The weekend we TORE IT UP

Before I can write a weekend wrap-up post, I have to share two things.

First, glow-in-the-dark pacifiers are genius. GENIUS. I bought two a couple weeks ago and I am thankful for that tiny glow in the crib every night. And when Caleb is old enough to find his pacifier during the night, I think I’m going to be even more grateful.

Secondly, I found a dairy-free butter and you will have to pry it from my piano-strong fingers to take it away. I ate way too many everything bagels and sweet Hawaiian rolls this weekend, all slathered in faux-butter. Have I mentioned I’ve missed butter? Because I have. So much. Oh, I love you faux-butter.

Friday night started the weekend with a bang. Joe ran out to pick up Taco Bell and we watched “Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows” while playing Skip-Bo. (Joe is currently beating me 245 – 210. He doesn’t understand why I keep score when we continually play game after game but I just always need to know. I think the official diagnosis is commonly known as “competitive.”) I really love watching the Sherlock films, how they are filmed and edited but I need to be honest. During all two hours, I understood what was happening only about 29 percent of the time.

On Saturday morning, Joe took Madeline out while Caleb and I slept in. It was a very lazy, very ideal morning. When they came back, Madeline and I drank tea while I read books on her bed. We all played My Little Pony board game, Skip-Bo and Crazy 8’s. Then we headed over to my parent’s house because Joe and I had our first date night since Caleb was born. I had a hard time leaving my little guy but I was so excited to have an adult night.

So what did we do without kids? We watched a teen movie, of course.

The first time we left Madeline was to watch “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” This time, we watched “The Hunger Games.” I think these two “after baby” dates clearly epitomize my love for teen literature and my husband’s willingness to put my wants first.

When the movie was done, we checked in with my parents who told me, as nicely as they could, that my kids weren’t missing me at all and possibly may have even forgot about me.

So we decided to really live it up. We went crazy. Y’all, we decided to hit up the Sprint store and The Container Store. The only stop missing was a vegetable plate and cold custard cup from MCL. (And I’m only half joking. I love that meal.)

My phone has all kinds of issues so the Sprint people said the best thing to do was completely wipe and restart the phone, meaning I would lose all of my info, pictures and videos. In one moment, I knew my most precious things on my phone were my book list (of the books I've read so far in 2012), the list of names we went through for Caleb and this photo:

At The Container Store, we almost bought a trash can. We really need a trash can. We found one for exactly the same amount of money on our store credit card. But we didn't buy it, solely because we could not bring ourselves to buy a trash can on date night.

On Sunday, we went to the 11 a.m. service and were fashionably very late. Nothing reminds me more that I’m a parent to little one than missing the ENTIRE worship set. You know, the solid 30 minutes before the sermon. 

Because Caleb can be a little diva at times, we mainly attend church by watching the service on the TV in the coffee shop. (What, isn’t your church is set-up like an airport?) Anyways, we sat with Joe’s cousin and wife, Josh and Erin. They like the coffee shop church experience because Erin is currently 41 weeks pregnant and finds it’s much more comfortable to sit there than in the sanctuary. (And when I say “much more comfortable,” I think we all know she's incapable of remembering the pure definition of comfortable at this point.)

Then we all went to Cracker Barrel after church. I was really excited but only slightly (read: terribly) bummed to realize I couldn’t eat anything on the menu. No pancakes. No biscuits. No gravy. Not even corn or green beans. I asked the waitress if any of the sides didn’t already have butter in them. Joe later asked why I actually asked if CRACKER BARREL didn't have BUTTER in their SIDE DISHES. I know.

I ordered a pork BBQ sandwich which was just OK. However, Joe ordered the meal of my dreams: chicken fried chicken with gravy, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, dumplings and biscuits.

There's a strong possibility that I will eat that meal the minute Caleb is weaned. That meal will live on in my dreams.

After our long lunch, we headed to Madeline's preschool for a spaghetti dinner and art show.

Clearly it was a fundraising event because we had the option of buying our child's art. Um, could anyone leave their child's art up on the art? No way. But it was money very well spent, despite the fact that I have approximately 382 paintings around my house right now.

Madeline loves, LOVES her teacher. I'm so very thankful her first experience with school has been so positive and all of that credit goes to this lady.

Then we came home for Sunday movie night and we watched "The Apple Dumpling Gang." Madeline loved it. I was trying to figure out why I loved it so much as a kid.

Then we put the kids to bed and watched "The Amazing Race" and ate carnitas. (I don't know why I feel compelled to tell you guys about every morsel I ate. I apologize. But I won't stop.)

I wanted to eat an entire pint of ice cream but controlled myself and went to bed, thinking about how I need to get back to The Container Store to buy that trash can. Awesome.