Our Weekend

Of all the fun things I write about I think these are the posts I'll look back at and enjoy most. I have found the day to day details, routines you think you'd never forget, are actually the ones I can't remember. It's fun to look back and see a glimpse of what life was really like in the moment.

Friday night we took the kids to the mall. We were expecting our first freeze of the season and Camden's 2T clothes from last fall/winter are just barely fitting him. We had some basics we needed to get.

Our beloved Riley, at 4, almost 5, is in an extremes phase. She's either extremely delightful or extremely, well, not. Worse, it fluctuates between the two within minutes, sometimes seconds. A trip to the mall with her is like walking a mine field and there's no telling when and where the mines are. She's loving and helpful in the first store, demanding to the point of yelling we buy her something in the next, sweet as sugar playing in the play place, delightful at dinner, then not so kind at the last moment as we are leaving.

Camden at 2.5 is easier. If he's fussing it's because he's hungry, tired or both. As long as you meet those needs he's fine. The only trick of mall trips with him now is getting him to a potty.

We took our usual route - Nordstroms, Old Navy, Crazy 8, Gymboree, Play Place, Vapianos, H&M and back out through Nordys.  I got tired again just typing that.

Saturday morning was chilly, in the 30s, with our first frost. We had family photos taken by a friend.  They are beautiful.  The kids did great and we were on our way home for breakfast by 9:45.

After we changed clothes, used the potty, ate cereal, and tidied up a bit we headed to the gym. It was cold enough for hats!  Camden is into Little Einsteins right now.  Riley draws on 100 pieces of paper a day.  She makes the neatest pictures and also loves using all the Scotch tape in the house to "wrap" "presents" for her friends.
 

We went straight from the gym to a local pumpkin parking lot. The kids loved running around and we finally picked up a pumpkin for our front porch. We're waiting until next weekend to carve it.

We came home just in time for Camden's nap. I had some errands to run at the mall and the craft store so I took Riley with me. She asked me on our way in if we could go in her favorite store. I was happy to oblige even though she was being secretive about what it was. Imagine my shock (horror?) when she led me up to Justice. We've never been in there before and I hope I don't have to go back there again until she's much older. No offense Justice, but a scrap of fabric with glitter, sequins, and some ridiculous slogan is not worth $32. We did buy some cute sale tees and ballet slipper clips from Crazy 8 though.

That night my dear friend graciously offered to watch our kids so TG and I could have a wonderful dinner out. We went to one of our favorite, but not often visited restaurants. The last time we were there was in 2009 for our 5th anniversary. Oh, Melting Pot, how we have missed you. We did it up right and had the seasonal Big Night Out complete with Boston lager bacon cheddar cheese, Wisconsin wedge salads, the coq au vin style meats, the original chocolate AND a wine flight and beer flight that was paired with each course. It was delicious even though we had to practically roll ourselves out of there.

I finished almost all my wines except the fourth one which was a very oak-y chardonnay.  I discovered that I like clarets though.  Wine win!  TG liked the first three beers, but the fourth was a chocolate stout that he left full on the table.


This morning TG had soccer so I hung with the babies and sorted through Camden's winter wardrobe taking mental notes of what he needed. TG's team won 3 to 2 and he had the hat trick. All 3 goals by my hubs, amazing.  

After some quick house cleaning we all headed over to the local fire department open house. It was our first time to go and the kids loved it. We were a little disappointed the fire truck rides had been discontinued, but they loved the ladder climbing event and all the safety stations. They thought trying the hose was awesome. Riley exclaimed with glee when she found out she could keep her firefighter hat.
  

Camden was so into it. He loves "wahder!"

We went straight from the open house to the outlets for some birthday gift shopping. That was a bit overkill, but the kids did pretty well. We let them ride the mechanical rides and got them a small ice cream treat at the end. The hardest part of the trip again was getting Camden to a potty.

We were able to finish Camden's basics list too by stopping in Gymboree and Osh Kosh. We came home and Cam napped, TG watched football and Riley and I rested in my bed watching Tangled. She did my make up and then asked me to take a picture.  You can't tell but she gave me silver eyeshadow, lots of glitter roll on blush, and heavy pink lipstick.

Camden got up at 5 and while TG watched the Patriots game we all hung out around the house. The kids played with figurines, logged some iPad time, and did my make up again. After Cam finally went number 2 on the potty I let them go outside and jump on our trampoline in the dark for 10 minutes. 
They thought it was so cool to be outside in the dark and after a few minutes they noticed the stars and kept exclaiming, "Mommmy, look stars! I see stars!"

After baths, we let them have a brother and sister dinner of pb&j and yogurt while they watched part of The Hulk. Avengers are big around here right now. They were being so cute eating together. They even held hands and both took a turn singing the family dinner prayer we do.

It was bedtime immediately following dinner. The plan was for them to be in bed at 8:00 but it almost always ends up being 8:30 after the last potty trips, teeth brushing, songs, kisses, more songs and snuggles are done.

Hubs went to bed pretty soon after that because he was bummed the Patriots ended up losing.  I did the last kitchen clean up, sweeping, and changing of the laundry before calling it a night.

And that was our weekend.