Weekend Recap

It was a nasty weekend weather-wise in Columbia - so we braved the children's museum, along with every other parent who had the smart idea to get their kids out of the house. This was J's first visit and A's first visit in a long time (so long she didn't remember it) - and they had a tee-total blast. The Curious George exhibit is currently visiting - and J was delighted.

Here is J - letting the bunnies out - just like George in the book we often read.

Saying hello to George and giving him a pat on the back.

Some of the original manuscripts - the kids could have cared less about this part of the exhibit, but I loved it!

A hugging George - and smirking her smirk-ey smile.

J and D - NOT wanting to sit still and hug George. There was too much else to do to sit still daddy!

A doing the weekly shopping at the kid-sized Piggly Wiggly.

We stayed about two hours, then my inability to deal with mass quantities of children with parents who have no control over them and let them run wild kicked in - and we had to leave. I understand that you're tired as a parents (believe me, I get that) but letting your big kids run amok, including pushing mine around, bossing them, grabbing things away from them, and generally being rude is not acceptable in my book.

So, we headed out, took the kids to lunch, and then home for naps.

So then the "snow" discussion began, including the weather-people forecasting several inches of snow. This unfortunately always happens when we have no food in the house - meaning I have to brave the grocery stores, and fight elbow to elbow for use of a shopping cart, then navigate past the people stocking up for the inevitable power losses we will experience with such a blizzard - you know, by buying carts full of canned goods, bottles of water, batteries - oh, and every last gallon of milk and loaf of bread out there.

I finally made it home after TWO hours in the grocery store, with our food for the week. And thank goodness I did - because of that horrible snowfall. You know, the one that made all school districts cancel school at 6 pm on Sunday evening. You know, the one that the weather stalled, and not ONE freaking flake fell in Columbia? Yeah, that one...

Thankfully, the Children's Center actually stayed open - following the University's weather policy who operated on a two hour delay. For once, our kids' school was one of the only ones open, so D and I could both get to work and not have to take an unplanned vacation day - you know, for all of that snow...

Sunday evening we had an impromptu dinner gathering - my good friend N and her two girls EG and AM came over for a play date in the afternoon - that turned into dinner. I'd made a huge pot of in-the-oven-beef-stew - which makes way more than we care to eat (I only do leftovers once). The kids had a great time (EG is A's bff) and they played princess, dressed up, cooked in A's kitchen, and colored. AM drifted in and out of playing with the big girls, while J just got in the middle of it all and was the typical little brother.

It was a fun afternoon and a nice evening to share with another set of grown-ups - who could tune out the screaming and playing and carrying on that four kids age four and under do when allowed to dine together.