Vacationing at home

I love living in North Carolina! Our friend Claire came to see us Friday through Tuesday. There is nobody better to relax with than Claire. We went out to eat sans the kids on Friday afternoon. On Saturday we went to the beach while Dave stayed with the kids. He even took the kids to the museum by himself! Meanwhile we stopped at the outlet mall on the way to the beach. The deals were amazing. The beach was gorgeous, of course. It got a little windy and chilly, but a beautiful day overall. On Sunday we went to church and went to the spa for the entire afternoon. I love the spa. It makes me really happy. Then we had dinner out. Again. Without the kids. The whole weekend was totally like a vacation for me. The kids loved their time with Dave. I loved my time as a grown-up, having grown-up conversations, and doing grown-up things. This weekend I get to watch the kids while Dave watches the football draft and does loads of homework. I think I got the better end of the deal!

Lucy got her class pictures back yesterday. So cute. She's almost smiling. I put the picture in a frame and then put it in her room. Bad idea. She wanted to hold the actual picture and didn't want to have anything to do with the frame. I explained to her multiple times that the frame protects the picture, but she couldn't understand my reasoning. It bothered her so much that she went in her room, saw the picture in the frame, started wailing, and ran out. She went back in, brought me the picture, and said, "You take it Mommy!" Dave managed to get her to realize tonight, 24 hours later, that the frame is okay, and isn't hurting anything. Two weeks ago I got a family picture to put in a frame in Gus' room. She really wanted that picture in her room, not Gus'. So I caved and replaced it. When Dave was reasoning with her about the school picture, she said she just wanted the picture of Mommy, Daddy, and Wucy back in her room. So, we switched the pictures all around. She seems to like it now. She is ALL girl.

We knew Gus had an open-door policy (if a door is open, he must run to it, and go through it, as quickly as possible), but we didn't realize how serious it was until this past weekend. For some reason, we noticed it more when Claire was here. No joke, the boy will be playing quietly in the family room and hear the dining room, kitchen, pantry, or basement door open, drop everything and run to the open door. It really is a skill at this point. He does it our neighbors house and at my mom's house, too. He's quirky like that.