleaning and packing a picnic lunch, we went to the library to check it out. This event was wonderful! They had stations set up for five different categories: reading, playing, writing, listening, and talking.





Every station had an activity that promoted each of these areas for kindergarten readiness. Everest absolutely loved it! And even though the whole event was geared toward preschoolers, Julie still had fun too. At the end, they both got to choose a brand new picture book!







We stopped by my parents' to pick up a vacuum (ours has been broken for ages), then headed home for a quick respite before our next stop. Julie saw that her friend J was outside playing and asked if she could come with us on the next leg of the journey. After much pleading, I acquiesced and allowed her friend to join us at the zoo.



We had our late picnic lunch over by the giraffes, then set off to see what we could see in the last hour or so that the zoo was open.





On the way home, the girls plotted how they were going to get their moms to let them have a sleepover. Well, it didn't take a whole lot of convincing. I had wanted to leave for the evening to write or work or something, but I noticed that Julie was most excited about taking J to church in the morning. How could I tell her no when she was so excited to share her Sunday school class? So I stayed home and let J come spent the night. We had her go home first for shower and dinner, just as Julie had to get hers done too.



She came back around 7:30. The girls watched a movie, ate popcorn, jumped off the futon several times, then settled down to sleep on the futon downstairs. I read them a couple chapters from the book I've been reading to the kids, and I think J enjoyed the whole day and evening overall.




Sunday morning, March 24, I took the girls to church because Everest and Heath had some business to attend to. J seemed to like the class, and we told her that of course, she was welcome to come with us anytime. She's only two doors down after all! The girls had just enough time to do manicures and pedicures before J had to go home.





Needless to say, the rest of the day's activities kind of paled in comparison to the excitement of the weekend. I went to the gym, which was lovely to do so on a Sunday early evening. Then I went to Panera for awhile to work on writing. It was a nice way to end the busy, busy weekend.

Good grief. It's been a month.

You know, I really despise having to start off so many blog posts with, "Where did the time go?" But honestly, there must be a black hole in the space-time continuum directly above my house. How else can I explain this uncanny speeding up of time that seems to occur so regularly around here?

I wonder if it is even possible to go back and remember anything at all from the last month? At least I have pictures; maybe something will job my memory. Let's see if I recall the highlights, shall we?

Monday, January 16, 2012
The kids were off from school on a holiday that day and let us sleep in a little. When I went downstairs, I discovered that they had been "cooking," making a fruit and veggie salad with just about everything they could find. Much better than finding that they have made peanut butter Nilla wafers with chocolate chips and sprinkles, but still...it's best to ask before pulling out the knives.



Since they had the day off, we decided to go to the zoo. Well, somehow the day got way late and by time we got there, the zoo was about to close. Since we were purchasing our membership that day, the lady let us go ahead and go on. We zoomed through the exhibits we liked, then headed back to the car for the weather gets pretty chilly up there once the sun goes down.




One of the coolest things we saw were that the lionesses were right up next to the window--literally a few feet away from the glass. Pretty cool to see their beautiful faces so close up.




We wandered around the zoo shop for a little bit before heading out. Dinner was enjoyed at my mom's store that night, which was a huge help because I was exhausted.





Even though we got home late, and it was getting even later by time Julie had finished showering, she convinced me to put curlers in her hair so she could have curls in the morning.



Here's what she looked like the next day:

A Perfect Zoo Excursion

Friday, I finished up the last few things I needed to do for work, then the kids and I took off for the zoo. Our membership expires on Monday, meaning that we wanted to squeeze at least one more trip in. We probably won't renew again until the zoo Christmas lights go up.

Since there was school for every other district (as far as I know), and it was still later morning and slushy-snowy, the zoo was practically deserted. We took our time everywhere we went. I let them set the pace through all the exhibits. We rode the Skyride, and I let the kids play for a long, long time at the top--longer than we usually let them.

We did the zoo in reverse of how we usually do it--just for kicks. It was such a great outing! Everyone was very well behaved up until about the last 20 minutes when it was clear that the kids were completely worn out. And so was I!





(Click this if you can't see the slideshow above.)

I went ahead and made my "famous" mac and cheese for the kids before Heath got home. Had a tutoring appointment at 5:00, which went fabulously. Heath took off to go rock climbing while I work on some edits to finalize that last novella from my writers group.

That evening, the Muse girls came over for some candy poker but Heath joined us this time. It was fun, and we got a pizza in there somewhere before everyone started going into a sugar coma and needing to go their separate ways.




Parting Shot
By Friday afternoon, practically all the snow had melted except for the places where Julie and Everest had piled up it up. How often do you get to see two snowmen standing on green grass?

Visit with Mike & Kate: Day 2, part 1

Saturday was a busy day! It was the only full day we would have with Mike and Kate, so we sure made the most of it.

I had a tutoring appointment at 8:00 a.m. The kids had woken up when I got up, but I didn't want them to wander around the house for an hour while I was trying to Skype with my student. So I borrowed Kate's Robin Hood DVD and let them watch it on my laptop in our room.



We had some breakfast together and relaxed a little in the morning. Tessa had warmed up to the kids by then, which made it easier for everyone to play together. Everest did a pretty good job of sharing, and Julie was in full big sister mode.





Around noon, we left for the Swetsville Zoo, which is a sculpture garden where everything is made from junk or scrap metal and old farming or auto parts. It was amazing! The printed tour guide was quite cleverly written as well, which made it a lot more fun to experience. I took WAY too many pictures. Check out the slideshow below or click this.



Back at home, we had a snack of homemade soft pretzels and honey while Tessa rested with Mike, and Kate got started on dinner.



Kate amazes me with her ability to make such incredible things, all from scratch. She would tell you that it was just a matter of following the recipe, but that woman really has the touch when it comes to baking. (Saturday will be continued in the next blog post!)

Non-stop, never-ending BUSY, part 2

Friday, March 4
* Tutoring at 9:00 a.m. (stellar time!)
* Heath was gone, teaching a special class, morning through the afternoon.
* Finalized the missionary prayer directory.
* Julie had an eye doctor's appointment in the afternoon. (Still no change on the amplyopia, but continuing treatments just in case.)
* Went to print the pages in the evening at the church.
* Stopped by Puella's work to give her a hug because she was going to miss Muse.
* Met up with Legolas later for Taco Bell and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Saturday, March 5
* Tutoring at 8:00 a.m. (fun as usual!)
* Took the kids to the gym with me.
* Left the kids with Heath so I could go grocery shopping.
* Later ran errands with Julie, including collating 100 prayer directories for Sunday.
* Heath left for a movie with a friend in the evening.
* Joy stopped by, and we chatted while I stapled the directories.
* Saw Beastly (2010) with Joy; 10:30 p.m. showing.

Sunday, March 6
* Didn't make it to church and therefore attempted a family devo. It didn't go over very well.
* Made a family morning of it by going to the zoo. That DID go over very well, and we ended up having a fun day together.
* Kids rested while we worked on stuff in the afternoon, then into the evening.


Monday, March 7
Heath took Everest to my parents' house because I had an all-day church staff retreat at Glen Eyrie. It was actually quite nice and a useful way to evaluate our ministries together. The castle was absolutely gorgeous with the fog coming in around it when we left. The last couple hours of the retreat were spent bowling. Fun!





Monday night chat was crazy busy again because we had a guest speaker (and will continue to do so through the month). Heath and I are our dinner and watched School of Rock (2003) after the kids went to bed. We didn't watch the whole thing though, and in the end, I got the illustrations scanned and placed for the Inkaholics group book. It's been posted to Lulu and is now available online!

Today, Tuesday, I had phone meetings in the morning, then spent the afternoon trying to catch up from being gone all day on Monday. Julie got her homework done, then I made dinner--saucy honey BBQ kielbasa with rice, onions, and peas.

We watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) during dinner, and the kids did all right. They went to bed without a hitch, and I have continued to keep working. Someday soon, I hope, I'll be able to give all this working a little rest break of its own.