Weekend

I feel like we spend all week looking forward to weekends.  Steven has been working a lot of hours at his new job.  It's not really a big deal to me, I remember him working crazy hours before we had the girls.  But they're not at all used to him working so long, being here so little, and being so tired when he is here.  I'm hoping they can get used to it, because all the extra hours mean that when he IS here, we can do fun things.

So this weekend, Steven has to work Sunday, so we're cramming all the fun we can into today.  There are plans for some errands, and hopefully some fun stuff for them too.  Tomorrow Grampy and Mimi are coming over to visit while he's at work, so that will be something good.  Monday I have off from work, and it's my birthday.  I'm thinking we'll go to a park of some kind, or depending on the weather, maybe the Eric Carle museum.

Next weekend we're headed down to visit friends and maybe go to the zoo for our annual zoo trip with them.  We've done it every summer since Hannah was 14 months old.  We now have more kids and more fun every year!

Toto Photo

I don't know why Kat's brother Victor is Toto, his own nieces all call him that, and now my kids do too.  So Toto came to take pictures at the girls baptism.  He's a professional, and is fantastic, and we are so SO grateful he was willing and able to be there.  I got them today, and they're all amazing!  I posted them on the shutterfly site, but here's just one to share.

Fever

Hannah's running a fever today.  I noticed it around lunch and it's hanging on this afternoon.  So she's resting on the couch with movies and water.  I'm hoping she can kick it fast!  It's super hot today, so having a fever when it's hot has to be ten times worse.

Exciting!

Next week is my birthday, and when Steven asked me what I wanted, I told him I wanted a new lens for my camera.  So after some research and deciding, I've come up with the one I want.  Now we're just waiting for the last check from the old job.  Hopefully it comes on Friday, because I really want to get it ASAP!  I decided on a 35mm 1.8 prime lens.  So because it's a fixed focal length, there will be some new composition challenges, but with a ginormous aperture, I should be able to take gorgeous photos in the house without the flash.  A fabulous plan, since we live in New England and sometimes the weather is questionable.

Short Weeks

I love short weeks following long holiday weekends!  It's like an extra bonus added in.  Our week was relatively peaceful here.  Aside from having Kat cart me all over so I could drop off/retrieve my car from service, it was blissfully normal.  A fabulous hot July so far.  I had the ac on earlier, though it was less humid yesterday, so we turned it off.  In the afternoon we also had Magi and Mimi over for dinner so Kat could go to a work meeting.  Everyone played nicely, except Norah.  She seems to think that when you play "duck duck goose", she should always be the goose.  Everyone tried to nicely explain it to her, so I removed her and reminded her that playing nicely with friends and taking turns means your friends will want to come over to play again.

Then of course, the post dinner dessert meltdown.  Yesterday I made tacos for dinner.  One of Norah's favorites, but she chose a hard taco instead of the usual soft I give her.  I don't think she liked it, and they're hard to eat.  So she chose not to eat.  I reminded her as she got down that if she didn't do a good job on her dinner there wouldn't be any more chances to eat for her.  She agreed.  Until I couldn't put off the other three any longer, and they all got a TJ's cookie.  Then holy hell broke loose, and the poor girl ended up falling asleep in her bed midtantrum. 

Fortunately, today she ate all her dinner and even had seconds.  She insisted that "tortellinis are my favorite!  I will eat them all up in my belly button!"

Home!

As happy as I was to go see Sara and Zach in New Hampshire.  As thrilled as I was to be a part of their special day... there's nothing like being home in your own house and bed.  The chaos started Saturday when Steven defied the borrowed GPS and headed East instead of West.  So because of that we ended up on 93 North, stopped dead, sitting.  For a LONG time.  It was less than pleasant.  Add to that Sara waiting for us to drop off the flowers (seated conveniently between my feet for the whole 3.5 hour trip) and take her back to her Mother in Law's with us.  It was a little nuts.  So we finally get to Sara, and as we pull off the highway, Steven notices my car is making a horrible clunky noise.  Not at all good.  So we drop off all the stuff at Jean's house, and head to the hotel to check in and get ready for rehearsal.  While we're there, Steven asks about garages, and one is available to check out my front end, deems it "safe" and we're good to drive, despite horrible clunking noises.

Rehearsal is awesome and fun.  There was lots of last minute plans, and who's going to do what, when. In fact the ONLY bad part is me stepping wrong out of the back door of the house and twisting my ankle very uncomfortably.  The girls are excited, and start wondering if the pool at the hotel is any fun.  So we head out about 7:30 to take them back to go swimming and my ankle was in heaven in the hot tub.  The girls go to bed as soon as we get upstairs and are asleep in record time.  Meanwhile Steven goes out to find ibuprofen and sandwiches because we're starving.  I ice my foot, watch a movie, and eat.  We head to bed and realize that a Queen size bed, is TEENY compared to our bed, and Oh man, Everytime I move, we're touching.  I don't mind touching, but not when I'm sleeping!

Sunday morning finally comes, with matching dark circles for all of us.  We head to breakfast and the pool, followed by the LL Bean outlet and some other stuff.  We go back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding and check out.  We're going home, and man I miss my bed.

The wedding was fantastic and beautiful!  Everything seemed to happen either just right, or with minimal issues.  Sara and Zach seemed to have a good time, and everyone attending seemed to also.  I only wish I'd been in the right place with my camera to get pictures of the wedding party jumping in the river.... in their gorgeous clothes!

The time has come

The girls couldn't be more excited!  Tomorrow we are leaving for the long drive to Auntie  Sara and Uncle Zach's wedding.  We're spending two nights in a hotel, and we have to bring more stuff than I can physically imagine.  I've finally gotten to where I've packed nearly everything.  Only the stuff we really need for the morning is still not in the suitcase.  Steven is supposed to find the cooler so we can bring the wings and flowers up safely.  He's late at work tonight, so hopefully he finds it right away in the morning.  Otherwise I forsee an early stop at Walmart to get a cooler.

We're all thrilled and can't wait to see everyone, and of course, pictures to come.  Oh man, I should put my camera in the suitcase.