the rest of grandma's visit, thatcher goes to philly, relaxing weekend

 last monday thatcher had the day off for indigenous people's day (the kids were back to school). i went to the gym for the first time in almost 2 weeks ;). my mom and i had a lunch date with kay and vanessa at 'wild mountain cafe' then my mom and i did a little shopping before school got out. we had leftovers for dinner and played some rack-o and quidler. 

tuesday thatcher was back to work and it was my mom's last full day here. she and i ran some errands in ballard in the morning, then hung out with the kids after they got home from school. we finally got our grandma picture for the week. ashford has the biggest smile, but he put up the biggest fight beforehand, go figure :) 

azalea had soccer practice in the evening. 

wednesday morning my mom and i were out the door at 6:15 am to take her to the airport. her time here always goes by so quickly. we miss her already! we'll see her again in february in florida at least. after early dismissal from school, azalea and her friends went to check out sisi's mom's new toy store 'kerfunkle kids' down on ballard ave. ashford and i went down there separately and also went to 'sweet mickey's' for some candy. ballard avenue in the fall is my favorite. 

azalea came home with a 'giga pet' which were all the rage when i was in middle school so of course i love it! 

thursday evening azalea had soccer practice again. 

friday ashford had his first session of after school 'sports club' in the gym. he's done it the last couple of years with his buddies. thatcher worked from home and then left in the late afternoon to go to the airport for his red eye flight to philly for a conference. the kids and i had an easy dinner and watched 'beetle juice' circa 1988. i hadn't seen it since i was a kid and i loved it. i think we'll watch the new one next weekend. 

saturday we had zero plans, which is kinda rare lately. and yet no one really slept in. :/ after lounging around a bit in the morning, i took the kids to venture coffee, joann fabrics (to finalize azalea's costume) and the library. my chaider (chai cider) was really good, but so spicy! 

while the kids played video games in the afternoon, i watched a cheesy fall netflix movie and also started a new book. i love the 'no wait. no holds' new release section at my library. it has allowed me to pick up so many brand-new books that otherwise would take forever to get. 

azalea baked us some pumpkin bread (using grandma jan's recipe this time. we also have a recipe that was thatcher's great grandma's). later we headed to northgate to wander around target and dick's (we didn't buy anything at either place - ha!). then we went to chipotle for dinner. when we got home, we decided to watch 'casper'. the kids weren't super excited about it, but it's a must-watch every year at halloween time for me, so they humored me. 

sunday morning the kids were awake even earlier than saturday. i can't figure out why they sleep til 9:30 some weekends and why they sleep til 7:30 other weekends. i made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. lots of treats on this solo parenting weekend :) ashford hung out with arlo for the afternoon and azalea and i headed to her soccer game. they played the top ranked team and lost 2-6, but they played well. it was sooooo windy out and rained for the second half of the game, but thankfully it wasn't too cold. we relaxed at home the rest of the night. 

my brother comes into town on thursday and we can't wait to see him!