A Weekend of Pool Fun & Residing

Some weekends at home feel relaxing, like last weekend. Plenty of naps, a slow pace, and kids that, for the most part, get along with each other. And then there are other kinds of weekends at home. Those that have you working hard at maintaining the house, and keeping the kids happy. All the time. So, now you need a break from your weekend.

There were plenty of fun things that happened Saturday and Sunday, despite how exhausted we felt Sunday evening. Yes, it was hard work for Steve to set up the pool, and then the new slip and slide, when the kids requested it, but it was also so much fun to see their faces as they slid down the slide. They're still little enough that the pool felt new to them, even though they spent tons of time doing this same thing last summer.

Steve has started a new project - residing the garage. It amazes me how he tackles jobs that are new to him. He just jumps right in and figures things out as he goes along. He worked on it all day Saturday, and then, after playing guitar on the worship team for several hours Sunday morning, he tackled the garage again for many hours in the afternoon and evening. I had wonderful nursery duty at church. We went from hardly having any babies, to the two of us taking care of five this past week. And I had to change a poopy diaper. By now I guess I can say I've changed hundreds if not a thousand poopy diapers, and yet changing other kid's diapers always makes me feel like gagging. Isn't that strange?

Jared helped Steve quite a bit, too, with the garage. I think it's because he likes Steve's drill.  He asked to have one for Christmas, but then again, he wants EVERYTHING for Christmas. Just this past week we broke down and got Tivo. We had actually been taping everything on a VCR, but it broke down. Now I can pre-record things on PBS and other basic channels (we only have cable for the hookup, not any extra channels). So, when we were at Best Buy, Jared ran up and down the aisles saying, "I want that for Christmas, and I want that for Christmas." His latest thing is wanting a Spiderman mask.

We also had two "picnics" outside this weekend. We didn't have a full meal, but on Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon, we spread out a blanket on the lawn, brought out some watermelon and blueberries, and I read more of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. On Sunday, Alexa asked to do it again, so we took out some drinks and picture books and read outside. We really need to do this more often for lunch.

I wish I would have taken pictures on Monday, but I didn't. Here's some things we did:

~ made "spicy" dough with cinnamon

~ played a game from Highlights 4 magazine - but we pretended the candle, animal, hat and presents playing cards were for the Joker's birthday

~ I introduced the kids to my favorite cartoon when I was a kid - Inspector Gadget - which they LOVED. Later that day, they rode their bikes around saying they had to pick out a present for Dr. Claw. Then they parked their bikes, ran into the house and upstairs, which they said was the toy factory.

~ water color painting,

~ finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Later that evening, after baths, we started watching the 70's version, but the kids were wiped out after a long, active day. Jared fell asleep at 8:10 (something he has only done one other time since he's been under two) and Alexa was asleep by 8:45. It worked out great because Steve was travelling, and I actually had some quiet time at night by myself. YEAH!