The Weekend in Review

This weekend was one of those weekends that felt like it was at least 3 days long. We stayed pretty busy and it made the days feel long!

Friday night was movie night, as usual. The kids watched Space Chimps this week. Kevin brought them home McD's and they picniced on the floor while watching.

Saturday morning Maddux had karate class. He was testing for a new belt. While Kevin and Maddux were doing that, I took Ava to the mall to get her ears pierced. She's been asking about it for a few weeks now and it was her idea on Friday that she and I could do that while Maddux and Kevin did karate. I always said I'd get her ears pierced when she asked and was ready. She and I had watched tons of ear piercing videos on You Tube and she understood the process and was ready! We went in to Claires and she picked out the ones she wanted. She was nervous, but ready. Then the lady made the purple dots for alignment. Ava got visibly more nervous. Then the lady got the "gun" ready and showed Ava how it worked and how it would sound. And that did it... Ava got pale and she said she wanted to go home. I tried to talk her through it and the lady workign there did a good job trying to boost her up for it as well, but nope, she just wasn't ready. I'm not exactly sure what turned her off, but no big deal. The lady wanted to do it anyway, but there was no way I was going to force Ava to get it done. I imagine it will be awhile before she'll ask again!

We went back home and picked up Maddux and Kevin. Maddux had passed his test so he was going to the Belt Ceremony that afternoon to recieve his new belt. The kids wanted Olive Garden for lunch so we headed back to Pineville. We came home for just a little bit and then it was time for the Belt Ceremony. Maddux was the youngest kid there and he was very intimidated at first. He wouldn't go out on the floor at all. But it was alright, he went out eventually to a bunch of "awww's" from the crowd :) and was very excited to get his new "gold" belt.

His new belt...


With his instructor, Ms Tara...


Immediately after the ceremony we headed to Ayrsley to see Up. We had a few extra minutes so we walked down to Fintastic first. Up was a fantastic movie! I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in a really long time. The kids were also laughing. Maddux was laughing almost out-of-control it was so funny! And the bird... the bird had us laughing... and then when he named it Kevin, hahaha! I had tears just streaming down my face. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Maddux often gets a bit restless before movies are over, but he stayed riveted the entire time. This is a movie we will most definitely be purchasing when it comes out.

Saturday ended up feeling like 2 days. It didn't feel like karate and the ears were in the same day as the ceremony and the movie.

Sunday... my day to sleep in. But not this sunday. The cats were all over me and the kids were really loud downstairs. The plan was for Kevin to take the kids out to breakfast, but Ava didn't get up until close to 8 so I was already up by the time they were getting ready to head out, so I went with them. The kids chose Dunkin Donuts so that's where we went. After a yummy donut breakfast we went to Lowes to get lumber for our deck rails. And that's what we did the rest of the day... build our rails! Kevin and his dad had done the 3 sections on the back side last weekend and we spent the rest of the week finalizing how we wanted to the rest to be... rails or no rails, opening for stairs or not, etc.

We got 7 posts up and one section of rails. The posts are by far the hardest part. We have 3 sections of rails left, but they shouldn't take too long. I'll take pictures when we get it done. The kids did really well with us being busy all day. They played outside and when they'd get too hot they'd come in for a while. It's kind of weird now that I don't have to be on childwatch quite so much. It used to be my job during big projects was just to keep the kids occupied, but now they're pretty self-sufficient. I don't need to come in when they come in, I don't need to keep them busy and keep an eye on them constantly. It's nice to actually be able to help with the project more directly!

I also planned a few meals...

Sunday... scrounge for dinner. It ended up being ham and cheese on crackers for the kids and I don't even remember what Kevin and I ate.

Monday: chicken parmesan

Tuesday: grill out steak and baby red potatoes, with corn on the cob and a new mac n cheese recipe (stovetop mac n cheese from Alton Brown)

Wednesday: Ava's last day of school which means she gets to choose dinner. I think she has settled on Chili's, but we'll see. I'm happy to not have to cook since I have bunco this night. (speaking of, I still need to decide what to make for that)

Thursday: not sure. Something easy though.

Friday: we're heading to Gatlinburg! We've planned a fairly spontaneous trip back to the Governor's Crossing Resort. We went there 2 summers ago and the kids had a ton of fun. I imagine with Maddux being 2 years older it will all be even more fun!

It's hard to believe that summer is almost here!