Our weekend...

Looking ahead at the weekend forecast, I was so excited! Temperatures in the FORTIES! A sign that spring might really, actually come this year, despite all the white stuff that is still on the ground. It's been an especially COLD winter, and forties just sounded amazing after all the single-digit and negative numbers we've seen (thanks a lot, Polar Vortex...).

So, of course, I spent my Saturday morning in a first aid class required for coaching Little League. Nooooooooo!!! But really, it wasn't bad. The guy who ran the class was really very well-informed and interesting. I now know about all the ways people can be injured while playing baseball! Thankfully, most of these injuries aren't too common at the t-ball level. And now I'm done with that requirement. Hooray!

Once I got back home, I was itching to get outside. We actually started to go out to play, but then realized that the snow was deeper than we thought. Instead, we ended up going to see a movie ("Mr. Peabody and Sherman"-- it was cute!). Discovering a discount first-run movie theater has changed our lives!! I can't believe it took us over two years to learn this, but it's so great. All the kid movies start showing there as soon as they open, and tickets are only $5! Awesome!

Once we got back from the movie, we DID get outside! The kids had loads of fun, mostly making snowballs and throwing them at trees...

Meanwhile, I kept myself busy digging for buried treasure. Literally! The amount of snow on our back deck is INSANE-- there is so much, and it's always in the shade, so it just doesn't go away (and probably won't until well into the spring-- we'll see our grass long before we see the deck). But underneath that snow is a very large deck box containing all of our fun outdoor stuff. Which includes all of our baseball stuff-- gloves, balls, bats, the works. And seeing as I'm about to be COACHING, I figured I should unearth my own glove, at the very least. So I did. Whew. So much ice to chip away! I got my exercise for the day!

Then, Sunday morning dawned bright and early. TOO early. An hour earlier than it should have, thanks to the time change! But we still managed to get our act together to drive down to see the Worcester County St. Patrick's Day parade!

It was a little on the cold side, and seemed a lot less interesting than last year. Granted, I watched the parade with my friends last year after running my very first 5K, and was sort of high on life! And we had beer. But today's parade seemed to drag at a lot of points. And it was chilly. I did, however, enjoy the pipe bands (of course!), the high school marching bands, and the Irish step dancing groups. All very cool!

And it was very convenient, too, that the parade route ran just two blocks from a small cafe where one of our favorite people was having a book launch party in the afternoon! The kiddos' former preschool teacher has written this sweet, sweet book called "Ella and the Worry Doll." We stopped by to support her and visit with her, as well as pick up a signed copy (of course!). She is just the nicest person, and is really the first person we met here in town. We actually met with her to chat and tour the school the day after we made an offer on this house! We saw some familiar faces there-- lots of her old preschool families came down the hill to the party. It was very nice. And the kids both cracked up tonight when we got to the "About the Author" page, and there was a picture of "their" Allison, right in the book! So, she's famous. We love her! :)

Then we came home, and I proceeded to clean out Maya's drawers and closets. A mom friend here in town came by the other day with three HUGE trash bags full of clothing for her-- an entire spring and summer wardrobe! And it was NICE clothing! I was blown away! So I needed to find a home for it all, which I did. Maya cracks me up, though, with her "girliness." She is so much more of a girly-girl than I've ever been! She pulls things out and comments on how CUTE they are, and how certain things match each other, and where she can wear certain dresses, etc. She is just a happy kid, and I love her!

Anyway... that was our weekend! Busy week ahead, filled with playdates, car appointments, errands, and SNOW (ugh). Is it Spring yet?????