Monday, Monday

We just had a terrific weekend, I'd like to propose that 3-day weekends be the rule, not the exception.  So restorative for the soul.

Friday, after I worked half a day, I took J&J to see Jack & Jill.  Do. Not. Bother.  Wow!  Seriously bad movie.  Thankfully, about halfway through it, the fog cleared and I realized Jacob wasn't enjoying it, Julianna wasn't enjoying it, I certainly wasn't enjoying it, what were we doing there?  I asked Jacob and Julianna if they wanted to leave, they did, so we did.  It didn't feel good to waste the time and money on a bad movie, but it did feel good to make a better choice.  Jacob had had an appt. Friday morning, we went to lunch, left the movie, and hit the library.  We were all looking forward to having Matt & Lil spend the night Friday night, but unfortunately, Lily got sick at the last minute.  We were sad, but able to turn it into a good 'make the best of things' learning situation and we headed out to a local outdoor mall and window shopped and had dinner.  We had a lovely time and the kids learned that even when plans go astray, things can still work out in a good way.  An important lesson for us all.

Saturday, Lily was still sick.  Jason generously offered to still babysit Jacob and Julianna so we could keep our plans to go see the show Rebekah was directing, but we decided instead to all go see Rebekah.  We had such a great time.  She's a terrific kid.  Instead of doing the same-old, same-old on our trips to Athens, we decided to head to W Va, and see where we could find to go to lunch there.  Even with a wrong turn and going 60 miles out of our way, we had a fabulous time.  I love our family.  It's hard to believe the quarter's almost over and she'll be home in a week!

Sunday brought Sunday School and program practice and way too many errands.  Julianna also had her first 3 1/2 hour Nutcracker rehearsal.  Looong day for her, that's for sure!  It's funny how if I laid out the day for you, two trips to a toy store, a trip to a Teacher store, a trip to an Art & Education store, 2 different grocery stores, a trip to a specialty store, stop at Panera, out for "dunch", a Cub Scout committee meeting and an oil change, the day would probably sound tedious and long.  Fortunately, we all had fun and it was just, well, good.  It's funny to me what a difference the iPhone makes.  Jacob had to go with me to one of the grocery stores last night and to pick up Julianna.  That could have been no fun at all for him, instead, he had a ball, listening to all kinds of songs, he even had quite a conversation with the man at the meat counter over the awesomeness of American Pie.  When he woke up this morning he told me how much fun he had last night listening to all the different music.  My iPhone works its way into our lives more and more every day.

If you're local, check out Piada.  Yesterday we were looking for something reasonably priced, quick, different, and good.  Fortunately, Piada met every criteria.  It's from the founders of Chipotle, and it is to italian "street food" what Chipotle is to mexican food.  You choose from pasta, a wrap, or a salad.  Then, you go down the line and choose your protein, sauce/dressing, veggie add-ons, etc.  Jacob had pasta with Alfredo, artichokes, and crispy chicken (think Parmesan).  He liked it, though the Alfredo was too rich for as much as they had on it.  Julianna, much less adventuresome, had pasta with Pomodoro sauce (deemed too "spicy" though I did not notice that), grilled chicken, and stole a lot of Mark's zucchini and yellow squash.  I had a wrap with angel hair in it (I know!  I couldn't imagine it either, but the girl at the counter recommended it and it was really good), the pomodoro sauce from Julianna's pasta that was too much for her, creamy parmesan dressing, steak, feta, mozzarella and parmesan, spinach, artichokes, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, mushrooms--are you hearing this?  Plenty of fresh veggies, where else do you get at a fast food restaurant?  We all enjoyed it.  Best of all, the bill for the four of us, even with getting a couple of breadsticks for those who wanted them, to share, was under $24.00.  We'll definitely be going back.

Well, that's the wrap up.  I've got a lot percolating in my head I'm hoping to post in the next week or so.  I hope you had a good weekend too.  As I sad, weekends are definitely restorative to my soul and I'm very aware what a blessing that is.