A Weekend with Ya Ya

Dr. Peds, Mr. Sneaky Pants and The Banana are in North Dakota for a super fast trip to see family (Auntie Amy Texas and the cousins from Iowa, and Baby Alex, of course).  Ya Ya thought hard about the amount of time she would be spending in the car versus the amount of time she would actually be in North Dakota, and decided she’d rather stay here with me.  I can’t say that the weekend with me has been tremendously exciting all the time.  This poor child patiently and quietly sat through SIX HOURS of choir rehearsals in the last two days and let her mother take two monstrously long naps.  However, we have gotten to do some fun things.  We ate waffles and strata frittata at one of our favorite restaurant, Takke for Matte, and visited the Tweed Museum of Art, something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time but weren’t exciting about bringing the other kidlets along.  We read half of a hilarious chapter book out loud (The Birthday Ball, by Lois Lowry).  We ate Swedish Pancakes for lunch and only made a single batch instead of a triple batch, and neither of us had to wait for our pancakes while other people ate theirs.  We left for church 15 minutes later than usual and still got there in plenty of time this morning.  Ya Ya built an amazing town in the family room with wooden blocks and train tracks, and it has been standing for two days.  No one has messed it up, except for the cat, and that damage was easily repaired.  In the words of Ya Ya, “It sure is different without Hannah and Noah.  I like having a break.  But I wouldn’t want them gone all year.  Maybe just for a week or so.”