beautiful weekend

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend. I have not had the A/C on in days and have been enjoying the comfortable Fall breeze through open windows. I hope we have a few more weeks of this before the Fall/Winter chill sets in.

On Friday we all got to sleep in because Lauren had an early morning appointment with the Doctor to get a Plantar wart removed from her foot. She was a little nervous during her appointment so she told a lot of (not really) funny jokes. She cried at first when I told her the liquid nitrogen might burn a little bit. She cried until the Dr. actually applied the first Q-tip of liquid nitrogen. Then her and the Doc started talking about Lauren's favorite princesses and who she wanted to be for Halloween. (Sleeping Beauty) Lauren, at one point, told him that her wart's favorite food is "Doctors" so he better watch out. (she's definitely my want-to-be-a-comedian daughter.) At one point Lauren sharply asked Dr. Jackson, "When are you going to be done with this?!" He told her "as soon as you are ready." She did great and Dr. J got to apply the whole treatment. We'll see how it goes...the wart doesn't seem to bother Lauren much at all.

After the Doctor's appointment I dropped Lauren off at school. She told me that I didn't need to walk her to her class, that she knew the way. And so I stood in the lobby and watched my blond baby walk away and turn a corner down a hall which would lead to her class. She didn't even look back. (tear)

Moving on... After I dropped L off at school, Matt, T, and I did our weekly 10k+ walk along the cart paths in Peachtree City. We did this 6.3 mile walk in one hour and 20 something minutes. I think we may have broken our record. My knee really bothered me after that but I've been doing ice&heat 2 times per day and I really think it is getting better.

Friday afternoon Lea and Tera both came over to play. Lea and Tyler paired up and played while Lauren and Tera mostly played together.

Tyler watched Lea play the Little Touch Leap Pad.

Lea gave me a quick glance so I could take the picture but then it was back to the Leap Pad. Dinner was a 2 part dinner.

Chicken nuggets and pizza for the kids...

and for the adults...

Adobo Lemon Chicken

(basically, season 1 lb. chicken breasts with Adobo, top with bread crumbs, saute until brown, add 1 3/4c. water and 4t. lemon juice, bring to boil and simmer 15 min.)

with Couscous with Orange
(cook 2/3 c. couscous in 1c. chicken broth, fluff with fork and stir in 1t. orange peel and 1 med. orange, sliced and chopped)

It was alright...maybe a check plus.

The orange couscous was surprisingly different and tasty.

After dinner the girls did some coloring.

(this is Lauren's FAVORITE thing to do these days)

and then it was CrAzY TiMe!!

Saturday morning Matt and I really hoped we could sleep in a bit. On the weekends we let the kids get up when their clocks say 7:00am. So at 7:00am they immediately come into our room and snuggle in our bed. They snuggle maybe 5 minutes before they ask for the TV to be turned on. After the TV is turned on it takes another 5 minutes for them to start arguing, kicking, jumping and basically making it impossible for their sleep deprived parents to sleep in.

So we got up and Matt made yummy pancakes with Vanilla Soy Milk. These pancakes were very fluffy and oh so good. The best he's made so far. (I had a coupon for the vanilla soy milk and am glad it has been put to good use. I've added it to my cereal a couple of times but it mostly sits untouched in the fridge.)

After breakfast Tyler and Daddy played some serious "Littlest Pet Shops"

Saturday afternoon we cashed in the kids' piggy banks. They were completely full and I guessed they had maybe $30 in change. NOPE. They cashed in a total of One Hundred and Five Dollars!! We now need to re-read Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. to see how much the kids can Spend/Save/Give. Tyler did cash in $6 worth at Walmart and bought himself a Radio Controlled Car. (sorry no pics yet.) Lauren, however, misbehaved and was not allowed to pick a toy out for herself. (Maybe she will after dance class on Tuesday...given she has a good attitude and doesn't argue/talk back to me.)

Dave and Susan invited us to dinner that evening. Since they had the dessert (fresh picked apple pie) and the beverages (beer and Limoncello!!) I insisted on bringing the main dish. (I also brought a green bean side dish but no one in the Lancaster household touched it so I won't even mention it...wink at Dave and Susan.) I made Chicken Cannelloni with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce from my Southern Living Top Rated Recipes Cookbook. This was good...but not exactly good for you. (At least we all exercise and can burn off the extra calories.) We had fun chatting with our friends...at least what we could hear of each other over the yelling and shrieking of the kiddos who thoroughly enjoyed each other. It was a fun-filled evening.

Sunday morning greeted us just like Saturday. (...with the children climbing in bed at 7am, demanding a cartoon and then tossing, turning and jumping all over us until we got up.)

At 10am Ms. Maria called and asked if L and T could come over to play. So at 10:30am L and T ran over to their "home away from home" and pretty much stayed the whole day. (they came home at dinner time.) While they were playing at Lea's house I ran 4 miles, showered, did laundry and picked up the house...Matt watched football and mowed the lawn.) Thank you Maria! When they came home Tyler pouted for a good 30 minutes. He Did Not want to come home.

Dinner tonight was again a two-parter. I made buttery noodles and choice of fruit (grapes for Lauren and a banana for Tyler - who will not eat grapes) for the kids and made myself Couscous Cakes with Salsa.

Couscous Cakes with Salsa

(a light dinner but pretty good...e-mail me if you want this recipe)

Lauren with her buttery noodles

Tyler showing off his buttery noodles

Currently the children are in bed and Matt is at Philipp's Arena rocking out to the Metallica concert. He's in the Coca-Cola suite so I'm sure he's having a good time. Lucky guy.

As I close I can hear the warm rain falling from my open windows.

All in all, it was a Beautiful Weekend.