Exhausting Weekend (Heavy on the Parentheticals)

Because of these guys,

 

Yes, Jamie is ASLEEP on Tony’s shoulders

 

we ate off the land last night.  Between the three of them, they gathered enough steamer clams (and some manila and butter clams) for a meal for us and the neighbors.

 

Though we mostly went our separate ways this weekend, we were all more active than usual.  We had a lovely birthday dinner on Friday night, complete with fruit pizza (sugar cookie crust, sweetened cream cheese frosting with lime, and sliced fruit) (“But mooooom, where’s the cake???”) and staying up way too late.  Tony and I went to see Neighbors in the theater (a real date!) (aside: our theater’s bathrooms are upstairs from the screens, which is about the dumbest layout for a cinema I’ve ever seen.  I mean, who’s going to take a break from the movie when it means hoofing it up a flight of stairs?  I’m winded just thinking about it.  Instead, I let myself get dehydrated so I wouldn’t have to pee during the movie, which made me even more exhausted after a long and exhausting day), which we enjoyed, while the boys used all of the delaying bedtime tactics they know on grandma and grandpa.

 

Saturday included boot camp (I did lots of pushups!  Real ones, on my toes and everything!  And I’m still feeling the effects two days later!), a big yard cleanup by Tony, and a baby sprinkle thrown and attended by some of my favorite people:

 

I don’t want to make you jealous, but that was some of the best damn cake I’ve ever had.  For God’s sake, it’s oozing.

 

Later that afternoon, Tony took the boys to the speedway for the sprint car races (Jamie hasn’t stopped asking when we can go back to the racecars since) while I settled into some girl time with a good friend whose husband was also initiating his son into the manly art of eating corn dogs while watching people drive too fast around a dirt track (ear protection was included in the evening’s festivities).  We were all up far too late again.

 

Yesterday, we had family photos taken after church:

 

These boys… so handsome!

 

That afternoon, I tackled this:

 

Baby stuff madness

 

while Tony and the kids dug clams.

 

And then we stayed up until the normal bedtime hour, but it was still too late because we were so tired.  The children melted down and I decreed that I would do no more vacuuming or unloading the bottom rack of the dishwasher (which will only last as long as I can stand to have a dirty floor and dishes not put away).

 

Sometimes, weekend success is defined by how much relaxing we do.  Other times, it’s defined by how much fun stuff we do.  We win for the fun stuff!