Weekend Rewind

HOORAY for long weekends!  The only bummer is now Matt is back at work.  BUT, that is a blessing too--he likes his work, he enjoys his coworkers, and a four day week is what remains ahead of him. :)

On Saturday we got up and tried to round up the kids in a reasonable amount of time to head to the outlets.  We left around 10, which was only slightly behind our goal time. ;)  We did not have traffic issues getting to the outlets, and the kids did great looking at books on the way, talking about various trucks we passed on the highway ;), and listening to their ever-favorite VBS music cd. :)  I completely struck out looking for sandals. :(  But we found almost EVERYthing Matt needed!  And even better, the stores we found his shirts, pants, and shorts at were having major sales, like 40-75% off sales!  So we found great stuff at great prices. I entertained the kids while Matt tried things on by walking up and down the sidewalks and letting them sit and play on the ride-on toys (we have never put money in that type of toy, so they are perfectly content just sitting and playing pretend--no expectations that they will move). :)  Asa also got a treat from the Disney Store outlet--he chose a taco truck Mater!  And we shared a little bag of M&M's on our way out.  We stopped at Chickfila for a (very) late lunch.  Asa kept saying, "I LOVE eating IN the restaurant!"  Can you tell we don't usually eat out/in restaurants? ;)  To be fair, that's more due to AR's age/stage of constantly being "busy" than due to Asa.  Also, neither of them eat well at restaurants because they are too busy people-watching.  Somehow Anna Reaghan stayed awake the whole way home (an hour past nap time!), but she crashed as soon as we got home and I put her in bed.  Asa, on the other hand, managed to play and keep himself awake in bed all through rest time.  He was *exhausted* at bed time.  But we made it!

On Sunday, Asa was surprisingly even-keeled considering how tired he was.  He was so sweet. :)  We did leave Mom & Dad's after church a little earlier than usual to get the kids home for naps--they were still extra tired.  Matt weeded and mowed, we wandered around the yard,and we just had a nice, relaxing evening.  I threw together a salad of lettuce, broccoli slaw, extra carrots for Matt, barbecued chicken, and a little cheese and bacon for garnish.  I have to say, Matt was a little skeptical when I suggested barbecued chicken salad for dinner, but he loved it once he saw it and ate it. :)

On Monday, we really had a low-key morning and afternoon.  Matt finished mowing, I took Anna Reaghan with me to the store to pick up a few things for brownies, we played around the house, and the kids helped me make the brownies.  While they were napping I made icing and frosted the brownies, and then we went to my parents' for a cookout after the kids woke up.  They got to splash in a kiddie pool and play with a little sprinkler--to Asa's delight in particular. :)  Mimi was there too and all our Tennessee cousins at least stopped by, and we had yummy burgers that G-Pa grilled.  After everyone else left, Anna Reaghan danced a little more to VBS music before we headed home and got our kids in bed.  It was a sweet time with family!

We don't have any major plans in the works for this week.  We have a cousin's birthday party next weekend, but we already have the gift, wrap, and card (I just need to put those together), so no errands are necessary to prepare. :)  I am feeling the itch to get started with some packing or a second round of weeding through boxes and deciding what we really want to keep--so that is the major thing on my agenda or naps or evenings.  I also need to figure out some details for Asa's upcoming FOURTH birthday party in less than a month!! :)