Perfect End to the Weekend

This weekend was rough. Lots going on. Toddlers on VERY little sleep. Up before 5:30am on a Saturday. Momma chasing kiddos and commanding a garage sale (with little to no wine). Being polite and trying to negotiate with someone trying to screw you out of another $.25. Toting a 2, 4 & 5 year old up town to a festival street lined with thousands of people in the noon-day sun, while dressed for late fall weather. Up early again on Sunday to make it to church to continue to set a good example for our children. Rushing a crying 2 year old to the cry room to heal the wounds from her fall from the pew. Playing games in the back the church yard, and hauling home all the pieces to the take-out turkey dinners. Feeding the calves and watering the hogs -- in the pitch black of the barn.  It was ROUGH.

Jason was gone on a fishing trip, and although it was my idea that this was the weekend he goes, looking back -- another weekend might have been better. He left Friday afternoon and we filled our time Friday and Saturday by garage sale-ing and checking out the annual Apple Popcorn Festival. Sunday was the annual Sacred Heart Turkey Dinner.

Aunt Jess opened her home to us and some of the aunts to put a few things on a garage sale, and $620 later I'd say we had a successful 15 hours!

Grandma Pat - babysitter, cash taker, bagger and most importantly, greeter! :)

The crowd flocked to us Friday before we could even get the tables set, and were right back at it on Saturday morning. Talk about serious garage sale goers! However, chasing kids, keeping them off the busy streets, out of the toys for sale, counting change, and writing down who gets credit for what -- got a bit hectic! However, we managed, and even had some fun. The kids got to take a ranger ride or two with Aunt Debbie and Mom even got to walk the streets of the festival for a bit.

Colton & Meredith fished for a goody bag.

Em put the stickers and lip whistle to good use! :)

Compounding the chaos was the simple fact that although it was supposed to have been a treat for him to spend the night with Meredith, Colton getting up at 4:45am on Saturday (Sorry Aunt Jess!) and then fighting a nap that afternoon -- made for a tricky 4 year old! (While Aunt Jess was up all night with my boy-child, I was at home on a Friday evening, snuggling with my babygirl-child! Who got the sweet end of the deal there...

Rarely has this child fell asleep in my arms! :)

 Needless to say, come Saturday evening, we rolled up the cash we made, headed home and crashed before the sun went down.

Sunday we took to Remington to attend church with my parents (a ritual when Jason's away...I'm not yet brave enough to take them on my own!) and to attend the annual turkey dinner...one of my favorite "let's kick off fall" events! Since there was a lag time between the end of church/start of the turkey dinner - we headed to Uncle Trent's to spend some time. And, unbeknownst to him, he would then serve as my childcare aid at the Turkey Dinner! The kids loved the games...

Emmalyn vs. Football toss.

Amazing photography skills. Action shot of Colton photo-bombing Em's attempt to dunk the football.

 We survived that event, and even managed to keep Em asleep once arriving home. Colton didn't want to nap, but didn't open his eyes again for a good three hours. The kids both got great naps -- although, after the crazy weekend, I'd say they needed them.

Daddy arrived home about 4pm, and once we got Emmalyn to finally warm up to him, it was all about Daddy and giggles for the rest of the evening. The kids (and I) were happy to have Daddy back home. We had a wonderful evening, full of laughs. Here's some proof of the good evening we had...

 

The kids got this random little toy from Meredith's 5th Birthday pinata. They LOVE it. Jason convinced them putting it on their head would be fun. It might have actually hurt a little bit, but the anticipation was killer! :) Hence the giggles.

And then there's Em. Bless her heart, she's trying so hard to keep learning new words and she really is starting to repeat a lot. We've been singing the ABC song often, but it must not be sticking with her yet. Based on this video...her attention span is a bit short.