A Typical Saturday

This morning the kids slept in until 8:45, which was pretty damn heavenly. I got to shower and drink a cup of coffee in peace. When has that ever happened in the last four and a half years? I got them dressed and we three headed over to "Breakfast with Santa" (different Santa than was at yesterday's "Lunch with Santa," but neither noticed). We visited with lots of moms and kids we knew and had a pretty nice time. We aborted the post office errand when we saw that the line was out the door, but that was only after an AC tantrum and much gymnastic strapping of two packages into AC's stroller. D rescued us in the parking lot and took over the wait.

Once home, the kids played rather nicely till lunch. After that, I set to raking our front yard. Several hours and eleven bags of wet plant life later, I am the worse for wear. Everything still hurts. But now our lawn won't die and our neighborhood association president won't ring our doorbell. Good thing you can't see our backyard from the street...

Although I desperately wanted someone else to cook dinner for us, the boy's volatile mood ruined our chances at having a pleasant dinner out at the Chinese buffet. Not worth the potential meltdown. So, I made a variation of my breakfast-for-dinner smorgasbord. Tonight it was potato pancakes, toast, scrambled cheese eggs, pineapple and oranges, and cauliflower (hey--the kids will eat it).

D bathed them while I ran out for his dad's Christmas present, then I gave myself a treat and sat in AC's room with tea and a book until they were done. Trimmed twenty little toenails and twenty little fingernails, and both of us parents found the kids unusually easy to put to bed tonight. Soooo...

With my newfound leisure, I made mock-toffee bars. Shoot me now. Anyhoo, I'm typing this while they cool, and after I publish this post, I'll clean off the dining table of its gift wrapping mess, and transform it into scrapbook and Christmas card central. After I get that organized, D and I plan to kick back with a beer, some toffee, and a DVD. Probably the first hour of The Starter Wife.

Last night (this morning, actually), I ended up going to bed at 1:30 after packing all the Christmas boxes to mail. Oddly, though, I didn't feel so tired today.