a good day off

Schools were out today for MLK Jr. Day, and even though we just came back from winter break, our three-day weekend sure felt good.  I did some cleaning and laundry this morning, and then the girls and I walked down to the park with a picnic lunch.  We spent a few hours enjoying the beautiful day with some friends from Sara's class.  Afterwards we ran over to Nothing Bundt Cakes to pick up a cake for one of my colleagues.  The girls got bundtlets that I miraculously refrained from taste-testing (which took every fiber of my being).

After all of the park fun, Sara had to do a second breathing treatment today.  She was asleep in the chair within about three minutes of starting.

G&G sent a box of seashells from our trip.  It arrived Saturday, and this evening Emma launched into yet another methodical shell-cleaning session.Who knew that could be so fun?! 

Tonight we grilled turkey burgers, and as we all sat on the back patio under the party lights while they cooked, I couldn't help but wish for summer ... long days, warm pool water (reminders of the blistering heat escaping me in my wishful thinking).  Still, grilling on January 19th isn't anything to complain about!  The temps will drop again later this week, so we've been soaking up the warm weather and sunshine.

As I was cleaning up from dinner, I overheard Steve giving self-defense lessons in the playroom.  Sara told him about a couple of run-ins she and her friends had on the playground today, so he went to work showing her how and when to defend herself.  I had to laugh as I kept hearing "hi-ya" coming from the other room, but I also cringed a little picturing Sara whipping out these moves on any boy who looks at her crooked.  So we followed up the whole lesson with a long talk about what possible scenarios would require her to use any form of self-defense, emphasizing that she will likely have zero-to-only-a-couple opportunities ever.  Really hoping I don't get any calls from her school this week ...

Now we actually have to think about preparing for our week.  I already know that, tired as we all might be, nobody will really feel like going to bed tonight.  No big plans this week, but we have a company coming on Wednesday to give us an estimate for some necessary foundation repairs; we'd love for your to join us in rooting for low numbers!