Family and friends.

Esther in a sparkly bubble bath that she bought at the Burlington store on Saturday.

Robert in big kid heaven after buying a Leapster game and bubble gum at the Burlington store on Saturday.

Saturday dawned after a beautiful and memorable dinner with Gustavo and Werner on Friday night. Despite very little sleep, I awoke feeling positive and happy.

I let Rob sleep, sent the kids outside, fed them, had store time (the Burlington equivalent of Christmas morning!), got dressed and headed to Lowe's around 10:30am. Parents take note: Lowe's (and Home Depot too, I think) have FREE hands-on kids building projects every 2 weeks. The Lowe's version is called Build to Grow. Each child receives (remember- FREE) a building kit to put together with parental help, apron, safety goggles, certificate of completion and patch for their apron. Love it. Most of the projects involve hammers and nails- simple stuff. Then the family moved on to Glenwood Park- Robert and Rob hung out and played football at the playground while the girls and I went to Music Class.

We crashed at home for lunch and room time. That's what I call a great Saturday- especially because I heard parts of 'Car Talk' and 'Wait, wait, don't tell me' in the car.

The day was complete when Lucy Fry, Liv and Edie Butler graced our home for dinner. We made pizza.

Robert and EdieMajor yummy fun.

Esther and Liv.

Quotes:

"I know I am wearing the clothes I wore yesterday, but I want to look nice for Edie."-Robert

"Yeah mom: They had a wedding (very resonant with the kids these days) and Jesus put a spoon into the water and stirred it and it turned into wine!"- Esther

After I threw her shoe away from me (in one of my lowest moments) "Daddy wouldn't do that!"-Esther

"mamamamamama"-CC

"Mommy just wants to be alone."-me, yesterday

The Jessica Seinfeld cookbook trials continue:

Last week, buttered noodles- 3 thumbs up, including Robert!

This week, meat ball soup- Esther, instant thumbs up/ Robert- willing to eat 3 bites

meat ball soup.Tonight, chicken nuggets- Robert and Esther - major thumbs up

Mom and dad- delicious but wow, that recipe took a lot of time and mess to make.

Verdict: Jessica Seinfeld definitely has a nanny to keep the kids busy while she cooks.

Speaking of nanny, Lindsay Fritts has been our 'nanny' for the last month or so. She meets me at work, drives the kids to school and stays with the remaining kids at home. She rocks the universe! After an exhausting night with 2 kids up, I handed her the keys to the van at work this morning feeling totally confident that she could handle all 3, all morning, without losing her mind. She is so creative and receptive to my kids. THANK YOU LINDSAY!