Sunday night at last

I know, many people look forward to the weekend, but for me, the knowledge that the routine will come back and the kids will have structure in their lives again makes Sunday night the best.

It was a pretty good weekend. Friday after school, my neighbor came over with her 2 year old daughter; it was nice for the girls to play together, and the mamas had fun. The boys were fairly good about keeping the little ones amused and out of trouble.

I made meatballs (2/3 turkey and 1/3 beef) and pasta and sauce for Shabbos dinner; lovely time with D&E as usual. And the kids all got along, which was nice. Sam and A ran some sort of Spelling Bee.

But my sinuses started clogging up, and my head was really hurting when I went to sleep (after a somewhat disappointing episode of "Battlestar Galactica" - I don't want them to set up a movie...)

Woke up feeling yuchy, so we opted to skip shul. David of course had to go to the office for a few (5) hours. So the kids and I relaxed. Sofia was also not feeling well. She kept cuddling with me, and a few times crawled back into her bed and tried to sleep, but could not fall asleep. I let the boys play on the Nintendo a little more than usual. Around 1pm, Sofia really really needed to sleep, so I threw them all into the minivan (boys still in pajamas) and went for a drive. She snoozed a little, not as much as I'd like.

We stopped for ice cream, but the boys didn't want to get out of the car ('cause they were too interested in the stupid Nintendo). I let them stay in (small parking lot) while we got ice cream (Sam didn't want any). Sofia and I enjoyed some fresh air.

When we got home, I sent the boys out to play. Micah ended up with the "warrior crowd" across the street, but Sam came back to the house. Eventually David came home. The 4 of us (minus Micah) took a walk around the block, and then Micah rejoined us when we got home.

We ended up on our front lawn, just doing some yardwork (yes, me! yardwork!); David cleared gutters, I raked, the kids picked up massive amounts of sticks. Our neighbors (with the little girl) came over with their big dog, so the kids all had fun. Sofia has NO fear, and the boys I think are seriously considering trading each other in for a dog...

I got to go out at night, for a dinner to celebrate my friend L's upcoming wedding. She's technically already married (for the 2nd time), but they only did the civil ceremony last year, next week will be the Jewish ceremony. I'm excited - my whole family is going, because we are all good friends with them.

The dinner was fun - I met R first to do some shoe shopping (got some AWESOME clogs!), and then we were at the restaurant until nearly midnight. A fun evening.

SOOOOOO tired today. Sofia was up moaning at 5am because she has a tummy ache; poor girl really wasn't feeling well. Micah was up at 6am asking to play on the Nintendo (no, he had to wait until 7). Sam and his friend who'd slept over made LOTS of noise when they woke up (at 7, woken up by Micah of course). And my sinuses were still clogged.

Nice morning; I made pancakes for the boys, and we had a few hours to relax. Then David left to catch his flight to Dallas - he's on his way back to Mexico again.

I took the kids for a bit of shopping; got Sofia a little trike ("Fold2Go" is on sale) and we looked at bikes for Micah. Came home and took them all for a bike ride. Micah started out riding last year's bike - the 14" with no tire treads. We got to the end of the street before I could convince him that the bike needed to be retired. We went back, spruced up Sam's old bike (still too small for Micah, but better than what he was riding), and then went for a ride.

Sofia LOVES riding on the back of my bike. She gets annoyed if I stop, and then she kicks me in the lower back. Yeah. Both boys are getting to be good riders; Micah definitely needs a new bike this year. I'll take him to the real bike store tomorrow.

Came home, visited with neighbors, made dinner, got them ready for bed. Sofia put herself to bed; as soon as her pajamas were on she crawled into the crib again. Poor girl. She's still moaning occasionally. Not sure she'll be going to school tomorrow.

Played checkers with Sam (beat him!) and then started a game of chess with Micah. It was getting pretty hairy - he's a very very good player - but then he started getting stomach cramps, too. Sam went to sleep while I helped Micah. Finally he felt better, and now they are all asleep. Think it's tie for me, too...