Letters to Jack & Audrey: Weekend

Jack,

This past weekend has been such a relief for all of us. Daddy missed us and has been having so much fun playing with you. You needed a little break from Mommy and all my "rules".

Having Daddy around has allowed me to feel a little less "in charge" and I've relaxed quite a bit so we all have had a great weekend.

When I picked you up from school on Friday, there was a snow cone car there giving snow cones to all the kids at your daycare. You said "I NO SNOWCONE" with both hands held out from your shoulders like you were asking a question, so we got in line. You chose pink as the snowcone you wanted, so we got Watermelon and sat on the bench to eat it with the big kids.

Despite what the pictures show, I think you actually liked the snowcone!

But snowcone=different and different=change which = Mommy-you-eat-it! Hey - I do what I can!

Friday night I took you to the Magic House to play for a little while. They have an outdoor sand castle exhibit which is confusing to little ones.

They have a huge castle under a tarp that is being worked on regularly and looks fantastic. You couldn't understand why you couldn't "help" with the construction of the big castle.

We shoveled sand for a little while but then it was just easier to play inside.

We hit all our favorite areas and headed home when the Magic House closed.

You shopped in the market like you love to do,

There is a cute setup with the phones where kids can call each other from the library or house or restaurant or market and talk.

You were excited to pick up the phone every time it rang, but you wouldn't say anything. You just listened for a minute and slammed the phone down. Maybe we'll hold off on you answering the home phone for awhile longer....

Did you know that kids can play while they are sleeping?

I should have taken note of the spaced-out expression on your face and taken you home.

But, alas, hindsite is 20/20 and I didn't.

So the naughty face started to show up frequently.

The big eyes and barely hidden smile you get on your face when you are about to do something you know that you shouldn't.

Turns out the toddler slide which is purposefully slower for you is starting to be too young for you.

It took you forever to come down the slide and, when you did, you decided it was MUCH more fun to run back up it.

Yes, you are graduating some older areas now.

You surprised me with how good you were at sorting these shapes.

It's the first time I've seen you play in this area and you did very well!

Also, you had fun hanging colored rubberbands,

but you didn't know how to stretch them out on the board

and I didn't teach you for fear that one would snap back in your face and the world would come to an abrupt hault.

Yesterday, your Daddy and I planned to take you to the City Museum after naptime, but by then they were only going to be open for another hour or so, so we all went to the Magic House again for more fun!

You and Daddy had a lot of fun playing with some of the exhibits together.

And YES, these are pictures from a different day and I am well aware that the fact that you are wearing the SAME CLOTHES puts me in the running for the most pathetic Mommy in the world award, but it is what it is.

We all had fun playing with the balls, but I was the one snapping pictures, so you'll simply have to take my word for this! :)

In some cases, less is more - and that is true here. I'll let the pictures of the day with Daddy speak for themselves:

In the "House" area, Daddy messed with you by picking up a line and dialing the house phone and then putting that line on hold so the phone would ring just so he could watch you run over to answer it.

Maybe this story loses something in the translation, but your Daddy and I found this hilarious. Maybe it was the 495,000 times that you fell for it that made is so wonderfully humorous and tempting to continue repeating.

This morning, we found out that Lisa is in labor and you will likely have a new cousin born today! How exciting!

We went outside where you displayed signs of your Uncle Brett by mowing the lawn.

I wonder if Brett taught you it was okay to mow the lawn in your underwear....

Hmmmmm....

(By the way - I've been DYING to post this picture of Brett mowing the lawn in the pouring rain when they used to live next door.

This seems like the PERFECT TIME!)

We discussed the new baby that was coming and you offered many sights like "I HEAR IT!" (talking about a passing plane in the middle of our discussion)