Our Weekend In Snippets

O.K. So I know that it is Thursday night and I am just now getting around to posting about our active fun-filled weekend with Grandma and Graypa. But I figure this type of a post is really more for our own family memories anyway than any sort of quality entertainment for a potential lurker or two.

Friday evening, my hubby raced home from work to put the finishing touches on his (uh, I mean my son's) pinewood derby car before loading up his tools to head over to the church to serve in his official capacity as "Check-in Manager." He is excellent at helping the boys to tweak their cars for speed, so they call on him each year to do so.

My daughter and youngest son stayed home with me since he was sporting a low grade fever and we wanted to stave off any reason for non-attendance to the big race on Saturday. I spent the evening cleaning and preparing beds with clean sheets for Grandma and Graypa's arrival.

Hubby and son returned home at the very same time Grandma and Graypa arrived after ten p.m. No one wanted to say hello and goodnight, so we all stayed up past midnight talking and catching up.

The next morning, Grandma and Graypa headed with us girls to cheer leading while the boys made their way to the derby. It was a BEAUTIFUL spring morning! My girls (the cheer squad) were all very tired (I don't know why) and embarrassed to have MY mom and dad watching them, so they did more giggling and laying across the floor than cheering. Graypa decided to make them laugh in his typical fashion. He spent the morning making up cheers about breakfast. "I want bacon. I want toast. I like cheers about food the most! Yea, Pancakes!" I think he may have been hinting since I only offered cereal after my lack of sleep....... :)

After the game, we all raced over to join the boys at the Pinewood Derby on the other side of town. The championship heat was beginning as we found the boys. For the first year ever, my son didn't place in the speed category. But he won first place in design! This was so special since it is also the first year he's done the work primarily on his own! Way to go, Dalton!

I held and hugged my friend's baby while feeding her cookies (only and they were quarter size!) and attempting to teach her to say "Aunt Nikki gives me chocolate." I'm going to make a good Grandma, aren't I?

We went home and watched "Facing the Giants" just like the plan, except for all of us falling asleep in 10 minute increments, waking only to take turns asking "Does anyone want me to make lunch?" The answer was always yes, but none of us could quite manage it for about half an hour. Finally I put some sandwiches together and we prepared for Allie's Birthday Party.

I was so glad to get to see Allie when we arrived at her Aunt Toni's house, just two streets over. The party was a karaoke/movie theme with outstanding decorations and the two most perfect cakes made by Allie's Aunt Toni and Aunt Rae. I know where I'm getting my cakes from now on! One was decorated like a movie clap board and one like a ticket. The girls all decked themselves out with movie star hair and makeup and sang and played and just generally delighted us with their sweet innocence. Allie's favorite part of the evening, though, was playing the vendor of the concession stand, which was made remarkably real with a card table, play money, and every type of typical boxed movie candy you can imagine. I have to admit I made myself sick eating so many "Bottlecaps" just so I could see the joy it brought Allie after her original rush of customers had tapered off for too long. Once the girls were started in on watching a movie, us "big girls" played a game I've never been introduced to before. "Sequence" is my new addiction! It was so much fun to play that we didn't leave to go home until 1:30 a.m. - with church to attend the next morning.

After about 4 1/2 hours of sleep, we woke up to get ready for services while Grandma and Graypa prepared to leave. It was a rather quick sendoff so we could all make our deadlines. Grandma and Graypa needed to have Allie home in time to prepare for school Monday. We had a fabulous church service, even if I did have to poke Greg to prevent him from snoring.

After church, we ate lunch at a Mexican Restaurant that we've eaten at for years. Our last time there, however, we received both bad food and mediocre service. This time, the service was TERRIBLE! As in, they forgot about us entirely multiple times. And every other table in the place. Seriously, all of us customers were talking back and forth in disbelief. It was so bad that I think we all only stayed to register whether such a thing was truly possible!

On the way home, I stopped off at Walmart with my daughter for the next day's necessities and ran into old friends I haven't seen in ages. We talked for over an hour about our lives, our churches, our mutual friends and God's goodness towards us. I love this couple. They were both students in my husband's and my youth group before they even dated.

Since my husband needed to go to work, I went home without any purchases and gathered the boys to go back with us to the store to complete our shopping. Then we returned home and readied for school, played three rounds of Whoonu and went to bed early. But just before bed, both of my husband's brothers called. Paul called to tell us his new school was accepting ALL of his old credits from several years ago and that he will most likely be graduating with his Bachelor degree in business at the end of this semester. I am so proud of him.

But the BIG news came from our other brother, Jason. He called to ask if we had heard that my niece's boyfriend had asked her parents permission to request her hand in marriage! Yay! I love my niece's boyfriend. None of us were too sure when their relationship started where it was going, but we all hoped he was "The One" way before she was sure about it! Welcome to the family Leo! (She of course said yes) You have already been one of us practically since we met you. And "my handsome nephew" just sounds so much better than "my adorable perky niece's boyfriend." The kids especially CAN'T WAIT for the wedding. They have so much fun with Leo. He is one of their favorite jungle gyms. And an absolutely fantastic, talented artist.

So, there you go. Our weekend in a nut, er uh, coconut shell.

Monday as the day fell apart and I blogged about all the sordid details, I told my youngest son "I'm sorry Mommy spent so much time on the computer today. Thank you for being so patient." He just looked at me and said flatly, "I'm not."

Thank YOU for being so patient (or pretending to be) with this post. It was purely to fulfill a request from someone who actually DID want to hear about it. Well, that's what they said anyway. Go figure.