Fun-Filled Weekend

Friday, David came home from work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Now that I see the picture of the flowers, the photo does NOT do them justice AT ALL! Anyway, they really are very beautiful! Shortly after he came home, the door bell rang. I answered the door and it was our babysitter (who lives next door). She said David called and wanted to say that she could babysit. I, however, had no idea what she was talking about. David surprised me and made arrangements with the babysitter for Saturday night.....yippee!!!!!

Friday night was *REALLY* exciting.....we put Madeline to bed at around 9pm and David and I fell asleep on the couch at about 9:30. We never do that.....but it was WONDERFUL! We woke up at about midnight, headed to bed, and ended up sleeping until Madeline woke up at about 8:30 the next morning. Eleven hours of sleep!!!!! Can you tell we were exhausted and in need of some rest?!?!!?!

During the day on Saturday, David agreed to take Madeline to dance class (see photo). Dance recital season is around the corner as David came home with Madeline's two dance costumes. I was able to spend this time to meet my friend, Kelly, for shopping. I am still trying to prep myself for our travel next week. In the evening, David and I went to dinner at Left Bank (a hot spot restaurant on the West Side of Buffalo) and then we went to the Sabres Game. For the game, we met up with one of David's co-workers, Carolyn, and her husband, Jeff. David and Carolyn are traveling together to Europe for work while we spouses (and Madeline) are tagging along. David and Carolyn will be very busy with work so Jeff and I will probably be seeing the sights while our spouses work. David kind of figured that it would be a good idea for the 4 of us to get together before we cross "the pond" together. Despite the Buffalo Sabres' loss, the hockey game was a great ice breaker (no pun intended) for us.

Today, Sunday, was a beautiful day! The weather was in the low 50's and the sunshine made for a perfect Buffalo Spring day! After church, we hit an open house (very nice area that we would consider but just not *that* particular house), then we went to meet up with one of David's co-worker's and his wife to see Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade is a huge event in Buffalo.....I grew up here, but never went before until today!! David's co-worker lives only a block and a half from the parade route so it was really convenient. The parade started at 2pm. We got to the parade route mid-parade at about 2:30 pm and had to leave the parade route by 3:30pm and the parade was *still* going!!! The parade was huge and Madeline was mesmerized (Doesn't this photo look as though Madeline is trying to raise the kelt of this guy??) !!! We had a great time and it was a shame that we had to leave early. Next year (assuming the weather is as nice as it was this year.....Buffalo weather is unpredictable this time of year. It could be as high as 60 degrees or in the 20's this time of year) we will go again!!

We had left the parade to meet another realtor to see a house south of the city. It was a pretty house in a nice area.....but just not quite what we wanted (maybe 90% there....not 100%). Although one might think this was a waste of our time, I think this helped us narrow down our search to where we want to be. Although the neighborhood we saw in the afternoon on Sunday was very nice, we decided to *not* concentrate our search in this region of WNY. So, I guess you could say we had a very productive, NON-productive house search this weekend.

Once we got home, David was finally able to take down the Christmas lights from our house. Don't get me wrong, we were NOT lighting our Christmas lights for this long....it has just been too damn frigid to take them down until now. Madeline finally had the opportunity to run around like a little monkey outside for the first time in months and I took advantage of the Papa/Madeline outside time and concentrated on straightening up the inside of the house a little.

After enjoying a lamb dinner (a Amy recipe creation....with the help of Wegmans - of course!), and some Petite Sirrah, David and I were ready to settle in for the night. We put Madeline in for bed and all of today's fresh air made her fall asleep pretty much as soon as her head hit the pillow. Mama-Dirtyfoot and Papa are now enjoying quiet time and playing on our computers while thinking about the wonderful weekend we've shared. Yet, it won't be long before our heads hit the pillow too!!!!