Weekend

(photo cred belongs to my dear mother)

We had an eventful weekend around here.  On Saturday I helped my parents remove some wallpaper in a home they are buying (five minutes from my house!  how exciting is that?), went to my oldest son's soccer game (he is a great little goalie, only he is not so little anymore!) while I kept an eye several places (my girls were taking very good care of E., mother-henning him all over the place, but when he got tired of that, he enjoyed splashing through a long puddle several times in a row.  After a busy work day we got cleaned up just in time to help at my cousin's wedding.  The wedding was the perfect Pinterest wedding, if I may say so (but I didn't have my camera!).  It was in a barn strung with white globe lights and two beautiful white chandeliers.  The tables were decorated with vintage eclectic flower vases filled with Redbud branches in full bloom and other assorted spring flowers (and a light farm animal scent for ambiance, too).  Gorgeous photos and little chalkboard sayings hung around the room; the bride and groom stood in front of a large chalkboard with their names artistically rendered in beautiful clean white chalk across the top.  I got the best of all the worlds, because I got to serve milk and cookies in a cute apron with my sister while my husband chased the baby outside on the grass (by the time we left he was convinced we should buy the place, and it was cute but...) and my other girls helped (sometimes a little over-enthusiastically) pick up after people who were finished with their milk and cookies.  And we got to sneak some treats for ourselves here and there.  I thought it was funny how many sheepish older men felt they needed to apologize for or explain to me why they were taking chocolate milk (huh?  is chocolate milk unmanly or something?).  It was dreamy, I kept kicking myself for not bringing along my camera.  When we were all finished, they let us take an antique vase home.  Trust me, I got to listen all weekend to a little girl who somehow felt cheated that her sister had gotten the cutest vase and why oh why couldn't she just giiiiiive it to her?  (there were many tears over this)

Saturday night we were awakened in the middle of the night to some eerie sounds (not the wind, it was doing a number outside), only to discover that Maia was puking her guts out in the middle of the hallway.  Of course the ruckus woke up the baby, so I sat with him for a few minutes (praying that he would go to sleep?  or praying that he wouldn't?  so I wouldn't have to face the...) while my husband dealt with the throw up and the thrower upper.  Pretty soon, though, my baby duties didn't exempt me from throw up duty.  (thank heavens he got the worst of it! I  have the worst possible constitution as they say, for vomit.  I can clean up pretty much anything else, but trust me, I contribute to the mess when I have to clean that stuff up)  So we spent the next hour or so cleaning spots from her bed to the bathroom, no small trek if you ask me.  The baby got up again (I guess I have to stop calling him "the baby" now?  He is two after all, ha.), and started hanging on me and begging to watch Mater, so I set him up watching Mater's Tall Tales in the middle of the night, it was actually pretty cute, he wanted to watch it on the tablet while he laid on his tummy, elbows propped, on a single stair leading to my bedroom closet, with the glow lighting up his little face in the darkness.  (and I tell you what, Dad Gum, that show cracks me up, Mater and Mator)

By the time we got it all cleaned up and I started to get him back to bed it was 5am, after he fell asleep I figured I may as well get up for the day, since I had things to do.

I got to go to church with just one little girl, since everyone else was still sleeping when it was time to go (I couldn't bring myself to wake them up, since we had lights and noise going on in the middle of the night, in one of their rooms), so we had a good little date.  She brought her little vase of orange flowers from the wedding and I was too tired to care.  We had a few touch-and-go moments in church, as she wanted to hold the flowers up above her head (several times?  you'd think since she was unhappy with her vase she wouldn't be wanting to show it off to a whole congregation of people?) She spilled the water a few times but she always ran to the bathroom right away to get some paper towels to clean it up.  :)

Sunday afternoon I took a delicious nap, only interrupted a couple of times.  After a loud and laughing mashed potato dinner (I can't remember what was so funny?  But I do remember looking around and feeling so happy that everyone was so breathlessly amused and talkative all at once), we went outside and played soccer, the oldest two and I.  I just love how pleasant my oldest son always is.  He laughed every time I scored on him (what is so funny about that?).  And my oldest daughter, she was a good sport too.  Maia came walking out in her pj's with her throw up bucket, which was soon to blow away, unattended.  The baby kept wandering in and out of the field of play and so did the cats.  He spent a few minutes crouched next to the porch, where they fled from him, watching curiously and wondering how he could get to those cats (loves them!).  Pretty soon the littest three were bouncing on the neighbors trampoline (sorry!) while we next tried a creative game of baseball. Creative, when you only have 1-2 players on a team, and both members of your team are on base.  Who is supposed to bat?  My husband came out and joined us and we enjoyed some mutually competitive taunting.  Then we trailed in our balls and bats and throw up buckets and made our way upstairs for a twilit story or two, and I finished the day with a little knocked out nursing baby (love him!  there is something so magical about a sleeping baby, too) and we finished the movie Lincoln that we had started the night before.

How was your weekend?  I really enjoy getting a break from the daily tasks, but Mondays are extra work because of it (we let everything go south on Sunday). 

I am really happy about this month's goals.  So glad to get a break from trying to be good at something I'm not (the discipline and the schedules, which I will get back to, just not quite yet), and just focus on showing love to them through spending time together (my favorite).