Weekend Update

(The following two paragraphs were written October 2nd and 3rd -- proof that sometimes I start to blog, but don't always finish.)

I was planning on writing a short post Sunday afternoon...but that was last Sunday, and here is it, 6 days later on Saturday morning (an embarrassing 10 days since my last blog post).

It's fairly chilly in northern VA this morning (50 degrees), and even quite chilly in our house (we had to turn on the heat last night).  I love an excuse to wear cardigans in the house though.  I bought this one in July during Nordstrom's annual anniversary sale, and it's the best thing ever invented.  I wore it yesterday too, when it rained all day long.  In my fact, my exact outfit yesterday was the cardigan (with a soft, long shirt underneath), leggings, tall-ish socks, which I wore over my leggings, and rain boots.  It felt like I was wearing pajamas (I pretty much was), and  unashamedly ventured out into public in this get up.  Needless to say I love the current comfy, drape-y fashion.

(Okay, back to real time, October 18th.  Sorry it that was a little confusing, timeline-wise.  I especially wanted to include the longer paragraph above, because I am currently wearing the same cardigan as I type this.  I should probably wash it eventually.)

My plan was to go through my iPhone pictures and use those to catch you up, but it turns out I've been a terrible picture-taker lately, so please don't prepare to be impressed.  Just prepare for a bunch of randomness that may make your brain hurt.

Three weeks ago (the very original start intended date of this blog post), we had a super low key, but lovely, weekend.  (I think it may have been more lovely for me than for Chet, because I got to get out of the house a couple of times, while he mostly kept the home fires burning.  He had a touch of cabin fever by Sunday evening.)  This year I am singing in our church's annual Living Christmas Tree, and I had rehearsal from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning (September 26th).  After I got home, we stayed in the rest of the day and were able to relax and get some things done around the house.  On Sunday we went to church, but after church Sydney and I dropped Chet, Lorelei, and Ford off at home, and she and I went to the movie theater to see "Inside Out."  Chet and I both could tell Sydney was craving some one-on-one time, and it was the perfect outing to help fill up her little love tank.  Anyway, she and I both loved the movie, but I honestly probably enjoyed it more than she did (it was really well done -- good job, Pixar!).

After the movie we came home and, again, stayed put for the rest of the day.  For the kids and me it was the best way to recharge after a busy week of not being home enough, but, like I said, Chet had a touch of cabin fever.  He might have almost been excited about getting out of the house Monday morning and back to the Pentagon... but I said almost.  (He likes his job, but, thankfully, he likes home better.)

Monday, September 28th, we walked/scooted to school.  We actually walk to school (Lorelei's preschool, that is) most days; I can count on one hand the days we haven't.

Lorelei is thoroughly enjoying her Tuesday ballet classes:

Bubby loves to shop.  He hasn't quite figured out that he can't carry everything in the store at once:

The following weekend, October 3rd and 4th, we were homebound again due to the never-to-materialize Hurricane Joaquin.  The rain started on Friday, and had stopped mostly by Saturday evening, even though I wouldn't go so far as to call Sunday a "lovely day."  Chet and I were proactive about not getting cabin fever, so we loaded everyone up Saturday morning and took them to one of the malls in our area.  Now, there are a few malls within a 15-mile radius of our house, but we chose the second-closest one that is scheduled to close it's doors fairly soon (maybe within a year?  I don't know, the city has a plan to convert it into apartments, but it won't happen before we move away).  The reason we chose this slightly shady mall on the verge of extinction is because, well, it's on the verge of extinction.  That means there's hardly ever anyone there, and our kids can run around indoors without disturbing shoppers (because there just aren't many).  It also has a small indoor play area (geared toward children two and under, but even five-and-a-half year old Sydney loves it), a Bath & Body Works, a Victoria's Secret, and a CHICK-FIL-A.

You guys.  Let me just tell you that there are not many Chick-fil-as in the northern VA area (at least not close/convenient to us), and this mall food court Chick-fil-a is probably the only reason the mall can continue to pay its electric bill each month.

Speaking of electric bill...the mall chose not to turn on the heat that rainy, chilly Saturday, and it was downright cold inside.  Chet and I were shivering and stayed in our jackets, but the kids seemed fine since they were a little more active.  I suppose a mall on the verge of extinction has a meager budget, and turning on the heat for one chilly weekend (when it was only going to warm up again the following week) wasn't a line item.

Anyway, it was still a good outing: the kids played, ran, and ate Chick-fil-a.  Then we went home for naps and stayed in the rest of the day, except for a quick family walk we took after dinner -- in the drizzling rain -- to burn off a little more energy.  It was good to see their miniature-sized rain boots and umbrellas put to good use.

Since we were pretty homebound, Chet indulged me by helping us rearrange the letters on the girls' wall, (Ford's too, I just haven't taken a picture yet), a seemingly insignificant project that actually brings the girls and me great happiness:

Sorry for the bad/inconsistent lighting.  You may remember back in this post that I hadn't yet chosen a way I liked to hang the letters.  My aunt suggested hanging their names on the walls next to their respective beds, instead of together on the same wall.  Here's a little bit of (boring) background: When we originally moved in, the girls' beds weren't bunked, just like they are now.  But I didn't want to hang Lorelei's letters low, because I knew she would play with them (something she would never do now -- a child changes so much in 18 months!).  So I hung their letter on their respective walls, but really high up.  Then, when we bunked their beds, I couldn't use Lorelei's wall to hang anything, since the bunk beds took up the entire wall, so both names were moved to Sydney's side of the room.  But since Sydney's wall also has that window, I had to hang the letters high to make sure they both fit.  But now that Lorelei wouldn't dream of bothering her letters (Bubby dreams of it though), it made sense to finally hang them on their respective walls at a normal height.  Whew!

Another dance class:

Last weekend (October 10th and 11th) was gorgeous, and all of northern VA was itching to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather.

But first, Friday evening (October 9th) we attended a fun get together at a neighbor's house, celebrating the visit of a family that moved away from the neighborhood (a fellow Navy family) over the summer.

We went to this pumpkin patch Saturday morning and had a great time.

Lorelei was pouting because she wanted to sit next to Sydney in the picture, not Bubby (I don't think she wanted him in the picture at all).  She was also hungry.

Ah, memories.  (Oh, and please pay no attention to the girls' outfits -- especially Lorelei's.  They picked their outfits, and I decided to bite my tongue about their choices when they flounced down the stairs that morning.)

This little thing went around and around...I wish I could have gotten a better shot of Bubby's face (delightedly nervous).

The kids rolled down a little hill in these tubes.  It was hilarious.

Apparently I reached my picture-taking limit early in the outing, because we did a lot more after this.

Saturday night dinner:

I think Sydney is having a perpetual growth spurt, because she eats this much at every meal.  She actually had seconds, the same amount as the first round.  And fruit and dessert.

Bubby looked dapper at church that week, but was unwilling to be photographed after we took away the ever-present pacifier:

What did we do Sunday besides church?  I can't remember specifics.  I actually think we stayed home, but Chet was happy because he had some garage projects going, and kids were happy to play outside in the gorgeous weather.

Actually, yes!  Here's proof of the Sunday project I completed:

Again, bad lighting, but what you see here is a permanently cleared off desk.  It had gotten too cluttered, and it was messing with my nerves.  I'm happy to report it's still clean, a week later.

Monday, Columbus Day, was another day off work and school for Chet and the girls, and we started the day with a family trip to Home Depot, then to the mall (not the same mall as the previous weekend) to return some items.  I believe we stayed home again for the rest of the afternoon, but, like I said, it was fine because we were all content with home projects and playing outside.

I took this picture for my friend Emily, as proof that she's not the only one who sometimes washes an entire day's worth of dishes at night after dinner:

Yikes.  And this was only midday.

I'm going to stop there, because this weekend was Lorelei's birthday weekend (her 4th birthday was yesterday -- happy birthday, Lorelei!), and I'd like to give her a post of her own.

If you've read this far, bless you.  Thanks for being patient with my non-blogging, and for letting me blab for so long in a single post.  Happy Sunday!