Redemption

So with as BAD as our vacation was (which you can read about here if you haven't already), I was not expecting last weekend to be any better. I was juuuuuust getting to the point where I could hear Tessa whine without wanting to cry and hide myself in a closet when I started putting our weekend schedule together and realizing it was set to be a VERY busy weekend.

Saturday was an anniversary party for Nick's aunt and uncle. It was in west Wichita from 1pm to 3pm. Then we had his company picnic at The Alley (on Greenwich and 13th) from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Not a huge deal except that interrupted their usual afternoon nap time. But then Brooke and Michael asked if they could keep them Friday night. And while I was VERY grateful for the offer and readily accepted it, I was thinking to myself that they're usually a little grumpy after staying at someone else's house--just because the schedule is always a little different and it's "no fun" when they have to come back with stinky ole Mom and Dad.

Then on Sunday, we were going to try a new church and were going to put them in the nursery and had decided to LEAVE them in the nursery NO MATTER WHAT. After church, I had a baby shower to go to  from 3-6pm.

And on top of all of this, poor Nick has been working 3rd shift and was having to adjust his sleep schedule over the weekend so he could be awake for everything!

So on Saturday morning, I got up and went garage sale-ing (thinking that would be my only hour of pleasure for the rest of the weekend) before I went to get the kids from their aunt and uncle. I headed over there after finding nothing but 2 pairs of leggings for Tessa at the last sale I went to. They were surprisingly chipper and weren't overly disappointed to see me! We got everything gathered and headed home so we could get ready for the anniversary party. There was no fussing, no whining. They sat down and ate lunch (willingly) and Nick and I both had time to shower and get ready. We loaded up and headed to west Wichita. The whole time I was holding my breath, just waiting for one of them to have a melt down. Didn't happen. Tommy actually fell asleep on the way there. We showed up a little earlier than the rest of his family, so we drove around a bit and I got to go to a few more garage sales. Score! I found quite a few things for Tommy. We went back to the party and went in. I was dreading getting Tommy out of the car because he is usually SUPER grumpy when he wakes up too early from naps. But not that day. He was shy and quiet, but not grumpy. And after a cookie or two, he perked up and ran laps around the basement with his cousins and had all kinds of fun! Tessa was great and smiley and happy and let someone besides me hold her!

I was just waiting for the bottom to fall out. As we left the anniversary party about 30 minutes later than planned, I was ready with a pacifier and sippy cup to shove into the appropriate mouth  while we were getting in the car. Didn't need them. Not a tear in sight. Tommy had gotten $1 from grandma for going potty on the big boy potty, so we let him spend that at the gas station. We got Tessa a cheese stick and Tommy chose Rolos and we were off to our next destination.

Nick's company picnic was inside this year (thank you Jesus!). We went to the Alley where they have bowling, laser tag, go-karts and the arcade. We went to the go-karts and were told Tommy wasn't big enough. He was super bummed when I told him we couldn't ride them and he kept saying, "But dhy (why), Mommy? DHY?!?" I tried to explain he wasn't big enough but he kept saying, "Me IS dig (big). Sissy is little. Me is DIG!" I aaallllmost thought that was going to be the fit I was waiting for, but he finally stopped asking and moved onto bowling!

He loved every second of it. He kept trying to pick up all the balls and he would carry it over to the ramp we got for him and he would push it as hard as he could. He did really good, too!

Him and Daddy were quite the bowling team........although his score ended up being higher than BOTH of ours. Using his ramp, he got a spare AND a strike in the last frame!

Mildly embarrassing to be beaten by your 2 year old in bowling.

After bowling and pizza, we went to the arcade. They were in heaven. All the lights, the music....everything was SO exciting to them! We played the game where you scoop up candy and drop it somewhere, which hopefully pushes candy off the ledge of a shelf and into your hands. Nick succeeded. I did not. The kids were in love.

 Nick taught Tommy how to cheat at Ski ball....

Quality parenting right there, honey!

We decided to head out around 6:45pm and just as we were walking out, it started raining. The kids did great for the whole ride and when we got home, the cool rain felt so good that they played in it and Nick and I sat in the garage and enjoyed the cool breeze.

We were all pooped by the end of the day, but Nick and I decided to go ahead and start letting Tessa cry it out at bed time. I'd been laying down with her at night, which wasn't a problem and I actually enjoyed our time together until she started getting to where she would drink her milk and then want to get up and play instead of going to sleep. I was beginning to be a lot of work and a very long process. So we gave her some milk and let her watch a little Mickey Mouse and then we put her in the crib and let her cry. Heartbreaking. It doesn't really get much easier the second time around. But it only took about 10 minutes of off-and-on crying and she was sound asleep!

I fell into bed exhausted but SO happy that our crazy kids had redeemed themselves from our Table Rock "vacation."

I'll wrap this up and post more about Sunday tomorrow.........