Weekend Review

                                     

Another weekend is over, and that leaves only two more weekends before Christmas.  It was an extremely busy weekend, but I had a lot of fun.  I can also now enjoy my next two weekends doing Christmassy things because I'm finally finished with my college classes until January.  Woo HOO!!

On Saturday, I spent the entire day at a wrestling competition with Butter.  Well, that's not exactly true. For the first two hours, before the tournament got started, I went shopping.  I got another load of Christmas shopping done, and I'm just about done.  I have a few more things to pick up to even out the present count and then I'll be ready to start wrapping it all.

Isn't that a cute picture of Jelly up top?  I absolutely LOVE that photo.  I took it yesterday, and it's one of the few photos I have of Jelly where she's genuinely smiling.  Usually it's hard to get her to take photos where she has an actual smile on her face and not a forced smile, but there's a reason she's got such a beautiful smile in this photo and that's because of the girl standing next to her.

The girl with her in the photo is her cousin, and I'll give her the pseudo name "Marmalade".  I don't like using the actual names of the kiddos I blog about, and I think that Marmalade is a perfect compliment to go right along with Jelly.  Marmalade is the daughter of Kyle and Melonie, Peanut's aunt and uncle.  Of course, now they aren't only Peanut's aunt and uncle, they are now also Butter and Jelly's aunt and uncle too.  My kids absolutely ADORE them, and as you can see by the look on Jelly's face, those feelings also extend to their daughter.

Yesterday, I wanted to do something special for Jelly's birthday.  Being that I was at a wrestling tournament all day on Saturday, I wasn't able to do much.  I had asked Jelly what she wanted to do earlier in the week, and she had only one request:  She wanted to see Marmalade.  So, I made some arrangements with Kyle, and we set up a trip to Fun City.

I didn't tell Jelly where we were taking her yesterday.  We loaded up in the car, and made the drive.  I was shocked, but Hubby even came with us. He's not usually in to stuff like we were doing, but I was so happy that he was willing to spend the afternoon with us.  Anyways, as we were making the drive, Jelly was asking a bazillion questions about where we were going.  She's definitely not like me when it comes to surprises.  I love them, and if I know I'm going to be getting a surprise, I soak up the excitement until it's revealed.  Not Jelly.  It drove her stir crazy not knowing what was going on.  When we finally pulled in to the parking lot, she told me the place look familiar.  Then, the realization hit her and she yelled out loud that it was the place she'd come for Marmalade's birthday party, and her excitement level went through the roof.  The minute she saw Marmalade waiting for her inside, they gave each other a big hug and they were off enjoying the fun that Fun City has to offer.

For two hours, the kids played games.  OK, so the adults also spent two hours playing games, and we had a great time.  Hubby took Jelly and Marmalade to play a round of mini golf, Kyle and Melonie played some games with Peanut and Butter, and I tried to win as many tickets as I could for Jelly so she could pick out some fun prizes.  The kids had a total blast, and it made me so happy that my kids have such an amazing aunt and uncle.  I can't say enough good things about Kyle and Melonie.  Not a single second have they ever treated Butter or Jelly any different to Peanut, and it speaks volumes as to the kind of people that they are.  Jelly refers to Marmalade as her "bestest" cousin and Butter has really taken a liking to Kyle because Kyle has promised to take him hunting and talks to Butter about the stuff that Butter is in to - like fishing and hunting.  Peanut loves talking to Melonie about stuff that's going on in Peanut's life, and I love that they have a relationship like that.  She also loves spending time with her uncle, and she really enjoys his company.

When we got home, I sat at my computer and finished up the last assignment for my Ed. Tech class.  I wanted to get it over and done with so that I can spend the next two weeks enjoying the countdown to Christmas.  I also got the grades entered that needed to be entered and wrote my lesson plans.  It was after 8PM by the time I was finished with it all, but I was happy knowing that the next two weekends I can do Christmassy stuff like watch movies and bake.  

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm just sad that it's over already.  But, after the amazing week I had at school last week, I'm ready to get back to it today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Christmas bug hasn't bitten my kiddos just yet.  I'm expecting another awesome week of school.  

I better get to getting ready...

Have a great Monday, everyone!