Monday Blues

Mondays are so hard...for a lot of reasons. Of course they're not as fun as the weekend...otherwise this place we go wouldn't be called "work" - it would be called "play". But the real reason they are so hard is because Brant and I don't have our little chatterbox side kick to provide comic relief throughout the day.
This weekend we were pretty busy. Friday night we went to the Exelixis summer gathering at a really nice house in Encinitas where the director of Brant's company lives. I've never seen so much land in San Diego! They had at least 2 acres with a swimming pool and a huge garden. Ellie got to play with Evie, her 2 year old friend who happens to be the daughter of Brant's supervisor. They got along great and played lots of games of Ring Around the Rosie and Hide-and-Seek in the dark. The best part about playing hide-and-seek with kids this little is that they giggle so much and so loudly that it doesn't matter if they're hiding! You always know where they are! Evie's parents are from England and have quite heavy accents. Ellie told us on the way home that Evie's "mummy and daddy" (when did my child switch from having a slight southern twang to talking with a British accent?) sound funny when they talk...
Saturday we hauled out to a picnic for some of my friends at Mission Bay Park. It was in a nice area, not too crowded and the parking wasn't a problem at all. It was nice to see people I haven't seen in a while. We left in time to get home for naps (for all) before Mimi and Papa stopped by.
I don't think I've blogged about this yet...so hang on to your seats folks! Mimi and Papa are getting married (this we've known for quite a while)...AND they've set a date! They're getting married Sunday, October 4th and Ellie is going to be the flower girl. So, of course Mimi bought Ellie a pretty dress and this weekend she brought it down to try on. Unfortunately we joked about it being a dress for mommy, and a dress for daddy, and now Ellie is saying that it's not her dress but instead it's my dress and she's not going to wear it. Good thing we have 5 weeks or so to work on her. The truth of the matter is that she doesn't have a choice, but I'd prefer not to strong arm her into anything if it can be avoided.
So Saturday night we had dinner at Island's with Mimi and Papa. Sunday morning we were so tired and debating about having a "day of rest" at home instead of going to church. Ellie says "What day is it Mommy?" "It's the weekend" I reply. "No - what day is it? Is it Sunday?" Ellie presses on. I can't lie to her, so I say "yes, it's Sunday" She lights up and says "Yippee! That means we go to church!" I know we're lucky that she loves going to Sunday School, but sometimes it's nice to be lazy too. We went to church, and in the bathroom afterwards (as she always does) she says "Mommy, I luuuuuv church. Mommy, can I go back to church tomorrow? Please can I?"
Sunday afternoon we "tag-teamed" the house - that's what we call it when Brant and I both go crazy working on separate projects and it all comes together at the end. I roasted chicken, baked bread, made salad, cooked soup, swept and vacuumed, did laundry, folded laundry, and Brant mowed the yard, trimmed the hedges, fertilized the yard, watered the yard and swept everything up. Whew - we were tired when it was all said and done!

Next weekend we have the Senomyx summer party at the Del Mar racetrack, and then I have a week off with Ellie! Yippee! I love when Jack and Cheryl close down because it's a treat for me to get to hang out with Ellie for the week. And we'll be preparing for Uncle James, Aunt DeAnna and cousin Brenner's visit too!!! So much fun stuff headed our way...