Saturday

Every once in awhile, there's a perfect Saturday.

I love the weekend, and usually they are packed with fun events with family and friends.  The weekends fill up fast and I look forward to them.  Weekends are our time with Daddy, our time for adventures, for going out and doing fun and exciting things.  Parties, family events, playdates, camping, trips, etc.  And it's such a blast.  And at the end of such a weekend, there are mountains of laundry, a haphazard trail of projects/paperwork/stuff, and worn out but happy kids.  But every once in awhile, you just need a "day off" kind of Saturday.  An extra day in the week to rest, get stuff done and spontaneously play with your kids. 

Friday evening kicked off the weekend with a juggle.  The original plan fell through and we decided to take the girls to the movies instead.  "The Croods" was playing in town and we managed to rush through the end of dinner, pile into the car and make it just in time.  We bought our tickets and moved onto the concessions counter for one of my husband's few weaknesses--popcorn.  Tonight we also bought Red Vines, at Butterfly's plea and promise to earn then by helping me clean the floors the next day.  We settled into our seats.  Butterfly, Daddy, Ladybug and then me in the aisle seat, with Lovely on my lap.  Lovely did great for the first half hour, happily munching on buttery kernels and then sneaking m&ms from my bag.  But she grew restless and eventually moved to the floor.  We tried to contain her into the seats between Daddy and me but she slipped away repeatedly.  Finally we relented and let her settle onto the floor in the aisle next to me.  This worked our perfectly.  She happily cleaned the nearby vents with a baby wipe, tried on my shoes several times and played with toys from my bag.  She wandered occasionally, never more than a few chairs away and so quietly that she never disturbed anyone.  It was actually pretty cute to see her eyes fixate in curiosity and her wander around to investigate.  Meanwhile, Ladybug and Butterfly hardly moved, captivated by the movie and clutching Daddy's arms through the final scenes.  Cute movie, fantastic family date.

Saturday morning we slept in.  (at least as much as Lovely lets us, about 8:30)  We had a leisurely breakfast and played for awhile before Daddy left to take care of some errands.  The girls and I also left for errands and went grocery shopping.  Our local grocery store was having a "demo day" and the larger aisles were full of booths offering samples of new items to try.  We browsed, snacking along the way and picking up lunch.  Eventually, we went home and got to work on our self-appointed chores, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping and mopping the floor and cleaning bathrooms.  We worked hard, taking a break for nap/quiet time and settled in for a movie cuddle.  Afterwards, we went back to work and my little helpers were amazingly diligent and productive.  We rewarded ourselves with lounging in the sunshine.  Or at least, I lounged.  They rode bikes, climbed the trees, played on the swings and chased the cats.  Daddy came home and we helped him mow the lawn.  Grandma and Grandpa have a huge yard and riding lawn mower than looks more like a four wheeler.  So the girls went for short rides on his lap, up and down the even rows.  Then they helped me rake together the grass clippings and carry them by bucket to the horses who happily received the plentiful snack.  We had a quick dinner and then went for a family bike ride.  Butterfly and I were a team, riding side by side while Daddy towed the bike trailer with Ladybug and Lovely as his passengers.  Our progress up the hill was slow but I was so proud of how hard she worked.  We rode to an ice cream parlor and treated the girls to cones as we sat outside on the steps.  We rode home, splashed through bathtime and the girls settled quickly into bed.  I puttered while Daddy worked on his truck for a few hours and eventually sleep claimed us too.

And Sunday was another wonderful day.  We overslept, readied for church, loaded into the car and then realized how late we were and decided to drive around for awhile instead of walking in halfway through sacrament meeting.  We drove some of the beautiful mountain roads nearby to admire the scenery before making our way back to church for classes.  After lunch, Lovely napped while we watched "Aslan" (the Chronicles of Narnia) with our big girls and then went for a long drive around the valley.  We drove through new developments and up more mountain roads.  We drove past our new lot to admire the freshly dug hole (hurray! work has begun!) and wandered home for a wonderful Sunday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  After dinner, we played outside.  Grandpa had arranged for a friend to visit so they could play guitar together and as the music began to float across the neighborhood, a few more friends began to gather.  The lawn became an impromptu concert with the kids playing to the side.  We finished off the evening with hot chocolate and dessert and bedtime routine with the girls.