Mother's Day Vacation

Thank you to all of you who felt my pain and offered suggestions for where the TiVo remote was. I believe one of the boys (it truly could have been either one) put it behind the couch. When I was looking around the living room for the third time I noticed the couch was pulled out a little, which prompted me to look behind it and - POOF - there it was!

This weekend was good, but long. My DNs (dear niece and nephew for those of you not up on internet lingo) slept over Friday night and all five kids actually DID go to sleep okay and stayed in the room until the clock radio turned on in the morning. Not bad. That afternoon we had a surprise party for my FIL. Whether he was surprised or not is debatable, but I know he was pleased. It was the first b-day party he EVER had, and my MIL worked really hard to get people from his past to come. My MIL was so cute in planning this - she had REALLY wanted to surprise him, so she started planning it six months ago, which is also when she sent out the invites. I received the RSVPs and I heard from a number of people that they had never received an invitation that early. She just wanted everything to be just right. As it turns out, it was.

The party took place at an Irish restaurant that my ILs go to every Saturday, in a private room upstairs. A soon discovered a video game (one that sits on the bar) and sat watching it for pretty much the entire time (all FIVE hours). I thought he was just watching the sample games go by, but then I learned that the bartender had given him his code and he was able to play lots of games too. I knew it would be near impossible to pull him away from the game, so I didn't really try, though I knew we would pay for it that night and the next day, and we sure did. But overall, the party was great.

On Mother's Day the kids woke me with breakfast in bed (made by DH). J sang her special song to me, to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star": Mommy, Mommy, I love you. Yes, I, Yes, I, Yes, I do. You're so sweet, and oh, so kind. I'm so glad that you are mine. Mommy, Mommy, I love you. Yes, I, Yes, I, Yes, I do.

The song was adorable. And it is adorable the first two times she sings it each day. When she sings it non-stop, over and over again, it's not QUITE so cute, but still, she is so proud of the fact that she knows it all she sings it to everyone. And I do mean EVERYONE - the other teachers, other moms, even the pharmacist at Rite Aid!

The kids were really off (see above) on Sunday, which made me SOOOO glad it was Mother's Day and DH was in charge. Everytime the sounds of their screaming and whining got too loud, I just snuggled down into bed some more with my book and asked DH to shut the door. Sweet.

Religious School ended yesterday, and for the first time we combined the two sessions into one, which meant it went from 10-11:30, meaning I could sleep in some and still have time to do stuff in the afternoon. DH had the kids out with his mom, so I took advantage of the time alone in the house by reorganizing the entryway. Yeah, I know I'm an organizing dork, but that's what sounded like fun to me.

We ended the day with a BBQ at my parents with everyone invited (my ILs + my FIL's mom, my sister and her whole family which includes her two kids + her two step-kids + her niece + her SIL + her DH - all the people who live in her house, my parents, two of the three foreign students who are currently renting rooms from them, and us), just small, intimate party.

DH and I are good at giving presents to each other that we don't buy in the store. For Mother's Day in 2005 he gave me this, in 2006 he did it again, and in 2007 he gave me a WHOLE week to myself over the summer. By the third day of that week, he told me that he hoped I enjoyed my gift because he would never ever give me an entire week again. Which is why I was amazed to see this year's gift: three WHOLE weeks (7-4 each day) to myself in the middle of July to do whatever I want. I noticed the time limit of each day that DH included will hopefully allow him to keep his sanity this year. I'm not even totally sure if I WANT three weeks like that, but it's a fabulous gift one way or another.

So...any ideas about what I could do for those three weeks. Keep in mind I can't go away (I'll have from 7-4 each day). What would YOU do with three weeks of daytime freedom?