Coussoule Day Weekend

Three and four day weekends used to be a monthly occurrence when we were in the Army, but unfortunately, the civilian world is pretty stingy with holidays like Columbus Day and Veterans' Day. My kids hit the sweet spot yesterday - Teacher Inservice Day for a three day weekend. So it was a holiday, but not a holiday. We'll just call it the Coussoule Day weekend - the Coussoule kids crowed about the extra day off as soon as school was out on Friday, brought it up again at dinner on Saturday, and gloated over it Sunday evening as they begged to stay up late.

So when you're 6 and 8, how do you fill a whole free day?

First thing in the morning, I was getting ready for work and suddenly heard loud, rhythmic piano playing directly above my head. I could tell from the volume and insistent beat it was John, so I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs to take a peek:

Naturally, early morning vacation day piano practicing should be done in your pajamas. Is there really any other way?

Caroline's bedroom door was still closed, but I knew there was no way she was asleep - she never sleeps in, and certainly not with the drumbeat of chords coming from the bonus room. More peeking, more pictures:

My little bookworm.

Off to work, no rest for the weary grown ups... but with the promise of a lunch date with my husband and kiddos, at least the morning went by pretty quickly. (And weirdly productive for a Monday, which is not relevant to the day off, but worthy of note because it's a rare occurrence.)

It wasn't just a lunch date, though - it was also HALLOWEEN COSTUME SHOPPING TRIP!!! The pop up shops have been around since Labor Day weekend, but us looking for costumes almost three weeks before Halloween? Unprecedented.

Caroline knew for sure, without a doubt, 100%, what she wanted to be: HARRY POTTER. I had tried to talk her into Hermione, or even a generic witch, but nope. That kid had her mind made up and her heart set upon The Boy Who Lived.

John was much more noncommittal - I thought Angry Birds was a big idea, but "Moooooooooooom, noooooooooooo!! It's too biiiiiiiiiiig!!" His plan: browse until struck by the perfect costume.

Front door pickup at work, and we were off to the specialty costumer shops. Where Mommy and Daddy immediately stroked out at the idea of paying $50 for a kids' costume. Puh-leeze. Not in this household. Off to Target!! Sadly, no luck. Though, if you happen to be in the market for the main character from the latest Hollywood blockbuster, you would be in luck.

Next stop, Party City - and BOOM. Pay dirt. Who knew they had two huge walls with numbered cards for about eleventy hundred costume options? Several of which were even in our stingy price range? And - when does this EVER happen - they had Harry Potter that was IN OUR PRICE RANGE. One happy kiddo, coming right up:

John browsed, and looked, and browsed, and looked, and, surprisingly, deselected mostly by himself because he's easily influenced by the phrase "that's too expensive." I had already tried a week or so ago to get a Luke and Leia thing going with them, but Caroline is o-u-t. She is neither interested in Star Wars or in doing something together with her brother. John was lukewarm (haha, see how I did that?) on the idea, too - he was Darth Vader last year, so maybe he thought he would find something better.

Like a Clone Trooper.

If he's General Grievous next year, I may start worrying about the Dark Side of the Force being strong with this one.

Then, lunch! Jason's Deli. Truth: fancy doesn't matter when it's bonus time with your family. It also doesn't matter when the restaurant has free ice cream.

They aren't complicated creatures, children.

So after a fun hour and a half of shopping and eating, the party was over, and it was back to the office for me. This is NOT what a day off looks like:

It seemed like half the office was out yesterday, for various (mostly legitimate) reasons - hence the productivity - but it also enabled me slipping out the door a little before 5PM, which has become an even rarer occasion than a productive Monday. We were supposed to have our end of season soccer party after last night's game, but the day had turned rainy and gloomy, so with soccer cancelled, I had an unexpected free night at home. I picked up my book and curled into the chair in the office while John prepared to dance with abandon to Pandora.

He used to dance with me, grooving like nobody was watching. That brief golden period is apparently over; when I went to grab the camera he adopted the self-conscious don't-take-my-picture pose, so this is as good as it gets. At least he went back to dancing when I left him alone. *sigh* My kiddo is growing up, even when I'm not watching.

Grilled cheese and soup dinner, another chapter in The Phantom Tollbooth, bedtime and Monday Night Football for Mommy. Yesterday was a day full of the small moments that fill my heart. I have a good life.

Monday Funday

What to do when the kids are out of school and Mom has the day off, too? Especially when the weather looks like this?

Well, let's be honest, the weather today didn't start off exactly like that - it started off so windy that I opted to sleep in and hit the treadmill later. That's right - 50 some odd degrees, no rain, and I chose the dreadmill. I still haven't recovered from the mental beat down of the head winds in my last two marathons.

Lucky for me, I had my post-race massage scheduled this morning, so I started off *my* day with a little bit of indulgence. Didn't hurt that it was a Living Social deal so I got it 50% off.

So massage and workout done, too late for breakfast, and it's time to get home and figure out what we're going to do with the rest of the day. With my Lenten intent to spend more time with the kids, I came up with a three step plan:

1. Lunch at McDonalds
2. Caroline's treat for accomplishing her reading goal
3. Fun time at the library

Too bad it didn't occur to me to take pictures until we were at the library. But you get the picture: 6 piece McNugget Happy Meal results in random toys that make my kids think they've won the lottery. Extra bonus: our McD's has an indoor play place, and with nothing pressing on the agenda, the kids got to play to their heart's content. Add a friend from Caroline's 2nd grade class, and it's almost like a play date. Except I made no effort. Which makes it the best play date ever, actually.

McDonald's down, treat time next. This month, the kids are participating in the Book Hogs reading program at school. For added incentive, I told them that when they hit 500 minutes of reading, they could pick their treat. Naturally, Caroline is already at 600-something minutes, so today was the prefect day for the treat of her choice:

There is apparently a lot of peer pressure in the 2nd grade set around Dippin' Dots. She shared with me that she was the recipient of mild ridicule when she told her friends she'd never had it before. Problem solved.

Next up: Fayetteville Public Library, one of my absolute FAVORITE things about living in Northwest Arkansas. National award winning library, right here in my little town. Since we moved here, Caroline has read her way through the entire Junie B. Jones collection, and just last week finished book #48 in the Magic Tree House series, all courtesy of the FPL. John has recently been into anything Star Wars, and loves the Elephant and Piggie books. That's what he wanted today - and I realized, this is the perfect opportunity to teach my kids about call numbers!! (Get excited! Book nerds unite!!)

Author: Mo Willems. John finds the "W" shelf:

Just like that - two new Elephant and Piggie books. BOOM - I'm feeling like a pretty good mom today.

John found LOTS of books today - Berenstain Bears, Elephant and Piggie, a couple new Star Wars book, and other random titles that looked good to him:

Caroline, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to look for. I made a couple of suggestions, but she's just not-that-into Mommy's Ramona Quimby or Nancy Drew ideas at the moment.

Trying to be the paying-attention-Mom, I asked Caroline what she thought she might like to read, and immediately, she responded with a request to find some new American Girl Doll books. We head right to the computer to look them up, and voila! Caroline's turn to learn how to find books in a library. We hit the jackpot - the entire Rebecca series, two of the McKenna books, and one on Jess. I'm clueless, but Caroline apparently knows who each of these girls are, so she's super happy. Which in turn, of course, makes me super happy. Today's haul:

Pouring down rain outside and nothing pressing to do or places to be, so I tell the kids to settle in on one of the comfy chairs by the window, hang out, and read while Mommy goes up to the adult section for a couple of minutes to pick out a few new books of my own.

True confession: romance novels are my guilty pleasure. Sure, I'll read Pulitzer Prize winning books and if I ever get my Masters degree in British Literature I'll write my thesis on how Thomas Hardy used his writing to expose the oppression of women in 19th century London society, but in the meantime, I can tear through a 300 page Nora Roberts tome in about a day and a half.

I do enough heavy thinking at work, anyway. :)

Last up for the day - homemade oatmeal cookies. My mom used to make oatmeal cookies all the time, and my poor kids have never even had one. Before Christmas I got a wild hair to make some, so naturally, two months later, I finally did it!

Nothing is ever the same as your mom's, but I have to say, they were pretty good. The white chocolate chips and dried cranberries didn't hurt.

So that was our Monday Funday, also known as President's Day. I feel a little guilty that I didn't take the time at the library to do a little history lesson on Washington and Lincoln, but there's always next year.