Weekend Recap

In spite of the cold and wind and wet, we had a great weekend. 

My weekend always starts a little early since I don't work on Fridays.  This Friday also kicked off my "Spring Break."  Ava Grace extra-likes Fridays... especially when Lily is home, like this weekend!  The picture above is Ava Grace after her morning nap.  Love the hair.

Chris and I started this past week trying to eat a little better.  You know... the usual spring time urge to tone up a little before warmer weather and the season of less fabric and more skin kicks in!  In my efforts to do a little better I decided to try to make a fruit smoothie.  It was a HUGE success!  I used my new fancy schmancy food processor that my MIL got me for Christmas.  LOVE.  (her and the food processor, lol).  So I made a yogurt-banana-berry smoothie.  It was delicious.  And healthy.  Win-Win.  I also think this will be a great breakfast option for Lily and Ava Grace!

I decided Ava Grace needed something fun and new to explore on Friday.  Earlier in the week we had experimented with homemade play dough.  Friday we tried pipe cleaners (which I already knew she loved) in an oatmeal can that had holes cut out of the lid.

It was (of course) a hit.  We had those fuzzy sticks everywhere.  We took them out and put them in and took them out again.  over. and over.  It was fun.  I love watching Ava Grace explore new things.

Friday afternoon Ava Grace went across the street to play a while and I went to get Lily plus two!  I picked up Lily and her two bests Maggie and Chloe and brought them home for a long awaited sleep over!  The girls had big plans!  They had already made lists of what they were going to do, what they wanted to eat... they had it all planned out!  For after school snack it was veggie fries, gold fish, and teddy grahams.  For dinner, macaroni was requested (specifically Velveeta Shells 'n Cheese).  I added Cheddar Chicken and Green beans to round out the meal.  I was excited when all three girls requested second helpings of the chicken!  After dinner we make these...

Peanut Butter Brookies!

Named by Lily, these little gems are to die for!

A layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, a center of Reece's Peanut-butter Cup, and then a top layer of fudge brownies!  

They totally knocked the socks of Chloe and Maggie!  I think Chloe said, "It's all my favorite things in one!"  My heart smiled and we ate chocolate together with lots of giggles and grins.  There is something magical about cooking together.  I love my kitchen full of little girls!

After dessert the girls resumed their games upstairs.  They had been playing school and then they worked on a play.  Lily got a little puppet theater from our friend Anne and it had 6 different sets of scripts in it!  Chris and I got to go upstairs for an 11 PM showing of a wonderful play about Tennessee.  Then, we headed down stairs for some midnight tie-dying!  I didn't get any actions shots because I was helping, but above is the table after we were done and below is...

...the finished products!  The shirts turned out so good!!  (The picture is from Maggie's mom, taken Saturday).  I don't know how late the girls stayed up, but they outlasted Chris and I!  They fell asleep at some point in the wee hours of the morning and then slept until I woke them at 10:30 to eat breakfast, clean up, and head out!  Chris took them to meet their moms and have ice cream at Chaney's Dairy Barn.

When Chris left with the girls, I left with Ava Grace!  We headed in the opposite direction to meet Megan and Lauren in Lebanon for some lunch and outlet mall shopping!  We had So. Much. Fun.  It was the highlight of my weekend for sure!  Ava Grace was really well behaved considering it was a lot of stroller riding and adult conversation.  We had a great time and, because we are all awesome mommies, every single  shopping bag between the three of us were filled with clothing and accessories for our yougins.  Not a darn thing for ourselves.  We only went in the kid stores - lol!  We found great deals though, and decided to make that trip a recurring one - every time the season changes and the kids need a new wardrobe!

I don't have pictures from Sunday, but we decided to skip church and stay in out of the chilly wind for a lazy morning together.  Then we had a late afternoon visit with Chris' family for Char's birthday.  

It was a great weekend.  Now, I am doing the snow dance hoping our weekend gets an extension.  I sure would love for Chris and Lily to get to stay home tomorrow with Ava Grace and I!!!