Balanced Weekend

We had a very balanced weekend, and let me tell you, balanced weekends are hard to come by these days in the Turner Household.  It seems as though we either have a ton of stuff on the calendar or nothing, its rare that we have a mix of fun stuff and domestic time, so I was in heaven.

Saturday:  Avery and I bounced off some yummy Thai food from Friday night at an Inflation Nation Birthday Party - I was impressed, we hadn't been to Inflation Nation before, but the set up is far more parent friendly than Pump It Up is, lots of space to lounge and sit, its brighter, which makes it a reasonable option for winter days, let the kids play, while I read or do work since they have WIFI there. Brad & Olivia ran some errands and then we all met at home around 2:30-3pm - hung out, had some down time before we all went to a Birthday Party for one of their classmates who was turning 5.

Side Bar: Olivia and Avery don't realize that they have their own friends, they spend so much time together at school, so often times its a battle when they don't both get an invite to a party, sometimes the parents include siblings and other times they don't, I am okay with it either way, frankly I like for them to have their own things to participate in, but its painful for them, lots of tears, lots of rubbing it in each others faces, and that breaks my heart, I hate seeing them be unkind to each other.  The good news is, I suspect some of this will get easier in the Fall when Olivia starts school, Avery won't know her classmates, so that will be easier to explain, but often times its Olivia having a hard time, not Avery.

Avery feeding Abe the cow some milk...

So back to Saturday - this evening Birthday Party for Jessica was impressive...they had a bounce house, pony rides, a petting zoo AND a clown who did magic, balloon animals (and bracelets) and face painting. Olivia wanted to go back yesterday and play at Jessica's house because she just assumed Jessica's house was always that much fun - ha!.

Avery's Balloon Bracelet

Olivia's Bling

The party really was a lot of fun, and its nice to spend some time with their friends parents since I often find that I know the kids, and don't get to know the parents at all. And bonus, it was RIGHT down the street from our house, so that was nice.

Avery's Cinderella Face

Our girls are challenged with seizing the day - they often let their fears talk them out of things, and then the second they realize they've lost their chance, or are about to lose their chance, they go ahead and freak out.  A good example this weekend would be face painting, they were both scared at first, and it wasn't until the clown said she was done, and couldn't do anymore did they both realize they wanted it, and freaked out.  I was able to get their faces painted, but it wasn't without tears and frustrated (tears by them, frustration by me).  I don't know how to help them through their fear earlier on so they don't miss out on stuff, do they have to experience disappointment (no face painting) in order to get their acts together and seize the moment?  I don't know, but good grief, its frustrating, I hate to see them upset, but really they are getting in their own way.  Another good example is, not being able to make a choice - getting to choose a "treasure" out of the treasure chest, but taking forever, me losing my patience and dragging them out of the Pigtails & Crewcuts without a treasure, and of course, lots of tears.

Our Crape Myrtle is beautiful right now so I thought I would take a snap of it - its growing and blooming like crazy.

Sunday: It rained almost all day, which helped secure the balance.  Avery slept until 7:30am, I went into Olivia's room at 9am, and we all woke Brad up around 9am as well, but Avery and I were still watching TV in our bed, so he wasn't really getting the quality sleep he was likely hoping for. We decided to go out to breakfast, we tried to go to Winston's Backyard Grill, which is new and in my Parents neighborhood, but it didn't open until 10am and my stomach was growling.  So we landed at Dunkin Donuts (I had gift cards!) and we let the girls wear their PJ's.  I hope they remember fun Breakfast in PJ's trips when they tell their kids how cool we were...what are the chances? 

The beauties downing 25 munchkins

I do not recommend the Frozen Coffee drinks at Dunkin if you are a huge fan of the Frappichino's from Starbucks, the icy texture really threw me off, I like them smooth. Flavor was okay though.  I am a big fan of their Wake Up Wrap, but I could have used at least 2 of them, I was still hungry.

Making Pizza

With the rain, once we had finished at Target - grabbing a few last minute things for Olivia's lunchbox, etc we stayed put at home, which allowed me to clean out the home office, go through all the drawers and a huge black trash bag went out when we were finished.  The girls were introduced to the shredder and had a blast!!

Notice the flour on their faces

I love being able to stay put for an entire day - it helps me dig in and make progress on the to-do list.  The girls rooms were cleaned, their bags were packed and our house was put back into order.  It was a glorious feeling when I threw myself on the bed last to read knowing that I didn't have a huge list I was ignoring.

I also managed to bang out the cupcakes for Avery's Half Birthday this week and I made the most delicious brownies I have ever introduced to my taste buds. Normal Triple Fudge brownies from a box, but with Reese's Pieces on top, and under cook them just a bit and they are melt in your mouth amazing.