Wonderful weekends

You know how all week you yearn for the weekend, every day is one step close to that ever elusive weekend that is always over too quickly... That's how we are. We are constantly looking forward to the weekend, which is funny because we do a lot of fun things during the week...but the weekend usually means more uninterrupted family time and of course...no work!!!! I won't even try to tell you a weekend means sleeping in because our little alarm clock has an amazing internal clock and its consistent, even on the weekends! I think I've finally hit that point in my life that if I did sleep in I'd feel half the day was wasted! Does that mean I'm getting old??! I'm going to vote no...but I'm an old soul to start with so I've always been a little old at heart. Don't believe me?? Ask anyone who knows me...I'm soooo old at heart.

ANYWAYS! I'll get to the point...we had a great weekend planned!! We were meeting with one of my closest friends Saturday morning to do our family holiday pictures and then in the afternoon we were going to leave Em with my Aunt and have DATE NIGHT!

You know those adorable family pictures with everyone looking at the camera with perfect hair, cute bows, sweet smiles?? That will likely NOT be us!! My daughter knows and loves our photographer dearly, but she raises that camera and Em wants NOTHING to do with it!!! We do our best to hold her still and smile at the camera and PRAY we get a decent shot, then we chase her around hoping for one of those random shots that just kind of "happens", then we try another pose and hold her still as long as possible, then we repeat again. You'd THINK we'd get something...and because Lindsey is amazing...we probably will. I'll keep you posted. But if you don't believe me that we also get the craziest shots you can imagine...let me give you a little taste of one of the out-takes Lindsey shared with me.

Yes-- That IS my beautiful little girl. With her finger in her nose!!! OMG!!!! And despite the obvious, look at that hair?! I don't know how many times we adjusted or flat put that bow back on her, but I'm betting we see a lot more goofy hair shots as they come in. And even with her finger in her nose...she's STILL not looking at the camera. Yup...this is a proud moment for Mommy and Daddy. But it was just too priceless not to share with you!

Sadly my cousin was sick and my Aunt had to cancel her visit with Emilie but we took it in stride and decided to take her with us and make it a fun family night. And that's exactly what we had! I'm so thankful that it worked out the way it did because once we got there we had such a blast! We Christmas shopped and played and then we got to enjoy some festivities we had no idea were going on...

Em dancing in her stroller to the marching band and parade!

Watching the firework show and lighting of the Christmas tree!

What fun we had!! We had no idea all this was going on, we just stumbled upon it and had such a blast! It was a good lesson in being flexible and going with the flow because had we been out on date night or decided to stay home instead of just take Em along we would have missed all this fun! These little lessons and reminders are much needed to keep me on course because I tend to get so stuck in my "plans" that I miss out on the little fun that comes along when you're open to it. My Aunt says she's never met a detour she didn't like...that she always sees something fun or different than what she'd planned to see. That its always worth it in the end...a hard lesson to learn but one I'm working on!