When it rains...

Jeff and I have spent the last several Saturdays with not a thing to do. With our crazy weekday schedule of two completely different school schedules, my two nights of tutoring, his one night of church responsibilities, and all the other stuff in-between... we enjoy our lazy Saturday mornings just lounging around, letting the girls watch way too much tv. Well, yesterday that all changed as we actually had TOO much to do... and as hectic as we thought it would be to sqeeze it all in... it was way more fun than I had anticipated. Some highlights...

First up was Lainey's first soccer practice. I have to say, for the past 4 years, we drive by the soccer playing fields and just shake our heads at all of "those" parents who spend their Saturdays at their kids' soccer games. "Not us," we say, "We won't ever spend our weekends that way!" Um, yeah, just like all the things we said we'd never do as parents... we are eating our words. For most of her life, Lainey has loved kicking a soccer ball around. So much to the point that her teacher at school said we should really look into placing her on a team. After Lainey's resounding "YES!" that she would like to give it a try, I signed her up and the first practice was yesterday. I think it was a little different than she had thought it would be, as she was much more nervous about the whole thing once we got there. In her defense, it could be that she, at best, came up to the other girls' shoulders. She looked so little compared to most of the other girls. And Lainey is tall for her age. We decided those girls must be closer to 6... so Lainey's going to have to step it up so she can hang! Lots of practice at home is in her (and my) future. Anyway, having said all this, the highlight of the practice was one of the moms who has... for the last 24 hours anyway... given Jeff something to hang over my head. It was colder on the fields than I had anticipated, so I left my jacket in the car. We are all standing there and I comment to my friend Julie how cold it is. Jeff chimes in with an offer to go get my jacket out of the car. I tell him "No, I think I"ll be alright."... and don't think anything else of it. Well, this very nice mommy beside us says, "Oh my gosh, that was sooooo nice. My husband would never have offered to go get me my coat! He would have told me to go get it myself! Or that that's what I get for leaving it in the car. He never would have gone to get it for me!" Yes, she really did say all this. On and on. Within Jeff's earshot. Now, I do know that this was nice of him to offer. And after she said that, I realized that I hadn't really thanked him for offering, and perhaps I should. So I did. That wasn't a big deal, I never thought about it again. But Jeff has. How many times since her comments has he brought it up? Tooting his own horn over how thoughtful he is? I can't even count. I keep having to remind him that I do many, many nice things for him too... and will be sure to mention one in front of this new soccer mommy who probably thinks I am the most unappreciative thing around!

After soccer, we rush off to the Sesame Street show. First, must grab drive-thru for the girls. Make the 45-minute drive with plenty of time to spare, and change them out in the car. Oh yeah, after we paid the $12 parking fee. Is it just me, or did we totally get bent over on that deal? Maybe I need to get out more, or maybe I don't since I obviously need to take on yet another job to pay for all this entertainment! Anyway, we get into the auditorium and are easily outnumbered by all the little people running around with their $4 cotton candy and $15 spinners. Yes, I do know how much they cost because my girls had to have both after seeing the smiling faces of all other 1000 children with cotton candy and spinners. I did draw the line, though, on the $10 elmo balloons. I want my kids to enjoy themselves, but within reason! And I do pity the poor parents who paid the $10 for the balloon, only to watch it float to the very top of the auditorium. And I also pity the two mommies I saw on the way out to the car whose balloons popped on a sticking out part of the fence. You could see it in their eyes. It made them sick. Anyway, back to the show. Considering we were only 6 rows from the front, the girls did great. The first 15 minutes were a little nerve-racking, as Big Bird and Elmo that close-up even scared me just a little! But they really got into it, and it was fun to see. Don't ask me how many times Jeff and I made goofy grins at each other b/c we could tell they were having so much fun. (He'll kill me for saying that.)

After the show we met up with some friends who had also taken their little one to the show (hi LA and N!) and shared a couple cold ones over good mexican food (what else?). It was a perfect way to wind down from the day. It felt so late as we were heading home, and as we passed a country bar we had gone to when we were dating, I told Jeff that they must be closed down now b/c there were no cars there. Amanda, its only 6:45. Oh yeah. It feels like 10:45. Dang, we're old.

Closing these little stories of mine has never been my strong suit. I prefer to open, write a little, then get lazy on the closing. This one will be no exception, especially since it is such a long post... is anyone still even with me?! Have a great week... I will be back soon!