Dancing on the Edge

Now Where Were We?

Oh right - I was going to tell you all about the weekend.

Friday morning I took the kids to this brand new play place called Cafe Sip-n-Play. While it advertises itself as a place for the kids to play while the parent enjoy a cup of coffee and relax, it isn't quite like that. Sure, there are tables set up for grown-ups to sit and talk (and they have Wi-Fi) but it's a smaller-than-I-anticipated place and it was jam-packed with moms and kids. Even so, it was really a lot of fun. I'm not the type of mom who would just drop my kids in the play area and go read a book while I tried to keep one ear open for their screams so for me, the lack of seating wasn't really a big thing. I hung out in the areas the kids were in so I could watch and play with them. It was really, really fun!




I let Kaylen skip her nap so we could stay, have lunch and play a while longer so that night she went down without a fight and was asleep at 6:30. She did really well until it was time for *me* to go to bed when it was all bets off and she was up and down the rest of the night. I'm actually (sadly) getting used to it.

Saturday found Kaylen and I running errands while Dakota cleaned the carpets (thanks, honey! The look soooo much better!). Kelton stayed home with Dakota. We, again, ended up letting Kaylen skip her nap because by the time she and I returned home, the carpets were finished and she had a little down time; it was too late to think about putting her down. We had a birthday party to go to!

We went to our great-niece's second birthday (she and Kaylen are 12 days apart) and had a good time visiting with Dakota's family. From there we went over to Dakota's sister's house to check out their recently remodeled house. From there we decided to hit Azteca for dinner and then pick up a movie from Blockbuster. Phew! By the time we got home it was bath and bedtime for the kids. After the kids were asleep, Dakota and I settled in to watch "Man of the Year" which, if you haven't seen it yet, is a pretty good movie. Worth the time though I personally feel like they rushed the ending a bit too much. Still - worth the time from my point of view.

Sunday Dakota took the kids in the morning and I was able to catch a couple more hours of dozing. Not really sleeping since I could hear the kids laughing and playing but it was still really nice to drift in and out and dreams. After I got up, we lazed around and read the paper while the kids played. We were successful in getting Kaylen down for a 30 minute nap, too! :) After her nap we had given Kelton the option of going to a local mall to hang out (his all time favorite thing to do) but he and Kaylen decided they wanted to stay home and play on their swingset. A grand idea! The weather was very spring like and we all had a good time outside. Dakota and the kids went on a bug hunt (Eeeew! No thanks!) and then they created a "field journal" to keep track of the Bleeding Heart's growth. Very clever little guy we have. :)



After playing in the yard, we cleaned up and drive to the party supply store to pick up things for Kelton's birthday. It was fun to walk around and look at everything. We couldn't find decorations for his cake though (which we heard would be very difficult and it seems bakeries do not yet have a Backyardigan cake in their cake books) so we headed over to Kohl's. Dakota had remembered they had a big Backyardigan's toy section and she was right! We hit pay dirt with the pirate ship and two characters. It couldn't be more perfect because Kelton was really torn between The Backyardigan's theme and a pirate's theme. :)

When we returned home, Dakota started dinner and I went to work on the invitations. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to see it when it comes back from the printers.

While I was trying to finish up the invitations, Dakota was watching over the kids. Or...........was she? I heard giggling and laughter which I *thought* was supervised fun but alas, no such luck. Want to know what happens when you leave temporary tattoo loving children alone with a bag of dinosaur tattoos? They apparently think it is big, big fun to cover their bodies with them...and yes, that does include their faces. *sigh*


In case you are wondering, vegetable oil does a fine job of removing them from faces. The rest of them we will just let come off over the next week or so. Silly little kids. :)

After that it was bath and bedtime for the tired kiddos. We stayed up to watch a few shows and then we hit the hay, too. Kaylen's sleep is still all over the place so I had a rocky night (again, still...whichever) but all in all, we had a great weekend! I am so loving the fact that this semester we have two family days in a row (Saturday and Sunday). The three previous semesters, Dakota spent Saturdays studying so we only had family time on Sunday. This is soooo much better! :)

Today dawned looking very much like spring! Since we needed a few quick items from the grocery store, I decided that we would walk. Well....I walked. Kaylen rode in the stroller and Kelton rode his bike. We had a blast! It isn't too far, about a 20 minute walk each way and Kelton was so darn proud of himself. Walks have just become a whole lot easier, I think! At least until Kaylen decides she wants to ride her bike too. But for now, I think I see more walks in our future.

When we arrived home there was a message from a friend of mine. I called her back and she wanted to know if Kelton wanted to come over for a playdate with her almost 5 year old. The boys have actually known each other since they were about 2 weeks old - I met Declan's mom when we were both pregnant living north of Seattle. A twist of fate landed us both down here by the time Declan was 19 months old (we moved here when Kelton was 10 weeks)- living about 15 minute apart. Kelton wanted to go play so they stopped by and picked him up. I had just gotten Kaylen down for her nap so with Kelton gone, I was able to enjoy about 30 minutes by myself. When Kaylen woke up, I snuggled her back to sleep and stayed with her until she got a decent (almost) 2 hour nap (since she was in our bed, I turned on The View and was able to watch it completely uninterrupted! WOW!). Hopefully that will turn the tides on the night waking. Time will tell.

After Kaylen woke up she and I headed over to Declan's house. We ended up staying and having a playdate of our own. We were even invited to dinner! After that, it was home, bath, wind down time and bed. Here is a picture I took last week of Kelton and Declan. Look at that size difference! WOWSA! The other pictures are of Kelton holding Graysen, their pet rat. I was pretty proud of him for being so brave and I think the pictures are adorable. :)





PHEW! That was long, wasn't it? Well, the good news is, I think you are up to date now. :)