Over the weekend

Did you have a nice weekend?  I certainly hope so!  We had a full and exciting weekend, including the return of Pilot Pete and a visit by the Easter Bunny, and capped off by a trip to the traveling carnival.


On Saturday Pilot Pete returned from a work trip.  I always think that as Little Dude gets older, the separations from his dad will get easier - he'll have a better handle on the passage of time, and I'll be better able to explain why dad is away.  Unfortunately, our experience seems to be the exact opposite.  I'm finding my older toddler to be more emotional and less rational than I had hoped.  I know that this phase will pass, and we will one day get to a place where he does understand and accept (or at least tolerate) these separations better.  For now, a lot of snuggling, reassuring, and a few special treats delivered by dad upon his return home seem to help.


Easter Sunday was our busy day - we had some friends over for brunch and an egg hunt, and then we followed up with a trip to the carnival that set up shop in the empty, old Walmart parking lot.  Little Dude and I noticed the carnival on Thursday.  Actually, I noticed it Wednesday as they were setting up, and made a mental note to not drive by again until they were gone.  Sadly, I forgot, and found myself passing by again the next day.  While I was silently hoping he wouldn't notice, I heard a little voice from the backseat.  "Hey...what's that over there?"  "Umm, I don't know buddy..."  "Well, I think it's a carnival."  "Oh, ok I guess that's what it is then."  "Yep.  I will go there with Daddy when he comes home.  You can come too." I'm glad I scored an invite - we had a fun time.


Enjoy the scenes from our weekend:

Examining a Lightning McQueen shaped easter egg

Anxiously waiting for the start of the egg hunt with his girlfriends

On the hunt

A fighter pilot in training?

Or a land based speed demon?

Over the weekend

Happy Monday friends!  Hard to believe the halfway point of April is upon us, isn't it?  I swear, the one thing (and pretty much the only thing) that people seem to forget to mention when you're expecting a baby is how much faster time will seem to move once you actually have the baby.  Seriously, I really didn't need the gory details of the birthing process, or being endlessly told how tired I'd be.  What I really needed was someone to tell me how fast it would go.  I guess it wouldn't really have mattered if someone had told me.  It's not like I can do anything about it.  But still.  A little warning would have been nice.  (Disclaimer - someone probably did warn me, but I was too busy being grossed out by all the TMI birthing stories to remember).  (Disclaimer #2 - No babies on the way here - I'm just referencing my pregnancy with Little Dude).


Our weekend was a quiet one, as weekends out here generally seem to be.  We took it easy on Saturday.  I should amend that.  I took it easy on Saturday.  Pilot Pete and I have this lovely arrangement where he gets up with Little Dude and lets me sleep in.  Not that we get up particularly early during the week.  But my night owl/vampire tendencies require a normal bedtime of about 3 AM, so getting to sleep an extra few hours on the weekend is heavenly.  For dinner on Saturday I roasted some chicken, mashed some potatoes, and cooked some green beans.  This is particularly noteworthy, because I detest cooking chicken (don't mind eating it though), so home cooked chicken is definitely a rarity around here.


Sunday found us, as it usually does, in the big city.  I needed to hit up the Ann Taylor to make an exchange, so we bribed Little Dude into being good by taking him to the National Automobile Museum, which is one of his favorite stops.  We spent a good long while talking cars, engines, and rumble seats.  I definitely built up enough capital to spend a decent amount of time in the Ann Taylor changing room.  The fact that they have a water fountain didn't hurt either.  You have to love the ability kids have to entertain themselves with the most ordinary things.  We capped off the day at one of our favorite restaurants, where Little Dude informed us as we sat down that he wanted ice cream.  Damn illustrated kids menus!


I hope you had a fun and restful weekend.  Enough some scenes from ours:

One can only guess what they're discussing, but I'll bet it's about cars

Just cruising

Taking a break while waiting for a table for dinner

Over the weekend

I'm back!  I think...I probably shouldn't make promises I may or may not keep.  Blogging has definitely proven to be a challenging venture for me.  On the one hand, I know that I need to make an effort to post multiple times a week, even if I really don't feel like it.  On the other hand,  I am hesitant to post on the days that I am feeling less than inspired.  The end result is that I hit weeks where I don't post at all.  All I can say about this is that it's a work in progress, like much of life.


We had some great family time this weekend, topped off by a surprise spring snow shower which afforded us an extra day to our weekend.  Little Dude enjoyed harassing the dog, playing with his cars, and a trip to the big city to see "Mars Needs Moms" at the movie theater.  He seemed to enjoy the movie well enough.  As for me, I just can't get over the strangeness of motion-capture animation.  It would probably explain why I have never seen "The Polar Express".  Coming back from the movie on Sunday night the snow storm hit.  What a way to celebrate the first day of Spring!.


Enjoy some snapshots from our weekend!

Our poor, sweet dog.  He stayed under there with her for nearly an hour.

I mean seriously, don't all toy cars need platforms?

Little feet and legs at the movies

Heaven.  Although he was concerned that the hood didn't open.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the tragedy that has been unfolding in Japan.  My heart goes out to all those affected.  If you can give, do.  The Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity are excellent places to start.  Please also keep all the military families involved in you thoughts.  The Red Cross is helping military dependents in the voluntary evacuation of the area.  You can go here to read more about supporting military families in Japan.

Over the weekend

Aren't three day weekends glorious?  We rarely get to enjoy them, because despite the fact that Pilot Pete works for the federal government, he hardly ever seems to get federal holidays off of work.  Strange.


We took full advantage of the weekend, sleeping late (well, one of us slept late), watching movies, and playing outside.  I thought both "Gnomeo and Juliet" and "Despicable Me" were adorable/hilarious.  I'm proud of Little Dude for sitting through an entire movie in the theater quietly and without needing a potty break or having an accident.  It's the little things in life, don't ya know?


Whether you had Monday off or not, I hope you got to enjoy your weekend and take some time for yourself.  Enjoy a few snapshots from our weekend:

Still enough snow for snowballs.

"I'm just digging like Clifford, Mommy."

I finally got him in appropriate clothing!  It was cold!

What can I say?

Over the weekend

Happy Monday friends!  I hope you had a spectacular weekend.  Ours was quite lovely.  We spent Saturday hanging out around the house.  Our dog Athena had her annual check up and shots, so we stayed close to home to make sure she didn't have a reaction to the shots.  On Sunday we made the big trip to Sacramento to do some shopping and have an early Valentine's dinner.  It's so nice to get out of town every once and a while.  I hope you're having a wonderful Valentine's Day!

The balloon I bought him to replace the one I lost from his first dentist visit.

Jumping.  (I think).

His chocolate "mish-asche"

"But I don't want to go to bed."  Ahh, the agony...

My two loves.

Over the weekend

It's been a bit of a manic Monday around here, which helps to explain why I am posting so late.  But hey, it's still Monday here in the West, so all is not lost.


We had a full weekend.  Not too busy, not too lazy.  Just right.  It started off as most weekends do, with Friday rush hour:



We followed that with a Saturday trip to the big city.  Who wouldn't enjoy an ice cream sundae to top off a big meal?

I think he was worried I was going to try and steal a bite.  Well, I hope that's what this look means.


We capped the weekend off with more cars (was there any question?).  The kid just can't get enough.



In the midst of the Sunday car play, we did catch the Superbowl.  And I think we are the only Americans who actually enjoyed the halftime show.  I guess we're officially old.  And boring.


Whether you're a Steelers fan or a Packers fan, I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we did!

Over the weekend

We had a very quiet and restful weekend.  We ran a few errands on Saturday, took a walk and played outside on Sunday.  I am really enjoying the warmer winter we are having this year - this time of year is usually so much more dreary and depressing.  It's great to be able to get outside in the fresh air.  Every weekend I am a little more aware that our time here is coming to a close.  We'll be moving early this summer (more on that later) and family time will become more scarce.  Our weekend family time is already so sacred, and as our impending move nears, I know it will become even more so.  I treasure our time to relax, enjoy each other, and do nothing.


I hope your weekend was enjoyable too.  Here are some scenes from ours:

Negotiating a car purchase at Target

His new hobby, picking up sticks in the yard

Doesn't look like a winter sky to me...

Just the two of us

Over the weekend

With Pilot Pete back from his work trip, we had quite the weekend!  I took advantage of it by sleeping in (which helped me shake this annoying cold I picked up) and let my boys enjoy their mornings together ("So Daddy, make me pancakes and bacon" is a common refrain around here).


On Saturday we headed out to a car show, which turned out to be the highlight of Little Dude's weekend (maybe even his life).  He sat in more cars than I could count, and the gleeful look on his face was priceless.  Some people take their kids to museums, we take ours to car shows...

Checking for cup holders

Yesterday we took advantage of the unseasonably warm (65!) temperatures here and took a walk.  A certain three year old insists on holding the leash of his 80 pound dog.  It is entertaining to say the least.

"Let's race!"

It's warm again today, so maybe we'll get into some more trouble.  For now, I'm headed off to throw something in the crockpot for dinner.  (More on that later).  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Over the weekend

We did nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.  


Hmm...that sounds familiar...This is becoming a trend.

Over the weekend

This weekend we did nothing.  We did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be (name that movie).

Over the weekend

How was your weekend?  We had a wonderful Christmas here - Little Dude let us sleep until 8:30, and then we had a peaceful morning enjoying presents and our traditional brown sugar macadamia nut coffee cake.  In the afternoon we had some dear friends over for dinner.  It was a quiet, restful day.  Santa was so good to us - I don't think we could have asked for anything more.  I hope you enjoyed your day!


Enjoy the scenes from our weekend!



His first view of the presents



Digging into his stocking

Mom, stop taking pictures and let me open this!



Our dinner table



Over the weekend

We had a fun weekend out here.  Pilot Pete had to work on Saturday, but he's off for 2 weeks now (yippee!).  We made a little time for ourselves on Saturday night so we could attend Pilot Pete's work holiday party (special thanks to J for sharing her babysitter with us).  Yesterday was a chilly, blustery day, so we stayed in, taught Little Dude about Old Maid, and made stuffed shells for dinner.  I hope you had a great weekend too!

Over the weekend

Someone turned three!  I can't believe Little Dude is another year older.  It is really starting to fly, and I have to admit, it scares me.  I'm afraid I'll blink and he'll be 16.  But that's a discussion for another time.  For now, enjoy the scenes from our weekend.  My parents were here to celebrate, and we invited his two best buddies and their parents over for a quiet little celebration last night.  Then, after all the merriment, while he was asleep, the elves (Pilot Pete and I) put up the "Christmastime Tree".  It was a big weekend.

Over the weekend

I thought it might be nice to bookend my weekends with photos.  For me this serves two purposes: to get me to blog more often, and to get me to take more pictures.  So, on Friday I'll still be posting along with Andrea and others in Foto Friday, and then on Monday I'll post a few scenes from our weekend.


This weekend was holiday card picture weekend.  Every year since Little Dude was born we send out photo cards with his mug on them.  Normally we include our dog Athena, a 5 year old rescue, but this year we decided to seek out some cool locations in our little town and I figured it would be too much for her.  We happened upon this great old building with a phenomenal red door.  This served as the backdrop for what will be our photo for this year.  Below you'll find a few outtakes from our "session" yesterday.  Can you tell I've discovered Flickr and Picnik?









How about you?  What were you up to over the weekend?