Can’t Sleep

It may have something to do with the Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks I had late this afternoon.

Oh well, we only live once. And it was worth it.

So, Thanksgiving.

Andy’s friend/best-man-in-our-wedding, Josiah, and his wife are here visiting, staying with Andy’s folks. We had Thanksgiving Dinner over there, which was nice. I didn’t even have to clean! And I still have yet to roast a turkey. Although I did bring the pies, rolls, and the sweet potatoes.

Which, bytheway, convinced Andy’s dad that he really doesn’t hate sweet potatoes after all.

(Covered in brown sugar, butter, pecans, and coconut, almost anything would taste fairly delicious.)

Today I thought it might be fun to take the kids to the playground down the road and let them stretch their legs and run off some of that toddler energy. Except we adults nearly froze watching them run and play. I believe it’s now time to pull out the winter coats. And hats and mittens and scarves.

At naptime Liz (J’s wife) and I hightailed it out of here to that shopping extravaganza I stumbled upon the other day.

(It being the biggest shopping day of the year and all, you know.)

It was late enough we didn’t have to fight any crowds and also we had no problem finding parking spaces. It was just so much fun and, oh! the sales!

Because what could possibly be better than an afternoon with Starbucks and sale shopping without kids?!

[Also, Andy didn't even call once to ask when I was coming home. So, clearly, it was a relaxed and enjoyable afternoon.]

Tonight everyone came over here for pizza. And so far my plan to get to bed early hasn’t happened. But I’ll say g’night for now, anyway.

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Surprise Visit

My cousin Vangie and her hubby had a small reunion of friends this past weekend (I can’t remember where now). Unfortunately, however, their car broke down on the turnpike on the way down Friday. (“…I’m sorry, miss, that is the one road we do not cover for emergencies.”) So their time with friends turned out to be a little longer than planned and come today, their car was (and is) still at the mechanic’s.

Lucky for us, it meant they called us this morning: “Can we come over today? We broke down and we’re close. And, oh, by the way, we’ll be there in an hour.”

[I've decided that an hour is a perfect amount of preparation time for visitors. You can get a place looking mostly decent in an hour but the kids don't have much time left to mess it up again.]

So, we had a happy afternoon snuggled on the couch, sipping tea and chatting. It was the kids’ naptime, too. A peaceful time of day.

And, last night Andy’s mom brought us leftovers from the church fellowship lunch and so the soup I had been planning to make for dinner last night was postponed for today. Which means I providentially had a whole meal ready for my unexpected guests – yummy soup, crackers and cheese, crusty bread with butter, and salad. Oh, and the last half of the Nestle cookie dough sitting in my frige made into cookies for a last-minute dessert.

It was a lovely day.

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Cool September Sunday

Today was a slightly crazy Sunday. My dad and aunt drove up from Baltimore to go to church with us (dad being in the DC area on business over the next few days). And so, naturally, they came over afterwards for lunch.

After I managed to spill coffee all over the table and my dad’s pants (because I’m a graceful ballerina), we put the girls down for a nap and drove over to the new place for a look-see. Drew came along, too, since it’s not every day Papa comes for a visit!

I am very pleased to announce that we now have a bathtub. There was a point in time where it looked like all we were going to get was a single shower stall in the new house. (I don’t even want to go into that issue here.) Thankfully, that has all been worked out and I’ve now seen the tub with my own two eyes. I also was glad to see the house again since I picked out the paint colors from memory after only seeing it once. This was my second time. And I still like my paint choices, so that is convenient.

Terrible bummer that my dad and aunt had to leave after we walked through the house. I felt like most of my time with them was spent doing things for the meal and for the kids; we really didn’t get to talk too much. Hopefully the next visit will be longer and less distraction-intensive.

And I’ll take seeing my dad for a few hours over nothing any day.

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Quite Frank-ly

This weekend, as in the one that just passed, we had our very first visit from a Ch@ttanooga friend.

A FRIEND! THAT CAME TO SEE US!

And confirmed for us that our kids have more energy than charged electrons. Like I didn’t know that. Anyway.

Friday night Andy and Frank ate dinner in Atlantic City (at one of Andy’s restaurant accounts, obviously). I’m sure it felt just like old times, but not. I can’t comment on either the food or the conversation because I don’t have ESP.

Since the guys were gone, the kids and I spent the evening at Target, naturally. Saturday morning we ate pancakes and then went to see the aforementioned house. And then while I stayed with the kids during their nap (Mommy, the Babysitting Slave), Andy and Frank drove down to Longwood Gardens. They named it as their most extraordinary plant experience, ever. Which might be saying something.

[I confess, the whole prospect sounded a little dull to me at the time and I was quite happy to stay home and stare at Mr. TV. But probably if I had seen the website and what beauty is to behold there, I might have been a little jealous.]

Saturday evening we ordered pizza (because what else is there to eat on a Saturday night?) and the guys went to a movie so I could, yet again, be Mommy, the Babysitting Slave. But I really didn’t mind. They went to see “Transformers.” And that’s when I asked Andy, ‘uh, how old are you?’

All in good fun, of course.

Yesterday, being Sunday, we went to church. And then came home. And then ate a lasagna that Mommy, the Kitchen Slave made. For more on that riveting meal, click here.

And then Frank was off. I told him next time, to please bring his wife.

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Fun Monday

Welp, I suppose I should take a break from all the shoe shopping going on around here and post about today. It was a Very Fun Day in the grand scheme of the summer. As I mentioned earlier, my mom and sisters are here on their way down to Covenant. And if you don’t think that we’re on the way from Colorado to Georgia, you haven’t met my mother. (I.e. “Let’s take a road trip to Washington State and oh, let’s stop in Maine while we’re at it.”)

First, as all good days start, we went to Target. (The shoe shopping.) By the way, did I ever tell you that for a grand total of one dollar at the Target snack bar, you can purchase a full bag of popcorn AND a drink? BOTH! FOR ONE DOLLAR! It’s my stay-awake-in-the-car-till-we-get-home-for-your-nap tactic for my kids. They each get a cup of it and of course I drink the Diet Coke. It makes us all happy. For a dollar.

Anyway.

My mom kept the kids and my sisters and I (with their vast collection of sunglasses – more to choose from, my friend) drove down to Ocean City. The only mishap on the way down was getting off the toll road too early. In the process of turning around we ended up paying the toll three times. THREE TIMES. Instead of ONE.

We walked the boardwalk and peeked in several shops, got our feet wet, stopped for ice cream – everything you’d expect to do while at the beach.

(And thankfully you can pay for parking with a credit card since we spent our cash on THREE TOLLS!)

It’s hard to believe my little sisters are all growed up and going to college. We had so much fun Cassandra and I fell asleep straight away while Carrissa missed the expressway home. Next thing I knew we were halfway to New York. We weren’t planning on seeing New York. Fabulous as it is and all.

It was, however, a beautiful drive back, complete with a pretty sunset:

We met Andy, my mom, and the kids at Chili’s for dinner. Because all Very Fun Days end by eating dinner at Chili’s.

As you can see, Drew is very serious about his salsa. We’ve trained him well, I’d say.

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