Wow! What a weekend! For safety reasons, I didn't share last week that Doug and Quayd and 22 other young men and leaders from the ward went up to the ranch for an overnighter. They left Friday and returned Saturday afternoon. It was too fast of a trip, according to them both, but they had a ball! Doug gave a brief Scoutmasters Minute (even though he's not the scoutmaster) and they played and ate the rest of the weekend. Quayd learned how to play Risk and stayed up till 2:30 doing so. They sledded and played in the snow until the last moment before they left and just plain had a blast. (Yesterday's photo.) Quayd wants to go back up next weekend! However, next weekend, we may be a bit busy tearing our house apart!
The minute that the girls heard that Quayd and Doug were going out of town, I knew that I was in for some seriously blue girls. They wanted to go to the ranch too! SO. It was only right that we had to have a fun weekend ourselves at home, rather than stay home being sad that we'd been left behind. And we did have fun!
Our fun actually began even before the boys left. Doug and Quayd were loading up when we left for the theater to see Les Miserables. The girls loved it! I'd sat them down a few weeks ago, and while listening to the music, told them the whole story. They were prepared and understood the story. They talked and talked about it. Following the movie, popcorn and treats, we went to Costa Vida and grabbed dinner to go, so that we could come home and continue with our girlie night.
We got our jammies on, turned off all of the lights in the house and cozied up for dinner and Pride and Prejudice, which was a first for the girls. They laughed so hard at Mrs. Bennett, the mother, and how she got so "excitable" over her daughters getting married. I teased them the rest of the weekend, squealing and fussing over their future dates coming to the door. Grace said that I'd have to be locked in the room when boys came to call if I acted like Mrs. Bennett. After that movie, we decided to watch Shall we Dance? and then headed to bed. We were literally asleep by 10:30, but we were worn out from laughing by then!
We were awakw at 7:30 and giggled in bed for an hour about anything and everything. ZJ told me all the girl drama from school and Grace gave her big sister advise. The words, "I think I hear a velousoraptor!" made us laugh very hard and Grace remembered when I slept with her in the hospital years ago, when she was a little girl and she wet the bed. She promised that she would never do that again. I'd completely forgotten it but she sure had fun laughing about my discovery when I became soaking wet in her bed! It's amazing how silly things can be when you are in that sort of mood!
We quickly headed to Kneaders for Breakfast (ZJ's choice). I thought I'd treat them to the tennis ball sized chocolate dipped strawberries (Gracie's favorite) along with their french toast. We were in the mall by 10 and decided to have ZJ's hair straightened just for fun. She has such unmanageable hair and tries so hard to keep it tame. The longer it gets, the more manageable it is, but it's been rough growing it out. ZJ has decided that she needs a $200 ceramic flat iron set for her birthday. We'll have to see about that, but her words were, "I'll have just that and not even go out for dinner, pullllleeeeeeeeeez, Mommmmmm?" We'll see what her dad decides on that one.
Following her new "do" we went to their favorite store, Rue 21 and scored with a darling skirt and two tops for Grace, some yoga pants and a few shirts for both of the girls. I was thankful for the gift card I've been carrying around since December! It's gone now!
Being that we'd shopped sooooo hard, we worked up an appetite and went out for lunch at Black Pearl. I was actually still full from breakfast and brought my cashew chicken for Doug, but the girls finished every bite of their tiny spicy chicken. By the time we got home, we were only an hour ahead of the boys. Of course, we had to tease back and forth about who had the best time! (Naturally, the girls insisted that they did, but Quayd begged to differ. The fact that he was fast asleep in the living room within minutes of telling about their fun, was a good indicator that he did, indeed have a ball!
Great weekend for all. I think it was a good thing to spend some time with the kids separately. ZJ loved all of the attention she got for her straight hair, they loved getting some new clothes and Quayd loves any and every second he pend with his dad. We spent the rest of Saturday preparing for Sunday's lesson, and looking at paint colors! Imagine that.
Sunday meetings were awesome, as usual. I did want to remember one funny thing Quayd said. There is a family in our ward who have some very, shall we say, "irreverent" children. For the past few weeks, Quayd has leaned over and whispered to me, "Mom, we should give them our special bear." The special bear was something that we've had since before the bigs were even all born. It sits on the edge of a plate and holds a little sign that says, "You're special." I used it for birthdays and big events when the bigs were little. However. When the babes were young, on Sundays, the Special Bear would sit on the plate of whomever was move reverent in church that day. I had completely forgotten this! So, when Quayd mentioned it, I thought, "HUH? A Birthday bear?" Yesterday, as one of the children was being totally out of control and making quite the disruption, Quayd said, again, "Mom, they need the special bear really bad." I got it! And it was all I could do not to laugh out loud! Just saying.
After teaching a lesson on Keeping the Sabbath Day holy, we discussed it at length with the kids too. Doug and I then, sat down and had a little planning meeting to map out the next two weeks. It's going to be crazy. Packing, painting, moving furniture, doing repairs and all sorts of prep for the next two weeks. This is going to be a nightmare!
Doug is so casual and laid back about everything. We sat down and made a list of what needs to be done each day over the next two weeks. It's insane. Today, the serious work begins. Tonight, we will be emptying my china cabinet and giving it to Denise. We will be cleaning out, taking down, dejunking and prepping the kitchen for primer paint tomorrow. I also still have nine drawers to refinish. There's so much to be done! I'll be completely kitchenless as of Friday for about a week. We will be bedroomless for about the same. Furniture will be stacked in the strangest of places. Carpet tacks will be exposed. It's going to be CRAZY! This is where Sophia prays for patience...and lots of it! I'm excited though. It will be worth it in the end. What's that saying??? I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it. It applies here!
I'm off to buy a mile long list of supplies, meeting Nat for a quick bite and home to start the disassembly of our world! Life is good!
Chaos in the world brings uneasiness,
but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth.
Hang in there, Sophia! I was without a kitchen for a little more than a month a couple of years ago during a kitchen remodel. It was a pain, but so worth it! Your remodel will be, too. So looking forward to the big reveal! :-)
Posted by: Pamela K. | Monday, February 18, 2013 at 06:55 PM