Long Weekend Recap

This past weekend was a long weekend. Long weekends are the best - especially when daycare is open on our day off! I used to keep Paul home on my days off, but now that he's older and harder to entertain, we send him to school. We had 2 full days at home and weren't able to be outside much due to the weather so it made sense to send him to school so he'd have more fun and entertainment! Here is how we filled our weekend!

Friday brought a decent amount of snow - about 6". They were predicting up to a foot so I am glad we didn't end up with that much. I was able to convince Paul to wear his hat that morning as it was pretty cold. This kid absolutely hates wearing his hat and mittens! Friday night was very low key. I wasn't feeling great as my cold was still bothering me, so we watched one episode of The Crown and I went to bed early.

Paul was up early on Saturday morning. When I was getting his breakfast ready he kept saying "news, news, news" over and over so I pulled him into the living room and he watched the CBS morning show while eating his breakfast. We've got a Benjamin Button situation or something because he is also obsessed with Wheel of Fortune! I know you are supposed to limit tv for kids but I feel ok with him watching some tv, especially when it's educational, like Wheel is (he recognizes letters so will shout out letters).

After breakfast, he kept bringing me books to read. We had quite a pile to get through!

Swimming lessons weren't canceled but the roads around us weren't all plowed so we decided to stay home. I did all the shoveling in the front and back areas that we can't get to with the snow blower. We have a lot of steps in the front and back since we are on a hill, so there is quite a bit to shovel by hand. It was a good workout.

Then I took Paul out for a sled ride.

Other things that filled our day include playing in the basement.

When you are a toddler, anything can be a toy.

Before nap time, I hung the prints I had purchased off Etsy for Paul's bedroom. He's almost 2 and finally has artwork in his room. I know some moms are super into decorating a nursery, but it's not my thing. Nursery decorations are totally a "you do you" decision. I know it's often part of the nesting phase for the mom but in our previous home, we knew we'd eventually be moving so I didn't put any effort into decorating his room. I personally think decorating a nursery is totally for the mom. Paul is oblivious to decorations, especially when he was younger. But now that he['s a bit older and we know what he likes, I decided to buy some book-themed prints. I got 6 prints for $7.50. I just had to print them on my own, which I did at Fedex so the print quality would be better. I got the frames from Target. So the total money spent on his bedroom decor is $37.50. Not bad!  It's nice to have some colorful prints on his wall. Paul likes them, too, and talks about the animals when I'm changing his diaper or getting him ready for bed.

On Saturday night, we had friends over for cards. We hadn't seen them since October so were overdue for a card night (we try to do them monthly). We had a fun time catching up!

On Sunday morning, Phil's high school friends came over for a celebratory brunch for Phil's best man. He got married this fall and had his wedding reception in late December. We decided to have a post-wedding brunch to continue the celebration for him and his partner. There were 10 adults and 5 kids at the brunch so our house was packed! Our house is larger but it was still pretty chaotic to have that many people over at a time when you can't escape outside! Paul had fun playing with a little girl who is about 5 months younger than him.

After our guests left, Phil headed to his mom's to bring her groceries and help with some things around the house. She had knee surgery 2 weeks ago and the recovery has been pretty challenging. We are hoping the knee surgery improves her quality of life as it was very painful for her to walk before the surgery.

Sunday night was very low key. We watched the final episode of season 4 of The Crown. I hope season 5 comes out sooner than season 4 did. We love that show and find it so fascinating.

On Monday morning Paul gave us the very best gift of sleeping in past 7. I can not tell you the last time this happened. It's been many months. We have quite the little lark on our hands! I guess he was awake before 7 but I had my ear plugs in and couldn't hear him so he wasn't crying much/loud as I usually hear him. I felt like a new woman after getting almost 9 hours of sleep (7.5 is a great night for me since becoming a mom).

Phil took Paul to daycare and I treated the day as a "shouldless day." In the morning, I stayed in my pjs, read blogs, and read my book.

My cozy reading spot!

We had planned to do a day date lunch, but Phil's cousin, who is a contractor, was able to come over and look at our leaking shower and a few other projects, so I decided to go to a matinee showing of "Just Mercy" so I would be out of their way. The movie was great! I hadn't been to a movie in over 2 years and wow, theaters have improved since then! I loved the cozy reclining seat!

After the movie, I came home and headed out for a 45 minutes walk. It was around 15F but it was sunny outside so it felt really nice. When I was on my walk, I realized I was pretty much wearing purple from head to toe, excluding my hat! I don't even really love purple so I don't know how I ended up with so much purple stuff!

When I got back from my walk, Phil headed out to pick up Paul from daycare and I got started on an Indian chicken and potato stew dish. It's a time-consuming dish as it has to cook for over 2 hours total, but there isn't much active time so it's not hard to make. It was delicious! I hadn't made it in a long time since it requires being around for several hours to monitor it, but I'll definitely be making it again this winter. Next time, I think I will try to modify the recipe for the instant pot - I should be able to cut the cooking time in half.

After Paul went to bed, Phil and I started season 3 of the Americans. I headed to bed at 8, finished the book I was reading, and my lights were out by 9:30. Monday was absolute perfection!

Side note: Phil and his cousin thought they had figured out the source of the shower leak... but it was leaking again this morning. Ugh! Hopefully they can figure something else out so we don't have to demo the shower. If we have to do that, I'm lobbying for a full bathroom remodel because I feel like it's a waste of money to re-tile a shower when we aren't thrilled with the set up. We have a small standing shower and a huge soaking tub, which we will never use (neither of us are bath people). I'd rather get rid of the soaking tub, put in a bigger standing shower, and a traditional vanity with cupboards underneath (we have pedestal sinks which I personally hate because there is no storage). I'm still hoping they can figure out the cause of the leak as we'd rather remodel the bathroom down the road when we are in a recession and contractors/remodelers are less busy/more responsive!

How was your weekend? Did you have yesterday off?