wonderful weekend

God truly blessed us with a restful, fun weekend. Grace was up sick throughout the night Thursday, (which I originally thought was stomach flu, but later on none of us got it, and she didn't have a fever and bounced back really quickly, so maybe she just ate something that didn't agree with her), and I woke up with a bad cold, so I was so beat. We camped out on the couch for most of the day, reading books and looking at Better Homes and Gardens together. My sister and her baby even came by with popsicles and saltines for Gracie!

Brett picked up Stella from school in the afternoon and was home early, which was so helpful. He took Stella to a fundraiser at her school that evening, so Grace and I could take it easy at home. It was almost miraculous how much better we felt the next morning. I can't explain it, but my cold went completely away, and I know my mom and mother-in-law were praying for us, so maybe that was the reason. I was totally fearing that our weekend would be completely shot, but it was totally redeemed. We stayed home pretty much all day Saturday just hanging out on our deck! I finished a book and the girls played really well together, which was another answer to prayer, because they haven't been getting along the greatest. We enjoyed a bonfire that evening, and we roasted hotdogs and, later on, s'mores. My parents and Susie came over that evening to visit, too, and the girls had a blast brushing Susie's hair. They were really getting into it!

Stella with Hello Kitty facepainting at the school fundraiser; she also competed a challenging obstacle course. Go Stellie!

Ambushing Dad with their princess dolls

Making a goofy face 

After church on Sunday, while the girls played in the backyard, Brett and I chopped lots of vegetables for a delicious skirt steak stir fry. We've made this recipe one other time, and it's really flavorful and good. I found it in the cookbook, Practical Paleo. After lunch, I folded a mountain of laundry and vacuumed the whole house. The girls continued their playing nicely together streak and, before we knew it, our babysitter had arrived so that we could meet some friends, Erin and Chris, for dinner at 112 Eatery. Brett and I had so much fun dining with my friend (from high school) and her husband. It was one of those nights that we could easily have talked for another couple hours had it not been a Sunday night and needing to get back home and preparing for the week. We shared four different sides/appetizers to begin, shared a great bottle of wine, enjoyed our entrees, and even ordered dessert. Eating that well on a Sunday night felt borderline scandalous (lol!). It sure helped beat the Sunday night blues!

They tried to recreate the fun moment from the previous night brushing Susie's hair with Brett, but it just wasn't the same. They did ask him to draw what he wanted his hair to look like, and they followed through with his picture pretty well!

Today Stella had her first day off from school for a staff development day. She and I walked Grace into her preschool classroom today, and so she got to meet Gracie's teacher and a few of her friends. Stella then got her hair cut at Kids' Hair, and then we picked out some fun crafts from Michael's to do together. If you know me, I'm not a big crafts person, but we found some that weren't too involved or complicated. We bought some glow-in-the-dark beads for making necklaces and a little wooden cut-out of a doll that each girl could color. We also bought glow sticks just for fun and some autumn-themed stickers for decorating cards for people. She got to pick out a cute pom pom skirt at Target along with a few groceries. After picking up Grace and eating lunch, they started on their crafts, and now we are watching the beloved (in this house at least) Curious George's Halloween Boo Fest. We plan on going to the park before dinner.

I have so loved having Stella at home today, and will feel sad when she returns to school tomorrow. I am looking forward to soaking up more time with her when she has fall break in a couple weeks. It was so lovely being the 3 of us again, just like in the summer and in her preschool-aged stage not so long ago.

They were craving macaroni and cheese from Noodles. Man, these kids love that restaurant. I'm not really a fan, but since it was Stella's day off, I thought oh why not?

Gracie's sunflower craft from preschool

Coloring their cutout dolls