Mundane Monday

This Monday started out most beautifully. It began with breakfast at Cracker Barrel WITH MY SISTERS! Oh the sheer joy of sitting at the same table with my favorite people in the whole wide world. The only thing better would have been if my mom had been sitting there, too. (Of course, Ryan would have made the table complete for me. But he also would've been stabbing himself in the eye with his fork while sitting there listening to us women jabber.)

My sisters were in town for the engagement party for some very good friends on Sunday night. (All the happiness in the world to Kate and Drew! Although it appears there may not be any more happiness to wish them. They were overflowing that night!) Felic and Seren brought Jake and Macy. Ryan was a doll and watched all the kids so we could go out for dinner beforehand. As we got seated at Red Robin we whipped out our mile long lists of things-to-talk-to-my-sisters-about. There is never enough time at dinner to complete those lists, people. Never. Enough. Time. Later that night we headed to downtown Omaha for the party. It was fun to see us walking to Old Chicago. The three Nickerson sisters with their matching mini people in hand. (Ry took Violet in his car. I had to ride with my sisters. Going downtown is an entire half an hour of conversation I refused to miss!) We took this picture at the party. Nola was busy hunting down deer in the arcade and shooting them with the bright orange shotgun that was as big as she was.

Anyway, that brings us back to Monday's breakfast with sisters. Being with them reminds me how happy I am that Nola and Violet have each other. Sisterhood is such a gift. Alas, we did have to say goodbye. Nola did not want Jakey to leave. And she was disappointed she hadn't seen Macy's bag of animals sooner! We have a classy picture of Jake and Macy smiling nicely at the camera while Nola sits between them staring at the toys in her hands. Violet gave her aunts smiles now and then, but she was mostly sleeping while they were here.

After our goodbye we went home. It was a beautiful day and I got all ambitious and trimmed the tree in our front yard. (This is probably because Felic casually mentioned that it needed done. And I worship her.) It was hard work but it looks so nice. Ryan is annoyed that we now have a pile of limbs in our back yard. TREE limbs. Tree limbs. I promised I would take care of them.

Nolie followed me around in the yard with her rain boots on. We had a lot of "STAY OUT OF THE STREET!" practice. And also some, "It is not safe for you to play in the car." And a little, "Nolie, put down the hand saw." I'm not sure why she insists on sitting on the patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street. What's wrong with the grass in the shade IN OUR YARD?

Saint got out while we worked. He tore at the fence and dug enough of a hole to wiggle out of there. Yay! Nola told me, "I'll go get 'eem" as she ran after him. I told her he'd come back on his own. Violet was asleep inside so we couldn't leave. He did come back because he got hot and needed to take a dip in Nolie's pool in the back. I grabbed him and locked him up downstairs.

We ate some cold pizza for lunch. Then we all took a nap. Violet was still sleeping when we laid down, but she got up about an hour later. I nursed her and took her outside for some fresh air herself. We played in the front yard until Ryan pulled the Jeep into the driveway. You should see the smile on Violet's face when she sees her dad. *Sigh* Heart melting.

The day kind of went down hill from there. It was just one of those nights where having small children was a hard job. They were lovely little girls, but they were needy. We survived through supper and a bath, and an episode of Diego. Then the girls went to bed, and Ryan and I tucked ourselves into the tv room for a movie.

And that's that. Mundane Monday memories in a very large nut shell.