Saturday Happenings

Today has been such a fun day! We met my parents for breakfast this morning at a little place we hadn't been to in awhile. The kids did well, the food was delicious, and we always have fun with my parents. After breakfast, I took Brynn with me for pedicures. She has been so well-behaved lately and going to bed without crying and screaming, so I thought I'd reinforce that with a fun "big girl" activity. She was a little overwhelmed by all the people at the nail salon and the funny chairs there, so she ended up on my lap the whole time. Not quite as relaxing for me as I had anticipated, but that's OK. She loved picking a nail polish out of the 100+ choices and then giggled in delight when the guy painted a little white flower on her big toes. I could tell she felt like a grown up when we were sitting at the nail drying station reading magazines. It's fun having a girl!!

After getting our feet sandal-ready, Brynn and I headed back home for awhile. For lunch, we went to our favorite pizza place, a Saturday tradition. We ran into some friends from church, so it was great chatting with them a bit. Then, it was home for some quiet time. When I checked in on Collin during his nap, this is what I found:

I guess he wasn't as uncomfortable as he looked, because he was actually asleep. Brynn and I ran a couple errands in the afternoon. In the evening, we met Dave's sister Cyn and her husband Mike at the Cheesecake Factory. I hadn't seen them in a long time, so we had a fun visit over our mounds of food and dessert. Um, yeah, I think it will take me all of next week to work off all the food I ate today. After we said goodbye to Cyn and Mike, we took the kids to ride the carousel at the mall. Collin enjoyed the carousel much more than he did last time (remember that picture of him from a previous post with his look of absolute terror?). Brynn was smiling during the entire ride, and as soon as she got off, she kept chanting "Thanks for the carouself, thanks for the carouself..." to Dave and I. (Who is this child these days? I am certainly hoping that all her extra sweetness signals an end to the terrible twos phase that seemed to have lingered a bit too long... Did I just jinx myself by writing that down?).

I absolutely love Saturdays. I feel so blessed to have a husband who loves to spend time with his family. I love watching our family build memories together. I love having the opportunity to catch up with family and friends. And I love having time where I don't have to focus so much on my to-do list, so I can better enjoy the fun parts of being a mom and wife.