A Weekend in October
Some weekends are spectacular failures.
This past weekend was not one of them.
It started out with our fake-camping trip. The weather was beautiful, we had our tin-foil dinners (by which I clearly mean tin-foil wrapped pitas from Pita Fusion), and a bag of carrots to feed to the donkeys.
Ella talked about the donkeys the whole way up there, but when it came right down to it, the donkey was a little bit terrifying.
Wouldn’t YOU be terrified? Especially when this mother donkey started smacking the baby donkey away when he tried to get a carrot. Totally the kind of parent you would give judgmental stares to at the grocery store. But maybe she just didn’t want her darling child ingesting non-organic carrots.
Ella didn’t let go of Bart’s hand for a second, and then finally just opted to eat the (non-organic) carrots herself.
Ella relaxed for a few minutes in her camping chair (Bart bought it for her while I was in Portland and it was the first thing she showed me when I came home).
And then out came the real reason I do anything related to camping.
Ralphie told me that s’mores are one of those things where you can really only eat one. She said this to me as I ate my last bite of my third s’more. And I totally could have eaten another one, except that it was time to go home and put Ella to bed.
The next morning, Ella slept in until well after eight a.m. (as if we needed additional confirmation that coming home to go to bed was the right decision), and then we headed off to Chick-fil-A to use up some of our free breakfast coupons.
Bart dropped me off at the house to get some things done, while he took Ella to the bank (she got three suckers which she said were for the three of us, but somehow, she ended up eating all three) and hit up a garage sale (Bart bought a bench there which I didn’t much care for and we sold it on Craig’s List this week for double what he paid, so it was a win).
When they came home, Ella took the first decent nap she’d taken in a week, while Bart and I ate some ridiculously good pizza (I’d say the best I’ve ever made, perhaps, in the pepperoni category), and then, while it drizzled outside, I started reading Overdressed and also browsed the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living, because I’ve become an old person.
While Bart attended a church meeting in the late afternoon, Ella and I whipped up some chocolate chip muffins and took a little plate of them over to a friend. Ella insisted on carrying them.
And when we arrived, she said, “You out of muffins?” Which I’m still laughing about.
Bart came home, I headed out to a church meeting with my neighbor, and when I came home, Bart had mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the bathrooms.
Oh, if only every weekend could be so delightful. But hey, we’re going to a pumpkin patch this Saturday (we’ve never done pumpkins with Ella), so this weekend isn’t looking too bad either.
So fun to see what you guys are up to lately! You're making me miss Texas! So glad you guys had such a great weekend. I miss little Ella and her darling personality and comments.
Yay for fun weekends! And Ella is so cute… I love the "you out of muffins?". Last week I carried our pastor's daughter (Ella's age) around with me at an outreach event and it's amazing how much nicer people are to you when you are accompanied by an adorable child 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful weekend! I hope this weekend is too 🙂
I love this. I love what you said about the mama donkey. We've seen that with our horses–you think all mama horses are going to be loving and nurturing to their cute little ones, but some? Not so much. I also love what Ella said about the muffins! It makes me smile again, just typing about it. 🙂
Whaaaat? I can easily eat several s'mores.
And I just adore photos of Ella. She is simply the cutest child.
"You out of muffins?" HILARIOUS. It is truly sad when someone runs out of muffins. I'm glad Ella was there to save the day.
What a lovely weekend! I worked last weekend and this weekend, so I am super jealous. I guess I will just have to make NEXT weekend AWESOME! 😀
Those donkey teeth are terrifying…
And the "you out of muffins?" line is a total winner. That one belongs in the quote book.
Loved the picture of the scary donkey! Anytime I go camping it is a rule that we all eat as many smores as we can. And then eat them again for breakfast the next morning. Clearly I'm a sweets type of girl. Your family is adorable!
I'm in love with Ella's polka-dotted shoes. I happen to be fresh outta muffins also-could she deliver here? Weekends are the best when you can chill and do things you love, like eat s'mores.
I think delightful weekends might be my favorite thing in all of life. XO
You out of muffins? That's too cute 🙂 Glad you enjoyed all three smores. Sounds so fun!
The best ways to eat a s'more:
1) switch chocolate for nutella, add some sliced banana.
2) use peanut butter cups instead of chocolate bars
3) use chocolate chips cookies instead of graham crackers
I toast marshmallows in my oven (broil feature, baby!) all the time. It's a fantastic fall-winter-spring evening snack! (In the summer I can't handle sitting in front of an open oven door for one second, let alone 4 minutes to toast the perfect 'mallow.
xox
xox
Such cute pictures and I love the rounded corners! Could you please tell me how you get them to look that way?
That sounds like a great weekend in my book! =] Your little girl is super cute!! "You out of muffins?" hahahaha!
You do my favorite kind of camping – cooking outside and eating s'mores and then coming home to sleep in a proper bed.
oh my gosh! I love the story of your weekend. And I just LOVE the words that come out of kids mouth's sometimes, It's so cute how they put words together 🙂
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Oh man, you little girl is so darling! I love the muffin comment. So cute