Family Fun Time

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed my weekend so much. We took the kids bowling Saturday night and it was fun. The kind of fun that makes my heart sing and puts all of us in silly moods. We were all also very tired, and everyone was in bed and falling asleep by 9:30 p.m. that night.

I encouraged my not-quite-ready-for-bed son that at his new age of 11 years old, it was quite alright to sneak his Nintendo DS into bed with him for a secretive game or two without, wink-wink, Mummy's knowledge that he was doing so. Of course, I also asked him to shut it down by 9:45 p.m....and you know what? HE DID.

On Sunday morning, my daughter helped me make very healthy banana-carrot muffins for breakfast. (These muffins had whole wheat flour, ground flax, wheat germ, and honey instead of sugar! Despite this, we did not spend the rest of the day visiting the bathroom...) I started the chili in the slow cooker, then hubby and I had a heart-to-heart about a couple of things while the kids were chasing each other and screaming with laughter. We went for a short drive, came home, made lunch, and hubby left to pick up daughter's new mattress and boxspring. In theory, daughter went down for a nap, the scrapbooking supplies were spread out over the dining room table and my son and I tried to settle in for an hour of crafts. You may see where this particular story is heading...daughter would not nap, and I finally gave up trying to get her to stay in bed. Scrapbook stuff was put away and I took the kids for an hour long bike ride, which included a stop at the brand new park in our very small town.

Back home, it was time for laundry, checking on the chili which at this point smelled quite delicious, putting daughter's bed together, pass the vacuum while the kids were back to chasing each other around the house screaming, make some Johnnie cake (cornbread...but my parents always called it Johnnie-cake. Why? Who was Johnnie? What was so special about him he had his own cake, which isn't really cake, but bread? Sort of. So many questions. So few answers.) Then, I was ready to fall down, exhausted.

As I did so, I made a wish for a fairy godmother who would do most of the cooking, all of the cleaning and laundry and make me a good stiff drink.

Instead, I found one very cold bottle of Mike's Hard Cranberry-Lemonade buried at the back of the refrigerator. And a hubby who gave me a quick lower back rub.

Blessings come in all shapes and sizes and my weekend was full of them.