Easter may have been a bit of a FAIL this year (more to come on that later), but we sure made up for it with an absolutely amazing weekend. It's so easy to get wrapped up in everything that needs to get done on the weekends when most of the week is spent at work and lose sight of what the weekends are really about. I started to feel like we were in a weekend-rut lately because of all the laundry and cleaning and errands that need to happen every weekend to get us through the week. Normally there is some kind of activity with the kids, but I think the focus can easily get misplaced on everything that needs to get done, instead of truly spending time with the babies. They always come with us, but it's just different.
So this weekend, I decided to push back my incredible need to clean or do laundry (at least at first) and along with Wes, we made it a true weekend with the babies. I think a lot of our weekend-rut stems from the anxiety that I still struggle with, but that's no excuse. The majority of every Monday through Friday is spent at the office and focusing on work, so each week, the two days that I have left to focus on my babies, needs to be just that.
It was an especially long week at work last week, with several nights back on the laptop after the babies were in bed, so I was eager to head out a bit early on Friday and enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather with the babies. I made a quick dash on my way home to Michael's to pick up some new picture frames for our hallway (they were having a 50% off sale and I had an additional 20% off coupon). The weather was too nice to not head outside so while Daddy cut the grass, the babies and I played in the backyard. I put the final coat of paint on our Board and Batten in our hallway after the babies were asleep (I just wasn't happy without one more) and it looks even better now.
Emma Kathryn and I headed out bright and early Saturday morning for some special Mommy-Daughter time. The plan was to go to IKEA to pick out our new "bench" for our hallway but since the babies get up so early, we were ready to head out before the story was even open, so off to Target we went. Finally, it was time to head over to IKEA and boy did Emma LOVE it there. She was literally bouncing off the couches and chairs and loving all the "pretend" rooms. Since it was such a special Mommy-Daughter day, and because she was such a good baby, we stopped on the way out for a little frozen yogurt.
After lunch at home and some afternoon naps, we headed out as a family to the babies first ever carnival!! There is a small carnival that comes every year and it usually brings cold weather and rain. Emma wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first, and all the people made her a little nervous but we had a blast! I think she takes after her Daddy though and has a bit of a fear of heights so one turn on the Ferris Wheel was enough for the both of them. :)
Sunday was a bit cloudy in the morning, but was going to clear up and get warmer throughout the day, so we headed out as a foursome again to get some flowers to plant later that day. Daddy and Emma hung out outside for a bit when we got home since it was still a bit chilly and planted some flowers. This is when we got introduced to "Punch-weed" the worm.
Emma Kathryn is pretty much as girly as you can get. She is getting more and more into clothes, loves everything princess related and is very into dressing fancy, finger nail polish, tutus, you name it. She normally FREAKS OUT whenever there is a bug anywhere near her (I don't blame her - definitely got that from her Mama). If there is an ant on her play set, she won't go near it. Yet, she found a new best friend, punchweed the worm.
She carried punchweed (and we have NO IDEA where that name came from) around for an hour. I'm not really even sure how he lived that long and I'm pretty sure he met his maker at the end when Emma came running to Daddy saying "Oh no! I broke punchweed!!" Turns out, punchweed's twin was just around the corner and now lives in our flowers out front. :)
After some lunch and another quick nap (I think Emma napped for about 45 minutes ACK) we were back outside. It was gorgeous and the perfect time to clean out the babies pirate ship/water table and get wet. The Squishy had just woken up too and it was warm so he was just hanging out in a onesie. So we threw on a comfy pair of shorts (I think they were PJ shorts) a bucket hat and loads of sunscreen and off we were.
You have probably noticed at this point that the majority of pictures that I took were of The Squishy while we were outside. I really tried to get some of Emma Kathryn but she is becoming very camera shy and the minute she gets a whiff of Mommy taking her picture, she does something like this...
Yeah. So that's why most of the pictures are of The Squishy.
I did manage to snap one or two when she wasn't looking and watering the grass. :)
Daddy had a great idea to grill out for dinner since it was so nice out, so we continued to play in our sobby wet clothes and bathing suit until dinner was ready. Since we just had to shell out a bunch of money for car repairs (sigh) we put the purchase of a patio set on hold. Ergo, dinner at the Little Tike's kids table and Squishy in a kitchen chair with booster seat.
The kids SCARFED down dinner and must have been starving from all that playing. It was such an amazing day, that Daddy brought the babies a little surprise ice cream with chocolate syrup. Needless to say it was a hit across the board.
Even though we still had some errands to run, and we still had to do some cleaning and laundry, it wasn't the focus for once and was an absolutely amazing weekend. I'm already looking forward to next weekend. Granted, I had one BIG pile of laundry to fold afterwards that the Squishy "helped me" sprinkle around the downstairs, but it was a thousand times worth it. :)
