Weekend Recap (NOVEL)

1. FRIDAY: both kids had Valentine's Day parties at school. I sent them off that morning with valentine's in hand and a jar full of fireballs for their teachers.
I had planned to go to HOT YOGA that morning with my sister. She took a class last week and LOVED it. We decided to try it each Friday for a few weeks. She unfortunately had to cancel because of a tax appointment. I improvised and tried my own YOGA at home. I started DVRing WKYU's Power, Mind and Body last week. I figured I needed to actually practice doing some YOGA moves before taking a class and looking like an idiot. Since I don't own a YOGA mat, I opted for some leftover carpet remnants from the garage. After 30 minutes of connecting with my mind, body and soul, it was over. I liked it a lot and am looking forward to next Friday's session.

Matt then coerced me into going with him to Panera Bread (which takes lil' coercing) for our weekly Cinnamon Crunch bagel and coffee. Panera has quickly become one of Miles's favorite places. It's also nice having something special to do with just Miles, Daddy and Mommy. Afterwards we picked up Isaac from school, changed the oil in the van and headed home. Matt had a prayer meeting that afternoon and arranged for some babysitting at Mamaw Deaton's house for the boys so I could attend Karson's vday party SOLO.

Since her class has 25 children, I didn't want to add two more to the chaos. However, the kids were more mellow than usual and did well handing out their valentine's. They also made ice cream sundaes which I thought was a cool idea. Karson's valentine's this year were pixie sticks and a heart. I wish I could attend more of Isaac's festivities but time simply isn't on my side. He's only at school for 2 1/2 hours, and it's all I can do just to get there on time to pick him up. He took LEGO valentine's to school with tootsie rolls.
Matt and I are big fans of district basketball especially the Greenwood Gators. We've been following the Gators for years. I love high school basketball!!! I also love people watching--it's almost more interesting to me than the game itself. Greenwood faced Warren Central on this icy eve. We headed over to the Dragon's liar and cheered on the Gators who got slaughtered. They lost one of their best shooters two weeks ago to an ACL injury =(. They have such a great team but have a hard time hanging with teams who have such strong, inside, HUGE players like George Fant who scored 30 points that night.

2. SATURDAY began earlier than I would've liked. Karson and I had to be at Briarwood Elementary at 9:15 for basketball pictures which meant I would spend the morning rushing around like a crazy woman (which my kids are totally use to). After pictures, we headed over to Cumberland Trace to wait for our game. One of my parents, Curt White, approached me and suggested I teach the girls how to set screens. I was initially hesitant about the idea but respect Curt a lot. I've taught two of his kids at EEP, Karson has played on one of his ball teams, and he's a fellow WC girls coach in Division III. We have thirty minutes of practice prior to the games so I decided to teach the girls to set screens. They picked it up very quickly and seemed to enjoy the contact =). Long story short, they set LOTS of screens during the ballgame. The screens looked more like body checking in football but did the trick and some of my girls even manged to score off of them. Thanks CURT for the tip--I may pick your brain next week. Karson wanted to go home with MeMe after the game. The boys did too, but I convinced them to go with us instead. I like for Karson to get one on one time with MeMe since the boys get it during the week.

We took the boys to Wendy's for burgers and then I headed to the grocery (for food and Valentine's gifts for the kids). Matt decided to take the boys bowling--he's a brave soul. As I was wandering down the aisles of Kroger (sans the ginormous CAR shopping cart that I usually try to maneuver), I was racking my brain on what to get the kids for vday. I decided on more LEGO valentine's for Isaac since he loves them more than life itself. They are the sticker puzzle type where you match up the pieces to the numbers~HEAVEN for Isaac!
I got Karson some I LUV U Peeps--I didn't even realize they made vday Peeps. And I got Miles some lifesaver heart shaped gummies. I debated on whether or not to get them balloons, flowers, chocolate, etc. but walked away (who are we kidding, I would have been buying those for me). After leaving Kroger, I decided to swing into Toys R Us and attempt to find some small toy for them. Good luck with that, eh??? I did manage to spend only $16. I got Karson a small Jasmine doll for her princess set, Isaac some Club Penguin characters and Miles a color changer car.
As soon as I got home with the groceries and goodies, I had to head over to MeMe's and pick up Karson for a birthday party at Southern Lanes. Here she is with her friend Jailynn. They had a fun time inhaling smoke and bowling together. Karson also got a strike--my little athlete. Speaking of being an athlete, Karson has scored at least one basket in every basketball game since January 16 (I probably just jinxed her).

Here's Karson puckering up to each of the mini golf animals. What a ham!!! Southern Lanes is a great place to have a party, and there is SO MUCH for the kids to do; however, I think they need to do better about designating certain areas of bowling that are smoke-free. I'm sure that's impossible to do on a Saturday, but I felt like I was sitting in a chimney inhaling fumes the entire time. Ugh--that's got to be one of my biggest pet peeves. In fact, I choose to wait longer at restaurants for tables in non-smoking areas. First available, no thanks. After Jailynn's party, we went to Colvin and Debbie's for dinner to celebrate John and Grandad's birthdays.
Nana had gotten the kids some Valentine's goodies, one of which was a talking Pete the Parakeet. Pete is non-stop laughs. I'll try to post a video soon of Pete in action RE-Peteing.

3. SUNDAY oh boy, what a morning!!! The kids were thrilled with their new Valentine toys and candy. Sundays are always extra busy at our house. I think the busyness of Friday and Saturday makes us lazier than usual on Sunday. We move slower, get ready at the last minute, scarf down breakfast, etc. Once the kids are herded out the door by 9:00, we're good. Isaac took his new Club Penguins in the van with him. Once we made it to the Cumberland Trace road stoplight, Pap and Nana pulled up right beside us. We opened the van doors so the kids could say hello. Lo and behold, once the traffic started moving, one of the penguin body's flew out of the van and into the moving traffic. Isaac LOST it and we were at a crossroads~count our losses or make an illegal turn immediately. Matt chose an illegal turn as we made our way back to the scene of the drop. We pulled into the Minit Mart parking lot and Matt looked like Frogger waiting for the cars to clear so he could find the missing penguin part. Oh...the things we do for kids. After wet-wiping down the battered Jester penguin, we were on our way. I knew my morning had just gotten more stressful at that moment because we were going to be right on time for church, and I still needed to set up for my Sunday school class. All worked out and the day went smoothly.
I had a taste for Baker Brothers for lunch. Is this place not just the BEST? And, the owners little girl Cayhill is in my EEP class this year. The kids had chosen McNatsyness for lunch, and I didn't want to comply. Matt whipped into BB's, and I picked up sandwiches for us. Thank you coupon mint for the BOGO free coupon. We took our delicious food over to McNasty's and let the kids have their nutritious burger and fry meal.
Matt's parents grabbed the kiddos later this afternoon and he and I went to see the movie Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day. Cheesy, eh? I like cheesy, give me cheesy any day (that would be a great shirt slogan). For my vday gift, Matt got me the movie Couples Retreat and big box of chocolates. I got him a bag full of goodies. I tried paying attention to everything he said he wanted that week: new running shorts (check), chapstick (check), a water bottle for his gatorade powder (check)--I also threw in some mints and peanut butter M&M's. Hope each one of you had an extra special Valentine's Day! Thanks for reading our weekend novel!