FRIDAY: I was planning to stay at work a little late. Doris had left a little early to go to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. At about 5:55pm Becs sent me an email to ask if we wanted to have dinner at Mi Rancho in Silver Spring. I called Jason immediately and asked if he wanted to go too. Sometimes Friday's are tough for Jason to go out to dinner because he's had a long week at home but even though he had already cooked the boys a couple of burgers (though they hadn't eaten them yet) he was totally up for it. I sent an email back to Becs telling her "YES!!" She couldn't believe it. She thought it was totally a long shot and wasn't even going to ask us but I told her, "invite us to dinner where we don't have to cook and throw in margaritas and Jason and I will almost never say 'no'". Becs, Jake and I all rode the metro to the restaurant and Jason packed the boys in the car. Even with the rain, we had a great time. The pitcher of strawberry margaritas and Dos Equis helped but best of all it was the great company and Doris surprised us and showed up too (we texted her on her way to the restaurant).
SATURDAY: Saturday had it ups and downs. On the up side, we had a nice morning. Aidan and I played Wii tennis before breakfast. He said if he wins, I had to make him breakfast in bed. I took on that wager and ended up making him breakfast in bed. He loved it, took full advantage of me and acted like a king!
After getting ready we went into my office. Leo was so cute and asked "am I going to work with you?" I told him "yes" and his face lit up and he said, "thank you so much mommy. I get to go too? and Aidan?" He was so excited. The boys helped me clean up my desk. My cubicle was a disaster. It looked like a paper hurricane had landed in my cubicle. There were papers on the floor, on my desk, still sitting in my printer, in the overflowing recycle bin, everywhere! The boys had the run of the office and they loved it. They ran back and forth between my cubicle and the recycle, we filed stuff in the filing room (Aidan thinks the filing room is 'spooky'), we cleaned up my bookshelves, they washed my coffee cups, cleaned out my drawers, shredded papers, put books on other shelves and wiped down my countertops. Aidan and Leo loved it, Jason was a good sport and a super helper. Jason went to the potbelly's and got us sandwiches and we ate in our conference room. They asked if I had meetings in here and where I usually sit. The boys had so much fun that Aidan asked if we could go to my work on Sunday.
Aidan also had a birthday party to go to later in the afternoon. On our way home from work he asked if he could take a nap. I told him "yes" but that we were almost home and he had to go to his party. He started to cry and said he didn't want to go. Jason was frustrated because he hates it when Aidan rsvp's for a party and then the day of the party doesn't want to go. I hate it too but sometimes when you get there he warms up to it and ends up having a good time. I offered to take him but Aidan wanted Daddy to take him. So, nervously I watched them head out the door. Leo wanted to go to the party too but since he couldn't I promised him we would do something. We ended up making a St.Patrick's Day cake. Halfway through mixing the batter, I heard two car doors slam shut. I looked out the window and saw Aidan and Jason, unhappy as can be, walk up the stairs. Jason said Aidan cried when they got to the party and didn't want to go in so Jason took the present inside and said Aidan wasn't feeling well (which obviously is true). The birthday was at some sportsplex-a place Aidan had never been.
When Aidan came home, I told him he had to go to his room for a while. Surprisingly, he went without a fuss. I sent Jason to the book store and movies (this is clearly the only fun thing he got to do), Leo and I finished the cake, and I went up to talk to Aidan. I told him that the reason that we were upset was because he had told us earlier that he wanted to go the party so his friend's family paid money for Aidan to be at the party, they had planned for him to eat pizza and cake, so we had wasted their money and that most of all his friend was looking forward to him being at his birthday party and he was disappointed on his special day. If he RSVPs to a party it is important for him to go because people are planning on him being there. Jason said that even if they would have gone inside he would have hated it because it was loud and crowded and unfamiliar--all the things Aidan hates. I don't know if it was the right talk but it was the talk we had. The rest of the night went really well. They were all in a good mood, ate a super dinner (even Leo) and we frosted the chocolate cake with green frosting and put on green sprinkles.
SUNDAY: Aidan started swimming lessons again and again, it was another activity he didn't want to do. I didn't put up with that one. My whole shpeel about swimming is that once they can swim easily in the deep end of a pool without any help they can cut the swim lessons but until then they will go. It simply a matter of safety. No ifs and or buts. How parental is that? Sounds like something my parents would say.
After swimming the boys dropped me off at
Doris' house for the monthly Creative Memories scrapbooking event. I had a great time but I realized where Aidan gets the anxiety of crowds and noise because there were lots of people at Doris' and lots of loud talking which towards the end gave me a little anxiety. I worked on Leo's first year album (no comments please) and made some great progress. I am on the very last month (February) and working on his 1st birthday party. I love the pictures. The boys are adorable and I can never get enough of looking at their baby pictures. They are too sweet for words. After I got home, as is tradition, we looked at the new pages I did and we looked at both their albums. They love looking at them too, maybe not as much as me but they like it.
While I was scrapbooking, Jason took the boys with rain boots and all to the airplane park. They walked around in the mud and the puddles for a little while. Jason sent me a cute picture of Aidan and Leo standing in the middle of a gigantic mud puddle.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
Sorry there are no pictures.
I arrived in Geneva yesterday (Tuesday) at 7:30am. Our flight was delayed by about an hour. I ended up being on the same airplane as a work colleague and so we taxied to the hotel together. We arrived at the hotel and they told us that they were overbooked and we both had to move to one of their "sister" hotels basically across the street. I was supposed to be staying at the Epsom and now I am staying at the Jade. Besides being a little inconvenient, the hotel is really nice as you can see from the pictures. My favorite part about the Epsom was the wonderful breakfast. The one here is nice but they get their food from the Epsom so the choices are fewer but otherwise it is great. I slept less than an hour on the flight so when I arrived I was exhausted also my room wasn't ready when we got in so I had to entertain myself for an hour or so. 
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