Another Weekend Recap!

So I asked for writing prompts in the last post (keep em coming!  I'll work on them this week) so that I wouldn't just recap weekends, but that's exactly what I'm about to do anyway.  Because this weekend- this weekend that looked so empty on my calendar, was wonderful.  Busy and full and fun and simple.  I truly love days spent with just our little family.  It's why I'm so bad about play dates- I share my kids and husband all week; on the weekends, I just want to marinate in the five of us.  And for the most part, that's exactly what we did.

Ooh, though first I found new jeans and wore them to work on Friday! I'd just been lamenting my lack of jeans when I remembered my mom had mailed me some from her favorite consignment store when I was pregnant with Cora. Since I was in no condition to be wearing designer denim, I'd thrown them in the back of my closet and forgot about them for the last year or so only to rediscover them Friday morning, spend 7 minutes wiggling in to them (no exaggeration), and love them! And by the 3rd time I went to the bathroom on Friday (I was loving my new jasmine green tea), I was down to taking only 3 minutes to pull them up.

Something to wear on casual Friday!

On Friday night there was swimming.  After days of avoiding our backyard because of the terrible and aggressive swarms of angry mosquitoes (I once looked over and poor sweet Cora had 3 on her face! at one time! it's really hard to resist the instinct to slap a mosquito when you see one, even, or maybe even especially, on your baby's face), I finally called a local company that specializing in mosquito yard treatments and asked them to bring all their chemicals and I would bring my check book.  We have been mosquito free for 5 days now and it was worth every penny.

enjoying our pool for the first night in over a week!

diving practice!

just chillin

Cora is such a water baby. I love the tableau of this picture: Claire on the shallow steps, Landon doing something in the middle, JP's back looking muscular, and Cora- our 8 month old- just hanging out alone in the deep end.

Third baby!

Cora even had her first "lesson" with some floating. She found it hilarious.

The official weekend began with us waking up super early on Saturday morning and throwing everyone in the car with a few snacks and a towel to drive 50 miles to Landon's swim meet.  This was the first time we all got to go together (JP rearranged his lessons so he would teach them all on Sunday) and it was so fun.  I mean, we left late, arrived 5 seconds before Landon's first event, and forgot any sort of chair, blanket, sun shade, and/or baby carrying device, but other than that, I really feel like we have the hang of being swim team parents.

cheering section

Though, when you travel with the celebrity that is "Coach JP(!!!!)", you really don't need to bring anything- seats, shade, baby-holding arms are thrust upon you. Cracks me up.

Landon swam great, winning and dropping time in both events.  He remains undefeated this season, which he doesn't seem to realize is kind of a big deal, though I did find a crumpled blue ribbon in his bed that he'd been sleeping with all last week.  I carefully smoothed it out, labeled it, and put it in his memory box.  It's fun watching him really enjoy and really "get" a sport- he liked soccer and basketball, but he genuinely wanted everyone to have a chance with the ball, including members of the opposite team, so swimming, with its nice segmented lanes and no need to steal the ball from someone else, works very well for him.

Claire and Cora were great supporters, Cora by not complaining when she had to skip a nap and we fed her breakfast about 3 hours late (not exaggerating, she is the easiest, happiest baby EVER) and Claire by loudly and enthusiastically yelling "GO YANDON!" every few seconds, including all the seconds her Yandon was not actually swimming (which, is the vast majority of the swim meet seconds).

On Saturday night JP and I went on a date.  Our beloved babysitter is headed to college soon (Hook 'Em!) and we felt it was important to book her one last time.  Also a new restaurant opened up that we've been wanting to try and "halfway through summer swim lesson season" seemed like a valid reason to celebrate.  I wore a new dress I bought at Ross a few weeks ago and Claire walked in our bathroom, eyes wide, and breathed, "Mommy, you look so BEAUTIFUL!"  When I added lipstick, she exclaimed, "You don't even look like a mommy anymore!".  Potentially a backhanded compliment, but she said it so sweetly and reverently, I knew she meant it with her whole little heart and it made me smile all night.

Cora was unimpressed

Our dinner at AF+B was amazing.  I loved everything about it - the decor, the menu, the service, the specialty drinks.  I loved that the food was not only better than anything I can make, it was food I'd never even think to make.  The chorizo scotch eggs (soft cooked eggs wrapped in chorizo and fried- what?!), the beef short rib over grits and crispy hominy, the goat cheese dark chocolate swirl brownie... so, so good.  A perfect date night restaurant and JP and I both enjoyed every bite.

Today began with JP and Landon's traditional Sunday run.  Today it was 5 miles (Landon bikes alongside JP) and I love that it's something they do together and they always try to beat their last pace and time and mileage.  I took the girls on a 3 mile power-walk and then we all jumped in the pool.  JP had to go coach lessons and the kids and I swam, ate lunch, went to Trader Joe's, and swam some more.  Landon got a gift card to Target for his birthday (coming up in 2 days!), so we let him spend it on Saturday on the way home from the meet.  He agonized over his choices, finally settling on a lego set and an inflatable shark.  The shark has become an important member of our family.

Claire gave detailed instructions that she NOT be flipped over.

Sharkie didn't listen.

Cora in particular appeared to have the Best Day Ever today.  Everything was hilarious and she kept laughing so hard she'd fall over.  This picture tries, but still doesn't quite come close to capturing how funny she was this afternoon.

She fell over seconds after this one and laughed her whole way down (and back up).

There was more swimming when JP got home, I had the jambox streaming my "tween" station from Pandora, and then I made these enchiladas for dinner (SO good; make them, and make them with the homemade black refried beans she links to in the ingredients).  Claire got a bit hunk of goat cheese in one of her bites and her eyes got huge as soon as she started chewing.  I was worried the taste would be too much for her, but as soon as she could talk she exclaimed, "What was that THAT?!  It was like butter or something DELICIOUS!".  She and Landon had a full plate of seconds; there were no leftovers.

Other than my failure to go to bed as early as planned tonight, I'd say it was pretty much the perfect weekend!