Just another Saturday…

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but this past Saturday ended up being jam-packed with activities. We left the house around 8 in the morning, and walked back in the door 15 hours later. Allow me to step you through our marathon Saturday…

My lovely cousin has worked her tail off the past few years and graduated with her BSN in nursing. We are so, so, so proud of her! The graduation ceremony was set to start at 9:30. We were unsure of the parking situation and if we would be able to find enough seats together. My cousin had quite the entourage. Did I mention that we are extremely proud of her? I was worried about keeping the kids occupied. My kids don’t like to sit still for any amount of time. I didn’t want to get there too early, because I didn’t want to prolong the amount of time they were sitting around. But, I wanted to get there early enough to get seats on an aisle for easy exits if needed. We got there about 30 minutes before the ceremony started and secured seats on an aisle. I was armed with games and drinks and loads of snacks.

All-in-all, the kids did fairly well. They started getting restless during all the speeches, so I took them both out into the lobby to run around. We were in the middle of climbing some stairs when Anna loudly announced that she had to poop. The three of us were in the bathroom when Alex sent me a text saying that they were starting to announce names. I definitely did not want to miss that, so we high-tailed it back to our seats. We made it in plenty of time to scream our heads off when my cousin walked across the stage. I warned her that we were going to embarrass her…

After the ceremony, we were all planning on going to the Italian section of town (The Hill) to eat lunch at Zia’s. We had some time to kill before our reservation, so we swung by Big Shark Bicycle in The Loop to pick up our race packets for the duathlon we were planning on running the next day. Once we had those, we headed toward the restaurant. Luke was asleep, Anna was fixated on Dora.

Lunch proved to be a challenge. The food was excellent (as always), but the kids were over it. They were sick of sitting still and not very hungry because of all the snacks we gave them during the graduation ceremony. Luke was tired and fussy. He was angry because I wouldn’t let him dunk his hands in the water glasses and shake Parmesan cheese all over the table. I would have loved to had some time to visit with my family, but Luke was majorly pressing my buttons. Anna was happily watching Dora on Alex’s phone and eating packets of butter. Gag me with a spoon, right? Here’s the really sad thing – I did that same crap when I was her age. I remember sneaking pads of butter to eat. I guess there are worse traits that she could have gotten from me.

Anna had been requesting meatballs, so in a moment of sheer idiocy we ordered spaghetti for both kids to share. In a matter of seconds, they had sauce and noodles everywhere. Anna was slurping noodles which sprayed sauce around, and Luke was essentially finger painting on the table with marinara. Luke was trying to put sauce in Anna’s hair and Anna got sauce on Alex’s dress shirt. It was a chaotic mess. Hands (and arms and faces) were cleaned, and everyone took a deep breath. My dad took Luke on a walk and Anna went around mingling. I finally finished my lunch. We paid the bill, congratulated my cousin again, said goodbyes, and made our exit.

Now, Zia’s is located catty-cornered to this delightful little Italian bakery that has cases upon cases of delish treats. We can’t go to The Hill and not stop there. Luke had fallen asleep in my Dad’s car, so we stepped into the bakery to get a sweet fix.

We headed to my sister’s house to let the kids play.  And play they did.  Cousins are the best.  After an hour, Anna and I got back in the van and headed to West County Mall (or the Dove Mall, which is what I call it because of the huge dove that is used for their sign).  Anna’s little buddy was having her birthday party at Sweet & Sassy.  We’d never been, so I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.  Anna was pumped to go to a party.  Parking at this mall is always a pain in the backside.  The side I needed to park on, was super busy and low on spaces.  I saw a group of ladies walking to their car so I followed them.  They walked up to their car and stopped.  I put on my signal and waited.  They proceeded to stand in front of their car talking for about 5 – 10 minutes.  They knew I was waiting.  They even waved at me at one point.  There weren’t any other spots available, so I kept waiting.  At this point, I was waiting them out.  Over my dead body were these winches winning this passive aggressive battle.  They finally all piled in their car and after several more minutes of twiddling their thumbs, they pulled out of the spot.  Who’s laughing now, bitches?

After the parking fiasco, the party was drama free.  All the girls made it to the store and were taken back to change into princess dresses.  I could hear Anna ordering the poor helper around about what she wanted to wear.  Eventually she popped out in a shimmery tank top and short tutu.  Thank God she was wearing panties – the goodies would have been shown if she wasn’t.  After getting into their dresses, the girls were parked in director chairs so they could get their hair done, face painted, and fingernails painted.  They each got a pair of fairy wings and a flower headband.  They proceeded to put on a fashion show and have a dance party before eating pizza and cupcakes.  It was freaking adorable.  Anna was totally in her element and LOVED all the pampering.  I see many trips to Sweet & Sassy in our future.

After gifts were opened, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the car.  Someone was waiting for my spot, so I quickly packed it in and left.  Paying it forward.  Anna and I headed back to my sister’s house.  Alex and I had paid to be a part of a trivia table at our neighbor’s church.  Our neighbors are a gay couple, and freaking amazing.  I seriously love them.  I wish I could put them in my pocket and take them everywhere with me.  Seriously love those guys.  So, when they told us that their church was doing a trivia night to raise money, several of us from the neighborhood put together a table.  We knew that we’d be about an hour late, but the table was fine with it.

I dropped Anna off at my sister’s house, kissed both kids, and grabbed Alex.  We hopped in the car and made the drive to their church in Soulard (about 20 minutes away).  We made a quick stop at a gas station to buy beer (trivia was BYOB), threw on our super hero capes (it was a Heros & Villains theme), and found the church.  We slid into our table right before round 3 started.  Trivia was fun.  Really, we sucked the trivia up and just enjoyed hanging out with everyone.  Plus, there was a costume contest so the people watching was supreme!

Trivia ended around 10.  We packed up and headed back to my sister’s house to grab the kids.  They were both asleep, so we transferred them to their car seats and loaded up our stuff.  Alex and the kids slept as I drove us home.  We walked in the door at 11pm, carried the kids to their beds, and crashed.