What a full weekend!

A weekend alone with the kids really might be too much exposure for a mom like me, but I managed to keep my sanity and tried to keep the kids occupied for most of the time so we weren't stuck in the house like mice in a cage -- that is never a good weekend.  Friday I tried to take them to a movie, but there were no kids movies out --how does that happen?  So, instead I took them to eat at a restaurant called Piola. 

One of George's many admirers from our local Starbucks owns Piola so we were welcomed to a fancy adult restaurant with open arms even though my hooligans were the only children there.  I finally relaxed when they removed the wine glasses, but they served up everything in glass anyway so the risk of breaking something was still pretty high. 

My friend saw this picture and mentioned that she loved that George had a vodka tonic, while the other two were stuck with water.  It does look like that and I was cracking up.  To be clear, he was drinking water out of a smaller glass for ease.

Luckily, we got out of the restaurant without making too much of a scene and we didn't break anything either.  Success!  There was a really risky point when I had to use the restroom and I left the kids at the table with a threat to take away all their toys, television, hopes and dreams, etc. if they acted up or had moved from their seats before I got back.  I swear I've never peed so fast in my life, but when I got back to the table, the 70-year old couple at the table next to us leaned over and announced that "They didn't move an inch, while you were gone."  The kids looked at me and nodded their heads.  I was sufficiently impressed with the effectiveness of my parental threats.  Well done, me. 

While we were there, we also checked out their very cool patio area.  It was 102 degrees Friday so the patio was empty, but it was fully reserved for Saturday because the weather was forecast to be in the 80s.  And that forecast was fabulously correct!

After dinner, we picked up lots of candy at CVS, headed home and curled up in pillows and blankets and watched The Lorax.  Despite having to watch a kids movie, I got some snuggle time out of the deal.

Then I made the mistake of allowing the kids to sleep in my room.  This was a pretty unsuccessful endeavor, and the kids were up way too late considering that Evie's soccer game started at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.  Nonetheless, they were pretty cute curled up on the floor of my bedroom.  I tried to take a picture of Luke and Evie, but they fell asleep in the dark part of the room, but my baby George fell asleep right under a lamp.  I don't really understand how he works, except that he really wanted to sleep with that tractor you see in the bottom left of the picture.  Mission accomplished.

The weather was absolutely perfect for Luke and Evie's first set of soccer games on Saturday!  By some cruel twist of fate, Evie's soccer game was at 8:30 a.m. If you don't know me well, let me tell you that I will do anything to sleep longer.  If I could get away with it, I'd sleep in my work clothes so that all I would have to do is roll out of bed and walk to the car.  Sadly, it doesn't work like that.  Ever.  Still, with all three kids in my charge I managed to get us all to the game and we were only a couple minutes late (if you don't count the twenty minutes we were supposed to be there before the game started).  So, yeah, basically we were late by twenty-two minutes.  But come on, it's freaking 8:30 a.m.!  No pictures of the game because I was barely able to function without coffee.

By the time we got to Luke's game at noon, I was finally awake and we were preping to go to the TCU tailgate (which is just a few blocks from our house).  I got Evie and George changed and they had fun wandering around the fields while I watched Luke attempt to play soccer.  I swear it gets more frustrating watching the kids play sports as they get older.  I can't stand the fact that he can't actually run.  It looks more like speed walking.  I think I'm going to have to take him running with me -- I speak as though I'm an athlete - ha! 

Directly after Luke's team was massacred, we headed over to the TCU tailgate, where I promptly found a seat, cracked a beer, and watched the Aggie's put up a good fight against Florida.  Thanks to my friend Ken, for hosting such a delicious tailgate, and to Ken's mom who took my kids to Frog Alley for about 45 minutes.  She's the greatest! So, for the day, we were TCU Frog fans, dressed in our purple and white.  Plus, we got to see the kids summer nanny all decked out in her dance team gear and we waived to her as she marched into the stadium.  Fun times!

Before the game even started, the kids and I trudged back to the house against the crowd that was converging on the campus of TCU.  That place was packed.  People were parking in front of our house and we really don't live that close.

The next morning the kids started a new year of Sunday School.  New classes and new teachers, but most importantly, George got to go to Sunday School this year.  He was super excited about being grown up enough to go to his very own class.  He walked in without even saying "goodbye" and he loved it!  The other two considered the classes pretty unexciting, so nothing new there.  Then we headed home to clean up our mess from the weekend before Chucky Love got home.  It's always nice to start the week with a fairly clean house.  This is not to indicate that it was anywhere close to "company-ready" but it was looking way better than it did Saturday night.

But the biggest news (if you managed to read this entire post) is that we are growing our family!  That's right, please welcome the newest member of our family . . .





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We officially "adopted" a little goldfish from Junior Woman's Club.  They had 14 goldfish at the Opening Day of the club - themed around The Cat in the Hat.  So, my friend (who is anti-internet and therefore cropped out of the picture) and I adopted some sweet goldfish. 

I brought mine home and really wish I had captured the looks on the kids faces when I pulled this little fish out of my handbag.  Even Chuck smiled while he groaned.  After asking if we got to keep it, Evie asked me to promise that I wouldn't cook it.  I rolled my eyes, looked at her with exasperation and promised that I wouldn't cook or eat the fish.  Geez.  What exactly does she think of me? 

The kids promptly suggested names for the fish.  George and Evie chose "Goldie" -- pretty freaking unimaginative in my opinion.  Luke suggested "Sunburn".  Chuck and I are big fans of the name Sunburn, but I think it will be a split household for a while.  George and Evie are pretty insistent on "Goldie".  Oh well.  Without further delay, please welcome Sunburn/Goldie to the family!