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Sunday, July 31, 2011

saturday surprises

I love Saturdays! It's the one day of the week that we get to spend how ever we want.  When school starts back, it will be the only day of the week that all 3 kids will come and pile into our bed and watch tv until its almost time for lunch.  My favorite Saturdays are the ones when we have nothing really planned.  Today was one of those days...

It started as usual with the kids snuggling in bed watching tv while Thom went on a nice long 13 mile run in the scorching heat.  The kids and I finally made it down stairs by 10:00 for banana and chocolate chip pancakes..my specialty (atleast I think so anyway).  By the time Thom got home from his run I already had a few tentative plans lined up for the day.  Our Saturday was suddenly getting full.

Shortly after breakfast, we had a visit from my brother and his family which consists of his wife and sweet new baby boy, Mason.  He was stopping by to pick up a grill but we got a pleasant surprise when they all came inside to visit for a while and I was able to hold a sweet 4 week old baby.   I know people always say this but I'll just say it anyway... I can't believe Alex was that small just 2 years ago.  Time really does fly by and children are a constant reminder of that fact and the older they get the faster it goes.

As my brother was leaving, our friend, Margherita showed up.   She was coming to visit for a bit and offered to make us lunch! Now, she is from Italy and we LOVE to eat her cooking, so as hard as it was to give up our usual lunch of pb&j or left over pizza, we said yes...please! The next couple of hours were spent sitting around our dining room table eating a delicious meal, talking and sharing a bottle of wine. A meal that is usually reserved for dinner at our house, we are now thinking should become more of the norm at lunch.  Although I'm not sure we could get Margherita over here every Saturday to cook for us...Ha!

As we were finishing up lunch, our friend Thad stopped by.  Again this is a treat since he lives in Nashville and is just in town for a few days.   He is basically like family so when he is in town we look forward to him just randomly stopping by.  The kids love him of course, and often times I can look forward to hearing some live music coming from my family room (since he is a musician and all). Which, now that I have mentioned Thad, I must also mention his band Leagues. They have a new album on Itunes and they are going on tour with Mat Kearney in a few weeks. An awesome group of guys with some great music, so check them out!  Now, back to our day...our dear friend, Thad, decided to take our girls to Marbles, the children's museum downtown, while Alex napped.  Ava and Gabi could not have been more excited and I will admit that I was excited to get an hour or two of free time.
So off to Marbles they go.  How did I spend my free time you ask??  By sitting on the couch on the computer reading through dishwasher reviews and then... "ding ding"...times up! The girls are home, Alex is awake and my free time is over.  (In case you are interested, I have narrowed it down to the kitchen aid or bosch.)

Thad leaves and in come our friends, Taylor and Claire and their cute kiddos.  By this time it is almost five and dinner time.  We all decide to go down to an anniversary celebration at a local Peruvian restaurant.  They were having food, beer, face painting, bounce houses and live music in the parking lot. Yes, it was 102 degrees outside but we decided to sweat it out anyway. I am so glad we did...I was hesitant at first but it really turned out to be a great time! The kids bounced and we sweated but it was all worth it to hear Gabi say on the ride home, "that was the best time I've ever had!". Who knew  jumping in a bounce house in the parking lot of a Mami Nora's (in extreme heat) could be so much fun. Maybe we should rethink that next trip to Disney when a bounce house and a Spanish band will do!

Next we were home and I was exhausted.  It was 8 o'clock and I felt like it was midnight. Thunderstorms were rolling in I couldn't wait to curl up in bed and sleep, but the next thing up was a birthday celebration for our neighbor across the street.  I just didn't think I had it in me, but I had a cup of coffee, got a second wind, changed back out of my pj's and walked over.  I spent the next couple of hours catching up with the neighbors I haven't seen in weeks because it's been too dang hot to be outside. I'm so glad I mustered up the energy for that one last event of the day.

Now as I am going to bed my girls are curled up on the floor in their sleeping bags at the foot of our bed because of the thunderstorms earlier....a perfect picture of safety...of family.

A day that started out with no plans turned out to be one of the best Saturdays we've had in a long time.  


                                  It wasn't just full, it was over-flowing!

                                    Just the way we love to live life!









 

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