A Working Weekend

For some crazy reason, several weeks ago, I volunteered to watch the three kiddos and let Grandma, Papa, Chad and Kelly go to the Blake Shelton concert on Saturday night.  I even offered to order the tickets for Papa and had them sent to his house.  This turned out to be a mistake because when Grandma and Papa arrived on Friday evening, they arrived without the tickets!  He said had left them sitting on the table by his "easy chair." (Does anyone even use that term anymore?) My father does not often make a mistake, so of course we had to give him a sufficient amount of harassment.  In hindsight, I should have purchased one ticket and enjoyed a nice adult, night all to myself.  Anyway, Papa quickly found a friend that was heading to Omaha on Saturday, so the ticket problem was solved.

Saturday morning, I made pecan scones with maple frosting from my amazing Pioneer Woman cookbook.  Papa, Grandma and Kelly took the kids to the Children's Museum after breakfast and I offered to stay home and make lunch for everyone.  I decided that an evening alone with all three kids would be plenty of quality, kid time.  Not often do I get free time to plan, shop and prepare a meal for more than two people.  I have to admit that I really enjoy cooking, when I have the time to prepare.  I even went the extra mile and put a ham bone and beans in the Crock-pot for supper!  I knew that not everyone would be excited about ham and bean soup, but I was cookin' so as Jentry would say, ya get what ya get!  The homemade cornbread muffins helped spark some interest. 

Immediately after an early supper, Papa, Grandma, Chad and Kelly left for the concert.  Jentry and Isaac played surprisingly well in the basement while Anna helped me do the dishes.  It certainly brought back memories of my little Jentry spending hours sitting on the kitchen counter.  She was practically raised in the kitchen sink! 

The rest of the evening went much more smoothly than I had anticipated. The movie Tangled helped quiet the chillens a bit.  When I sat down to rock Anna, Jentry was simply not having it.  She scooted her tiny bottom right next to me in the chair, as if to inform Anna that I was HER mommy.  I had set up Anna's pack-n-play in my closet, because I was simply out of rooms. She didn't seem to mind.  She went right to sleep without a peep.  Nathan said, "With her love for shoes, she was probably happy to go to sleep in a room full of them and dream the night away."  Isaac did not want to share Jentry's bed, so I made a him little bed on the floor in her room.  I don't how anyone could sleep on a hardwood floor without a considerable amount of alcohol, but he did it!  I could hear the two of them jabbering away for a while, but eventually they both fell asleep.  Ahhh! 

 By Sunday, I was tired of being in my kitchen and refused to feed any more people.  Grandma and Papa were nice enough to take us all out to eat at Red Lobster.  During lunch, my sister was thanking me for watching the kids and feeling a bit sorry for me.  I let her go on for a while, because that's just what little sisters do, but eventually I stopped her.  I told her not to feel sorry for me.  Unlike everyone else, I didn't have to go to work on Monday!  Sometimes it pays to be a banker.  I also reminded her that I get to go to Las Vegas on Wednesday.  Granted it is to attend a work conference, but I do get an entire king size bed all to myself with the choice of any channel I desire!  There will be no little voice requesting to watch "Gubble Buppies" (aka Bubble Guppies).  It is just sad how exciting this sounds to me.  After hearing my schedule, my sister was, well lets just say she wasn't feeling sorry for me anymore.

Even though it was somewhat of a working weekend, I had a wonderful time with my family.  I truly enjoyed hosting everyone at my little house and spending some quality time in my cozy kitchen.  I am so thankful that my niece and nephew are excited about sleeping at Aunt JJ's house even if I do make them sleep in some unconventional places. 

Here is a list of the top 4 highlights of the weekend:

1.Watching my parents read Jentry a story from her new toddler Bible.

 

 

2.  Snuggling in bed with my adorable niece in the early hours of the morning.

 

3.  Hearing Isaac tell Papa, "If you have another birthday you might die."

 

4.  Hearing Jentry, as she was waiting to use the bathroom, ask, "Mom, when (name deleted to conceal his identity) is done pooping, can you put some spray in there, so it doesn't sink?"