A Valentine-y Weekend

This weekend marked my first days in the 5:00 AM Club (TM Girl Talk blog, which is a fantastic place to visit if you haven't already, and you can find out all about the 5 AM Club there). In my case, it's more like the 6:00 AM Club, but I'm working on it. Anyway, it was a great start to the day. Lucy came tip-toeing downstairs around 7:00, and I heard Miss Thing chatting away up in her crib, so I went and got her too, and we started on our Valentine cupcakes (after a brief prayer that we would all be kind and not fight. Don't laugh. There was frosting and candy and sprinkles involved in this operation. Fighting opportunities abound.) Let me back up: each year on the Saturday before Valentine's Day, my dad takes all of us out to lunch (usually Cliffbreakers), and we all exchange cards. Then we stop back at our house and have dessert. The cupcakes turned out very cute, and there was no fighting. (I would have taken a picture, but the card on my camera has to be cleaned off before it will allow me to take any more pictures so that's one thing I've got to get to soon.)

Because I got up so early, I got a lot of cleaning done as well plus got the girls bathed and dressed and the table set for our little dessert party (ding ding ding! THIS is what can happen when you get out of bed in the morning!) Since it was (was? IS) so cold out, I had warm pants ready for the girls, but Lucy said, "Mom, I want to wear a dress and tights" and Elaine said, "Me too. Tights. Dress." so they wore that instead. We had a great lunch and a beautiful view of the frozen, snow-covered river. Everyone liked our cupcakes too!

Before we had lunch, Darren had gone to help some friends from church move, and Pastor W. was helping as well. He asked us spur-of-the-moment if we could come for dinner, so that was a nice social addition to the weekend as well. The girls had never been over to his and Vicki's house, and they wanted them to come and meet Lucy the Dog as well. Lucy the Girl loved Lucy the Dog, but Elaine was not sure at all. It took awhile for her to warm up to her, but eventually she peeked at her, then watched her eat her dinner, then finally got up the nerve to pet her.

Vicki has worked with Elaine in the nursery, but I think Pastor was under the assumption that Lucy is quiet and Elaine is silent. [I'll pause a moment for a group laugh.] Elaine set up her Samantha doll on his lap right away. He kept her there for longer than most men would, then gently moved her over to the couch. It took Elaine about 12 seconds to realize that, and she went over and moved her back to his lap. Lucy went on some long 4-year-old stream of consciousness to him that involved opening Christmas presents a day early to cupcakes to the fountain at the restaurant where we had lunch to Stuart Little and any number of other topics in between. We had a great dinner, then I had brought some (new) activities for the girls to do to keep them busy "and so we don't get bored" (according to Lucy). They were supposed to play by themselves, but they spotted an easy target in Vicki, so she got the added bonus of glitter painting and decorating a Strawberry Shortcake sticker book.

Sunday we spent just trying to stay warm, and the girls indulged their mania for the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" by watching for the gazillionth time in the afternoon. They know all the songs and spend a lot of time casting themselves and various people they know in all the different roles (though Lucy always gets to be Esther and Elaine always gets to be Tootie). Lucy informed me that that's who they're going to dress up as for Halloween this year (she likes to think ahead). We'll see.

So, that was our weekend. Oh and apparently Juliet taught Elaine how to say "hillbilly." I'll be waiting to hear it from her, since I'm sure that's inevitable (since she already told me the other day that something was " 'diculous.") Thanks, Juliet! :-)

ETA: Oh and if there was ever typecasting? It is Elaine as Tootie. We have found her alter/movie-ego. If you haven't seen Meet Me in St. Louis, you must. It is so much fun. And if you have--watch it again. I am.