Some weekends just stand out over others. Maybe it was because Martin was home after being gone for more than a week. Or maybe it was because the weather is hinting at cooling off.  Or, it could have been because of some new friends we made...but whatever it was, this past weekend was a good one.

We started out with the afforementioned movie night on Friday. On Saturday, Peyton, Mommy, and even Daddy, glittered pumpkins a la Martha Stewart. Peyton took this craft on like no other - concentrating on her gluing and glittering techniques for nearly two hours. Her pumpkin is covered in globs of pink, black, and gold glitter, and it even includes jewels around the top. It's by far the prettiest pumpkin I've ever seen.

Less is more.

Total concentration.

On Sunday, Peyton and I enjoyed a neighborhood playdate with some old, and some new friends. We met Jami and Jameson at their house for swimming, pedicures, and tunnel races. Peyton loved playing with Gabriella, Simrin, and Syan, and as we left told me she wanted to have them all over to her house soon.

New friends.

Silly faces.

Love for Jameson, the hostess.

Friday Night Movie

File this one under "Things Mommy is More Excited To Do Than Peyton."

Peyton's big screen debut - 3D glasses and all.

When I heard Finding Nemo was being re-released (in 3D no less!) I squealed like a 2 year old. I couldn't wait to take Peyton to her first movie (okay, in truth this is her second. Grandma and Grandpa took her to see Winnie the Pooh when she was like one, but I wasn't there so it doesn't count).  Martin and I planned the big Friday night and chose to go to Studio Movie Grill so we could eat dinner while we watched.

Peyton was all about it at first...excited to go to the "mooooovieeeeeee!" and talking a big game. But, the previews were too long and she got bored with the whole thing before the movie started.  Martin and I made some rookie mistakes. 

1) We should have let her run around outside until the actual movie started, or at least gotten there closer to the starting time.

2) We should have taken her to an afternoon showing - not one that ran right up to her bedtime.

3) We should have told her it was okay to pee in her pullup, likely reversing all of the potty training efforts we have made - because she asked to go potty 37 times in 30 minutes.

4) We should have had her watch the movie beforehand so she was familiar with it.

Enjoying the previews.

Peyton's attempt at a smile.

When the heck is this movie gonna start?!?

Regardless, Peyton did watch some of the movie, and hopefully next time it will be a homerun. For now, we'll stick to DVDs at home. 

Thank God for Grandma and Grandpa

Peyton's sleepover buddies.

In my 2 years and 8 months as a working parent, I had successfully avoided the unavoidable....both Mom and Dad needing to be out of town for work at the same time. Usually Martin and I communicate well about our trips and are able to schedule accordingly, move things here, make arrangements there.  But our luck ran out, and thanks to a little communications meltdown (on Martin's part, ahem) both of us needed to be out of the Greater Phoenix area during the same 24 hours.

As the panic set in, and I wondered whose job was more important, and how we would handle this problem, the light bulb went off. We no longer lived in Virginia - thousands of miles away from friends and family. Instead, we lived ten minutes from my parents, and a mere five minutes from my sister. And dozens of other relatives and long-time friends within the same zipcode.  Problem solved.

Grandma and Grandpa naturally jumped at the opportunity to take poor little homeless Peyton for the Wednesday night while Martin and I solved the world's problems on our very important trips (readers I hope you sense the sarcasm here).  They picked her up from school early, took her to fun places, fed her, bathed her, bought her Tinkerbell pajams with a tutu, played with her, and most importantly, kept her from having to be left alone for 24 hours.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa - you saved the day, and our jobs.

To show her appreciation, Peyton made sure to wake up extra early, knowing they'd want nothing more than to spend a few more minutes with her before the sun came up. To show my appreciation, I wrote this blog post (hoping they know just how much they are appreciated...for the big helping hands in situations like this, and for the little things they do on a daily basis for all of us).

Monday Mashup

A few of the latest and greatest from Peyton's Bear's life as a 2.5 year old (and the lazy way of catching up on weeks of blogging).

Devouring french toast in bed while watching Dora - a new Saturday morning ritual.

Enjoying dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Learning the joys of drinking from the creamer from Grandma.

Playing doctor to her baby at Imagination Avenue.

Preparing a perfect play meal.

Making sure her dress up doll's closet is perfectly organized.

Setting fashion trends by tucking nightgowns into tutus.