Harmon Weekend

We had a great fall weekend here in Erie. Friday night the Gram-a-rama surprised the boys with a visit and a trip to the bounce house. They tricked her at dinner, saying they could butter their ow bread (which was technically Gram's bread) and so each ate their weight in buttered bread, and then SURPRISE! Didn't eat their dinner.

Saturday morning dawn brought Mark up and at-em, hauling Matthew out of bed for a hike on the peninsula with Spot and Daniel. I thought it would be great to make some pumpkin bread, so I preheated the oven. That didn't go so well, and the oven element caught on fire. After some consultation with Mark via phone, I found the breaker switch and got the element to finally stop burning and sparking. So, unplanned appliance purchase! Yippie! I tried to see if this meant it was time to just do a kitchen remodel... that got a big veto. Bummer. This was the first day of 2010-2011 Hockey practice so I ran to Sears to check on new oven options while Mark did Hockey practice. I found some options, but further discussion was needed, so home I came. I picked up some art supplies for my Nurture your creativity and Be Bulletproof class. (which is awesome) and set to work using up a set of sidewalk chalks on the front steps. It turned out really great, and I had some wonderful helpers. They found some trees to color, and we laughed and laughed when Spot got Chalk all over himself. After that adventure, I packed the boys up and headed over to Grams for our Saturday night Dinner at Grams event. I drove them over, then left to go do a photo session with the Anderson family, which went well. When I got home, there was a bonfire at the neighbors, which even Mark participated in for a while. I sent off the thank you pictures to Amy (beautiful) and headed out to enjoy one last bonfire. The boys all got glow sticks, then strung some together to make swords, which everyone enjoyed. The boys hit the pillow hard, sweaty and tired around 9:30, which is SO LATE for them during the school year, but I am trying hard to let the little things go.

Sunday morning Mark was up early again, and he let the boys sleep in this time. He and Spot went for coffee and a walk, which meant I got to sleep in some too. By the time Mark and Spot got back, the boys were just moving around. Perfect timing! I got to sleep in some more. The main goal for the day was to purge toys from downstairs and organize them to free up floor space for the weekly Hockey Spread... stuff gets laid out downstairs to dry before the next practice. It felt great to get most of the stuff organized and LABELED. Awesome. Mark and I talked about getting a new overhead microwave option to replace the hood over the range which has been shorting out also, and we split up mid-afternoon. I took Daniel for some Mommy and Daniel time, and Mark grabbed Matthew to go order the oven.
However, there was some texting about an 'addition' to the order... and Mark came home with a fancy new TV. Once home, I grabbed Spot and went for a walk while the boys did some backyard football. Then, bathtime and clean-up/get ready for the week ahead. Mark's finishing up the laundry, so I'll have loads of stuff to put away before bed, and Spot could really REALLY use a bath. I noticed on our walk that he still had a blue tinge to his back hips from our chalk episode yesterday!
More on our first Mommy and Daniel adventure another night. I think it's about time to return Spot to his normal color!