Great Weekend!

Gotta love a three day weekend! This one has been exceptional, with a combination of family time, great food and drink, topped off with lots of rest.

Friday was crazy at work. Who knows why? Winter cabin fever, Valentine exchanges, 100th day of school? Whatever the reason, lots of behavior to be managed. Luckily, Jack and I had a fun Friday night planned to offset the stressful day. We had 4:45 pm reservations at The Reel Club (talk about an early dinner! That's almost lunch), followed by Abbie's Variety Show! We picked up Sally  (Matt stayed home with Ellie because it was past her bedtime) and met up with Abbie's fan club at the show. It was SO fun! Sweet and homemade and kid-centered. I sat between Sally and Jenny and we all had the same reaction to the acts. Loved it! Abbie was GREAT! She had incredible stage presence.

signing autographs

On Saturday, Jack and I had a yummy breakfast of homemade pancakes (Lynn's recipe), then embarked on a day of errands. We went shopping for birthday presents for Wayne and Julie, hit Target and Kramer's. At the last minute, we decided to go to 5pm mass. We were so glad we did!! One of our favorite priests made a return appearance. Father Edgar was transferred to another parish last July and we were thrilled to see him walking down the aisle. Such a gift! Afterwards, Jack and I had a great dinner of Broccoli and Chicken Casserole, a favorite old recipe of ours from Diane L.   We watched The Intern and loved it. Such a sweet movie. We stayed up until almost midnight which is  a record for us on a night at home.

On Sunday, we experienced every parents' greatest joy...all of the kids and our grandchild together for a few hours!!!! Sally and Matt went out for a Valentine's brunch and we watched Ellie. Wayne and Julie arrived a few minutes after Sally and Matt returned from their outing. It was fun to catch up with everyone and hear about Wayne and Julie's trip to Africa. There are many great stories and we loved hearing them, but mostly we just enjoyed having them home safely. Everyone was gone by 6 and then Jack and I went to bed at 7pm. Not joking. We must have been making up for our late night on Saturday!

Ellie and Uncle Wayne

Ellie and Aunt Julie

family selfie

On Monday, we had a very fun visit from Lauren, Sally and Ellie. They came over around lunchtime to hang out. Sally brought awesome sandwiches from Standard Market for our meal. It was a fun time because basically we all were mesmerized by Ellie's being. Ellie doesn't really have to do anything. She smiles and that is all we need to make our day.

three adorbs girls

Lauren is a natural!

The Lenten Season

It has been unusually busy at work lately. Lots of little issues that take time to resolve, lots of meetings and lots of details. Lots of cute kids, too. Cute kids that need to get outside and run around for awhile, but even though the weather hasn't been awful, it still isn't conducive to spending time outdoors, so we have cute antsy kids.
Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming. I have to stop myself when I feel like I am beginning to lose patience and remind myself about what is important. The most important part of my job is to nuture these young hearts and minds and get them ready to learn. Kids aren't open to learning something if they don't feel safe and accepted.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. It was a crazy day at work, with an off-site meeting before school and Valentine's celebrations and intruder drills (I know it is just a drill, but when we are hiding the kids and "the intruder" comes and tries to open our door, it is always a bit unsettling. Kinda reminds me of the scene from the Sound of Music when the nuns are hiding the Von Trapps) and paperwork and all that jazz. I got home around 5:30 and Jack and I had a quick dinner and went to mass to get ashes. I am glad we did. It reminded me again of what is important and what my priorities should be.