living the dream: Weekend at Home

As the kids get older, we are realizing that their busy schedules are going to start to dictate what we will be doing on weekends. Whereas, up until now, we only had to juggle our two busy schedules when making plans to go visit my family in the Bay Area or old friends who are far away. I'm happy that the kids are involved in the many activities our community has to offer, but a bit "unsettled" about the fact that I'm fully commited to being fully involved in life here for years to come. I always love being able to take off and be with my family in the Bay Area for random special occasions, or to just see them when I'm a little homesick for good ol' Oakland life. Now that Kylee has ballet on Saturdays and other sports events will start to fill up our weekend travel in the future... I realize that I'm just going to have to get used to being here and saving the travel for breaks from school and sports seasons (like normal people, I guess!)

"Where in the hell is Weaverville." That's what I read on a license plate frame on Main Street, where I sat with the kids on Friday while we watched the Homecoming Parade roll through town. We are definitely off the beaten path, and I found it kind of amusing to sit there among so many people going about their busy day- and to think this is supposed to be the middle of nowhere? Luckily, our "middle of nowhere" status hasn't scared away many of the people who know us, and still make the 4+ hour trek to come visit. I was so happy to have my good friend, Jen, come up with her little one, Jimmy, for a good part of last week. We had a blast being SAHMs together, getting the school kids to school, working in naps, reading, playtime, even a lunch out, and soccer practice. The kids had so much fun together, and Owen was literally a mess when we let him know Jen and Jimmy had to go back home. He got over it when we told him about all the fun we had planned for the weekend... beginning with a Soccer Jamboree on Saturday, leading to the kids having a sleepover at Grandma's! They were so excited to be free of parents for the first time in too long, and Wes and I had big plans to finally get some work done around the house, and maybe even go out to dinner to make up for our non-existant anniversary date. Despite coming down with colds the kids have been fighting, we got SO much yard and housework done. We put on "non-sick" faces and went out to dinner on Saturday (though, who knows what it tasted like! We were out by ourselves, and that was worth paying for a nice dinner!) We watched a movie that was rated R when we got home, it was full of violence and action and we didn't have to worry about kids hearing it! It was a very nice treat. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa!

Sunday morning we got up early despite our sore, sniffling noses and got back into crazy, high speed work mode... because Grandma was bringing the kids back by 1:30 for the start of Owen's 3rd Birthday Party! We worked non-stop on party prep, and even added on extra to-do's, like "drain hot tub and soak filter." This particular add on turned out to be a to-do I should have saved for a less busy time. Because, I, apparently, am not great at doing too many things at once anymore... and I happened to flood the laundry portion of my just-cleaned-house when I left the hot tub filter filling to soak in the laundry sink while I went to the store. Awesome! Instead of a nice, clean house to play in... our hallway looked like the kids could do some slip-n-sliding for a fun-filled indoor party game. By chance, my friend Shannon, wrote the party time down for an hour early, so she dropped her kids off to play while she went and got her carpet shampooer. Shannon was a HUGE help, spending a half hour or so sucking water out of our carpets! Even after this minor set-back, the party turned out to be a lot of fun. And after the crazy fun weekend of activity at home, I'm happy to do what it takes to fully commit to being a "Weaverville Mom." Our life here is so blessed, and though we may have to go a little longer between fun, out-of-town excursions, we'll still make the trips when we can. For now, I'm just going to focus on enjoying the beginnings of my kids active lives... I have a feeling it's going to get SO MUCH CRAZIER when these guys hit high school.