I love long weekends

It was such a fun weekend. It started with a nice relaxing Friday because the school district that I work in on Fridays had an Institute Day. That meant that I had a day for meetings, catching up, and generally doing things that I usually do before or after the work day. What a great feeling it was to knock so many things off of my work to-do list. The day got even better when I got home from work and Sally was home! Sally is a senior at the University of Illinois (majoring in Spanish education) and was home for the weekend. Sally dropped her stuff and took off to see Matt and his family. Jack was on his own for dinner as I had dinner plans with the Gamma Phis.
Eileen was in from Pittsburgh and so, as usual, she organized an outing for us. We pretty much wait for Eileen to come into town before the rest of us get together! We went to The Clubhouse for dinner and had a great time. Missy's daughter just became engaged and so all night there was speculation about who would get invited to the wedding. We offered to all come without dates and to work the wedding. For some reason, Missy was not taking the bait. It was such a fun night with lots of laughs with the Dianes, Laurie, Missy, Claudia and Eileen despite the fact that there are some challenges going on for some in our group. The biggest challenge has been Claudia's. She has been battling breast cancer for many years now and just finished a really awful round of chemo that totally knocked her for a loop. She is amazing... she always comes to our get togethers and never complains, always wants to hear about everyone. I know Claudia has an amazing family who offer her so much support as does Laurie and many of her other friends. Also, Eileen was just getting back from spending time with her dad who is also battling cancer. It was a good night to be together with friends who have known each other for over 30 years... and just laugh.On Saturday morning, Matt came to pick up Sally. They were headed downtown for the day to celebrate their one year anniversary. Before they left, we all had a cup of coffee and some Kirschbaum's donut holes (as mentioned in a previous post, one of my Saturday morning traditions!). Matt gave Sally the most beautiful necklace. I should have gotten a close up of it! Jack and I spent the day just getting things done. As Jack was grilling dinner, our new next door neighbors asked if we would like to come over for dessert at 7. We had a nice visit with Maddie and Devin and some of their friends from their church.

Today has been a rather cold and brisk fall day. Sally and I did a Target run (of course) and I made some homemade pizza before she took off for Champaign. I always hate it when either of the kids leave. We missed Wayne this weekend. He was down in Champaign on Thursday night and Friday to help with interviews for work and then stayed for Homecoming. We were back and forth about going down to Champaign and then decided to hang out here. Dad's Weekend will come soon enough, not that I am invited this year (don't worry, Jack and Sally, I understand!)

And the best part of this Sunday night....a day off tomorrow!