What's Better Than A Three Day Weekend?

Not much, but a 4-day work week doesn't hurt! 

So, my weekend was great, and pretty productive.  After I fought my way home through the traffic on Friday afternoon, I went to pick Bella up from school.  I had left work early to try and beat the traffic and it still took me over an hour to drive the 20 miles home!  Michelle and Jim both had to work late, so it was just Bella and I for a while piddling around the house when my SIL called.  She was in town at a local hotel.  Her son Ben had a soccer tournament nearby that began on Saturday and they were staying in town to beat the high prices of the downtown hotels.  Since they were only 7 miles away, I asked if they'd like to come over for a while and much to my delight, they did!  Bella was excited too because she just loves Ben!  Michelle got in right before they arrived and  Jim right after, so it was very nice.

Saturday started out with dance class and after that we headed over to a local farm to pick some strawberries.  I seemed to be the only one who actually put the strawberries in the basket, Michelle and Bella were snacking their way through the field.  Bella especially.  She didn't see a need for the basket at all, she would find a strawberry, eat it, say 'Yum!' or 'Juicy!' or something of the like, toss the hull and move on to the next one!  She loved it.

The strawberries were ripe and juicy and we managed to pick quite a lot in a short amount of time, just about an hour total.  We filled a basket and two buckets, of course then I had to clean and slice them all too!

Next we went to Sam's Club where we bought the candy needed for Bella's Sweet Shoppe party on Saturday as well as a few other things.  When we got home Jim and Michelle ran out to look at cars and I stayed home with Bella and cleaned and sliced the strawberries, showered and got ready for the wedding that we were to attend.  When Jim got back he changed his clothes and we were off to the wedding.

It was a beautiful wedding in a bucolic setting in Middleburg, Va. The bridal party arrived via horse drawn carriage and the ceremony took place on the side of the mountain.  It was lovely. 

Early Sunday morning Michelle and I ran out to the grocery store and to CVS to get a few items and then returned home to make the cookie batter and get that in the fridge.  Next we headed downstairs and worked some more on preparations for the party-it is really starting to come together!  I then headed out back and cleaned, scraped and painted the patio table and four chairs.  The table was in pretty bad shape and we are really hoping to get through the season with it, so I really tried to do a good job on it and gave it two solid coats of paint.  Getting that done really felt good, let me tell you! 

Jim decided to head down the road to see Ben's soccer game and Bella wanted to go with him, so Michelle and I took advantage of that time to run errands.  We headed over to Party City and order balloons and got a few last minute items we still needed for the party.  Next we hit Target.  Michelle has been searching for roller skates for Bella for her birthday, but they are really HARD to find!  Then it was on to Michael's for a Cupcake cake pan.  One of the big ones.  Michelle wants to make one of those for Bella and we knew Michael's has the pan and we had a 40% off coupon.  On to Giant Eagle for picnic preparations!  As we were walking out the door having finished up the shopping Jim called saying he was on his way home.  So we get home, get everything put away and Jim and Bella walk in and Bella takes one look at us and says one word "Pool!".  She has been counting the days for the pool to open and we didn't make it down on Saturday and Michelle had promised to take her on Sunday and Bella doesn't forget a thing.  So, I'm thinking-great, they can go to the pool and I can lay down for a while.  No such luck!  Bella was insistant that I go along.  So off we went.  She loved it though and it was a nice treat, we thought the water would be freezing but it was surprisingly nice! 

When we got home we had a nice cookout with just the four of us.  It was quiet, but nice. 

Finishing up the weekend I got all my ironing done, decorated the sugar cookies, took Michelle to look at more cars, played with Bella while Michelle went birthday shopping and then while she and Jim went back to the car place.  At seven o'clock last night Michelle drove home in a brand spanking new 2010 Mazda 3!  She is sooooo excited! 

So, how was your weekend?