But It Had Been A Great Weekend!

My post today had been planned out last night - I had so much to share because we had actually had a great weekend. But, once that phone rang this morning, happy memories of the previous days flew right from my mind. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, scroll down to the posts below this.)

I was sitting here feeling exhausted, out of sorts and ticked off with myself that I don't feel like I have the energy required to do the project I had intended to do tonight when it dawned on me that I should still share our weekend. So here goes:

Saturday, after Dakota finished studying for the day, we decided to take a trip to the mall. I was on the hunt for Christmas shirts for the kids and believe it or not, I'm finding it near impossible to find anything (cute t-shirt type shirts. I'm a sucker for Christmas shirts and pajamas). While I didn't find shirts for them, I did find a pair of Christmas pajamas for Kaylen as well as a really sweet Christmas dress (on sale!). During my hunt though, Kelton noticed with great delight that the mall was decorated for Christmas which, of course got him asking about Santa. We told him we weren't sure if Santa was at the mall yet but that we would go to that section and check it out.

Sure enough - Jolly Ol' Saint Nicholas was there! Kelton was beside himself with joy and practically flung himself into Santa's arms. That boy has never once showed anything but pure love and excitement about Santa. Kaylen, on the other hand, doesn't so much feel the love. Once Santa and Kelton were finished, Santa came over to talk with a very hesitant and almost in tears Kaylen. She was in Dakota's arms but you could tell it took all she had to be able to talk with Santa. He asked what she wanted for Christmas and my sweet girl, with tears in her voice, said "A new rattle. I lost mine." Which was just about the saddest thing EVER for her mommies to hear. She saw a rattle about 4 months ago and fell in love with it so we bought it for her and she carried it everywhere. And I mean everywhere. One day it just disappeared. I looked for it but didn't find it. Every time she was upset in the past couple of weeks, she would cry for it, which broke my heart.

Well now - you know that two mommies were tearing this house apart searching for it Saturday night. Clearly our daughter was heartbroken over losing it - more so than we ever dreamed since it was the only thing she could think to ask for from Santa. Finally, we found it! It was at the bottom of the toy box in the car (the box sits wedged between the two car seats). Thank goodness!!!

We left it out for her to see in the morning and that thing hasn't been far from her hands since. My silly, sweet girl. :)

But the best part of the weekend was....well....are you sitting down? No really - sit down. This might shock some of you and I can't be held responsible for injuries you may sustain. Ready?

Dakota and I went on a date.

I know! I was surprised and shocked as well (we rarely get away without the kids because Dakota's work and school stuff takes her away from the family so much that we mostly stay as a family unit when we have time to spend all together). And get this - we went to a movie!! The real kind where you drive to a theater, pay money, buy popcorn and sit in seats. I did some quick figuring and realized that we hadn't been to a movie since my birthday last December. We saw The Santa Clause 3 and when we left the theater, it was snowing. So I know for a fact that I have not stepped foot into a theater since then. All the scents and bright lights practically made me dizzy! :)

All this came about because I had called Dakota on Friday to ask her to let her mom know that Kelton didn't have school on Monday (today) because of the holiday so I wouldn't need her to stay with Kaylen while I worked in the classroom. My sly little fox decided to slip in "So since you aren't watching Kaylen on Monday, how would you feel about watching both kids on Sunday so we can go to a movie to use the gift card you gave Casey for her birthday last year." Her mom agreed so I was hit with a surprise date! Wahoooooo!!!!

We saw Martian Child and we both loved it!!! Two thumbs up - waaaay up! Definitely worth your time. :)

And it just wouldn't be a weekend recap post without photos so here are a handful. Enjoy!












(and yes, I realize there are no photos of Kelton...or shall I call him "No photos, please" boy? Maybe next time. Kaylen, on the other hand, was really getting into posing. Way too fun!)

PS - Keep reading if you haven't read tonights update on Brandon