Memorial Day Weekend

So my sad but true excuse for not writing more lately is that we have been TV bums lately. Any time I am not dealing with the Battle of Natalia in the evening, I am on the couch watching The Office on DVD. It's actually great, and apparently the kids even support my viewing habit. For Mother's Day Michael got me another season to watch and told me he likes when Jeff and I laugh while he is sleeping. (Which leads me to think he is not sleeping if he hears us laughing, but that's a whole other matter.)

But a little bit about this weekend. We really had no plans, which was wonderful. We were looking for a restful, relaxing weekend with no sick people and no soccer clinics. Then we decided we were going to finally boot Natalia out of our room, and the latest plan was to pawn her off on her sis. That didn't quite happen. We did get Ree's room rearranged and slightly picked up, and we ordered a toddler bed for Natalia. (We are giving up on her ever really sleeping in a crib. The bars freak her out. And we're pretty sure she gets that no one else in the family sleeps in a crib.) Otherwise, we mostly had fun.

Ree's preschool graduation was Friday afternoon. They held it outside on the playground. The kids had decorated, and we enjoyed a picnic lunch afterward.

Saturday was the day I was supposed to work on the girls' room. I did work a little. But I also made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, which were a huge hit. (And considering how much syrup they normally put on them, a few chocolate chips and some whipped cream on a whole wheat pancake isn't all bad.)

As part of the room redecorating, I pulled out Ree's box of dress up clothes. The kids all spent hours playing with everything (and, yes, the box is heavy on girl clothes). Leon is surprisingly good at walking in heels, and it drives Michael nuts that he can't quite master it.

  Here Michael is dressed as the Sparkle Fairy.

Sunday morning we finally made it back to the beach for the first time since St. Patrick's Day. Knowing that holiday traffic would be insane, we went early and ate breakfast on the beach. That turned out to be quite enjoyable. The rest of the trip was okay but not fabulous, and it made us realize we definitely need to get out to the beach any weekend we don't have other plans.

We also learned that we need to take snacks even if we have breakfast on the beach. The kids were falling apart by the time we got home and ate lunch at 11:45. Thankfully, everyone in the family except Ree took afternoon naps (Jeff and I may have slept the longest!). Sunday night we headed out to the opening of a chain restaurant called Marlin and Ray's which is a lot like Joe's Crab Shack. Jeff is friends with the general manager, and we got free seafood for all and $5 grown up slushies. Good stuff.

We went grocery shopping after dinner on Sunday so that we wouldn't have to deal with that on Monday morning. That gave us time to break out the little pool for the first time this year. Natalia made it in the pool briefly, but decided she didn't like it when she got wet.

The other kids had a great time without her, and Natalia enjoyed playing in the club house by herself.

So in the end, it was not a productive weekend. But after playing outside, eating popsicles, baking cookies, and having Play-Doh time yesterday, the three big kids each declared Monday to be a great day. And we loved having a weekend where everyone was healthy and able to play that much.