Weekend O' Fun

Last Wednesday, Darin's sister La Shawn and her kids, Kaden and Nevaeh, drove up from Iowa to spend the weekend with us. We had a lot of fun-we being La Shawn and I : ) No, really, we all had a great time. There were a few problems with sharing and being kind, but Tyson and Jori were very happy to have their cousins around to play with. I really did enjoy being able to sit around with La Shawn and have a chance to get to know my sister-in-law a little bit more. Yes, I've known her for over 7 years, but usually when we are together there is a lot of activity going on.

We did manage a few fun activities with the kids. These included going to Love Inc so the kids could pick out a new toy (I tricked mine into picking from the bin of freebies!), going to PlayWorld (which is way fun for any of you that live in West Michigan), and we even hauled out the container of Darin's He-Man action figures. Yes, I know that I said I thought Tyson was too young for them (on November 19, if you want to read it again), but desperate times call for desperate measures. However, even that little plan backfired on us as the boys fought over the different "guys" instead of playing with them. Once I round up all the little pieces, I will be relegating He-Man back to the basement storage room. Here's a little video of some bath time fun. La Shawn took some super cute pictures of my kids too, posing all cute, but I don't think I can put them on here. So sorry.





On Friday afternoon, I ran for my life headed to Grand Rapids for a Girls Weekend. Pauline, a college friend who now lives in MA, flew out for a weekend of fun thanks to her loving husband and the plotting of her friends. On Friday night almost all of the Rooks girls got together (minus Julie who was enjoying warmer weather in Florida) for dinner and some time away from our darling children. Not all of us were childless, however, as Pauline had brought along her baby, James, Tracey had little Ellery and Michelle came with Jack who was LESS than a week old. Girls Night Out is NOT to be missed!

I spent the night and on Saturday I was thrown headlong into the somewhat frightening world of "crafting". We went to a couple fabric stores (not my comfort zone) and after MUCH deliberation and with a lot of help and encouragement, I finally chose fabric to make a tote bag. We got home a little after 2, ate some lunch and then, around 3:30, I started the process of making a bag. There was cutting, and pinning and ironing going on and then the sewing. I was honored to use Amy's super high tech sewing machine. This thing had a computer screen and everything. Finally, at 10:30, my masterpiece was finished! Yep, I did it, with a lot of help from Amy, Pauline and Sarah. Thank you so much dear friends.

After a long day of sewing, it was time to get some exercise. So we busted out the Wii and played some doubles tennis. This was my first time playing anything on the Wii, and it was super fun. We were all way into it. So into it, in fact, that Pauline was having some chest pains, sweatshirts were coming off, and a few of us had trouble catching our breath. I decided to head home a little before 1 so I could get up for church in the morning. When I woke up, my shoulder and elbow were SO sore--from a video game!! Sad, I know. I didn't get a chance to do the Wii fit, but I am guessing that my Wii Age, or whatever it is called, would be in the 40's or 50's, if not even older!

Sunday was pretty quiet, or maybe it just seemed that way to me because I took a three hour nap. I really AM getting old and totally cannot handle late nights, especially two in a row. Around 7, Darin took La Shawn and the kids to meet up with the people they rode out with. They were planning on leaving at 3 or 4 the next morning, so it was easier if they all stayed in the same place. Darin and I watched Amazing Race (my fave) and then I went right to bed.

After dropping Tyson off at school on Monday, I headed back to GR with Jori for some more fun with my friends. Having kids around did not allow for quite as much fun. We had to be very sneaky when eating our double stuf oreo's and Sarah's little Miles is one observant kid. We also ate all of the glossy fluff on Saturday night, so there was nothing to dip the oreo's in. For those of you that don't know, glossy fluff is a small jar of marshmallow cream mixed with 8 oz of cream cheese and it is GOOD. Most people would dip fruit in their fluff, but oreo's are also a good dipper!

That, my friends, was our weekend. This weekend is going to be way more low key. A trip out to Sam's club, pizza and movie night with the kids, and church on Sunday. I am looking forward to the slower pace!