Medals and trophies

If there were some kind of Mom medal for bravery, I think I would have earned it today.   In the one afternoon, I attended both a Chuck E Cheese and Pump-it-Up birthday party with my kids.  And let me tell you, any parent who takes their kid to Chuck E Cheese on a rainy Saturday afternoon deserves that medal.  Holy craziness!   The kids were exhausted tonight, but undoubtedly sleeping with smiles on their faces as a result of good times, good friends, decidedly mediocre pizza and of course, cake.  Lots and lots of cake (which was undoubtedly not mediocre!).

Despite iffy weather, we were able to get our last soccer game in this morning.  Matthew played fantastically and earned another trophy for his collection.   Funny that it was 92 degrees at Thursday's practice and this morning it was damp, windy and 61.   Ugh.   Surely, there is a happy medium in there.

Finished off the day with dinner at the Hale's.  Heather made her award-winning chili (2nd place in her church chili cook off!!) and Bassam baked up some chocolate chip cookies.   All in all, a great ending to a crazy day!

Whew!

A very busy couple days in our world. 

Friday was the Fun Run at Kenrose and was also the Country Music Kids Marathon.   Matthew ran just over 2 miles during the fun run and then completed his final 1.2 miles for the marathon over at LP Field that night.  Overall, he logged  over 30 miles since mid-February! My parents arrived on Friday afternoon so they were able to see his race, too!

Today was equally action packed.   We started the day with a 9:00 soccer game for Matthew.  Perfect weather for soccer--sunny, breezy and in the lower 70's.   Hard to believe that one year ago we were in the midst of devastating rain that flooded our city.   It seemed even more ironic that when when my folks and I made a run to Home Depot this afternoon we saw folks from Alabama loading up their trucks with generators, fuel tanks and other supplies.    

The Williamson County Community Band played at Main St. Festival today, so we all headed in to Franklin.  While I sat on the stage, Bassam, GG, Gus and the kids explored the festival  for a bit before catching the last part of our show.   In a particularly brutal twist, the stage was down-wind from the Kettle Corn stand.   The whole time we played the smell of kettle corn was all around us.   Not fair!! 

After a quick dinner we dashed off to My Gym for Gracie's birthday party with her friends.   It was a fantastic time.   I think I had as much fun watching it as Gracie did actually being part of it.   The staff working her party were phenomenal and made it a really special day for Gracie and all her friends.  

Another highlight was this fabulous cake that my friend Tomika made for us.   Gracie wanted a "Charlie cake" and that's exactly what she got!  Love!!!

One more birthday celebration tomorrow with the family.   Then I think we will finally close the books on Gracie's 5th birthday!!!

Soccer Saturdays are back!

Soccer season has started!!   But unlike the last few, just one game for us to watch since Gracie decided not to play this spring!  I must say, I kinda liked not rushing from one field/park to another, but if she decides to resume playing in the fall, I'll happily do so again. 

In the meantime, she is happy to pal around with the pack of other little sisters.  Don't you love how she had to pile on the accessories to go watch a soccer game?

Matthew's team had a great game, winning on both fields!  His favorite position is still goalie, although he did pretty well on offense, too.  At least until the last quarter when we he appeared to stop listening to his coach and was perpetually in the wrong position.  Oh well!

It was also PERFECT weather for soccer. . . . sunny, breezy and 68 degrees! The whole season should be so nice!

Soccer. Is. Over.

Well, at least for this season.

Despite being the fastest season since we started playing (4 years ago) because we've had no rain outs, the season has somehow felt much longer.   I suppose it's because we have more going on --plus with the kids' games spread over the morning and afternoon, soccer games sometimes wipe out the majority of the day.

Still, today was a beautiful day for soccer.  Sunny and cool . . . the breeze was brisk . . . . no one was covered in sweat at the end of the game (players or parents!).   Matthew had an amazing run at goalie and stopped some tough shots.  He played pretty well on offense, too.  He took two shots, but neither went in.
Gracie played good, too.  She scored a goal within the first 2 minutes and stayed in the action for the rest of the game. Two of the girls on the other team were classmates, so she also spent a fair amount of time chit-chatting on the field, too.  At one point  I also heard her ask her coach to call her "Wonder Woman" instead of Gracie.  For reasons unknown, he agreed. 

Random side note . . . . this is what the sky looked like over the YMCA this afternoon.   You'd think there had been an air show!

After the games, there were treats to be eaten and trophies to be received.   Who doesn't love that?   Since we brought the cupcakes (Sorry, Mindy .  . . purchased from Pubilx, not homemade.  But their buttercream frosting is TO DIE FOR!!) and brought enough for all the siblings, I had to convince Matthew and Gracie NOT to eat one at each other's game.  Seriously . . . I couldn't let them have 2 cupcakes .  . . on top of all the other treats they had this week from Halloween parties AND tomorrow's anticipated load of sugar to be given to them by the neighbors!   Too much!

Here we are with the latest additions to our trophy collection.  I think that makes 4 for Gracie and 10 for Matthew (not that they're counting, right?). 

TGIF!

Whew!

Today marked Gracie's last soccer practice of the season--last game for both kids is tomrorow!  Yay!   It was also the last day of Book Fair at Kenrose.  Another wildly busy couple of hours of sales during for Donuts for Dad.  I can't wait to see the final numbers, but I have a feeling they are going to be good!  Plus we had a few more envelopes trickle in for Push for the Playground (Preschool Fundraiser).  We ended up breaking the $5,000 mark and had participation around 70% which is phenomenal!! 

This week had too many mornings waking up at 5 and staying up late . . . . but it was totally worth it.  Weekend will be fun with soccer games, soccer parties and of course, HALLOWEEN!!  Can't wait.

Longest. Saturday. Ever.

I'm not complaining . . . it was largely a fun day.  Plus,  the weather was amazing.  But it's 9:00 pm and feels more like 2:00 am.  I'm tired.   Bassam's on call, too . . . and that always adds to the craziness on weekends.  I'll make this quick and hit the sack.

Both kids played soccer today.  Matthew's team got SQUASHED.   The coaches decided to split the teams by skill level, so the top kids on the other team were playing the top players on our team.  Safe to say, Matthew was on the second team.  The problem was the other side's second team was much better than ours.   Matthew's team got shut out on our field, but I must say, Matty played amazing.   All 4 quarters he gave 100% and made 3 different attempts at a goal.  He also stopped 7 shots as goalie and let in just one.   I saw some of his best ball handling of the season today.  Naturally, he was upset by the loss, but he really did great.

Gracie's team also lost today. She didn't score, but did have her mojo back, at least for the majority of the game. She came close to scoring 2 or 3 times, but just couldn't make it happen.   It was nice to see her smiling in the game again.   Just two more weeks left in the season.  We haven't had a single rain out--and I must say, I'm ready for the season to end.

Tonight we met up with the Harris Family for dinner and then all went to the Nashville Zoo for the Ghouls at Grassmere.   I love getting as many wears out of the Halloween costumes as possible, so long as no one spills or throws up on their costume (the latter being a problem two years ago!).  I literally finished Matthew's last night.  And what I learned today was that I need one more set of ties on the wings, so I guess today was also kind of a "trial run."  He has not been overly thrilled by them as he watched them being created, but got enough compliments today that I think he is sold.  I ended up using glow in the dark paint on the front.  The reflective tape that I literally spent hours searching for, wound up on the back side, which will be good on Halloween night.  I could have used paint there, too.  But since I finally found the stinkin' stuff, I was darn well going to use it. 

Gracie wore the new and improved crown today --and was disappointed that the costume would also include tights and a long sleeve t-shirt tonight.   Sorry, kiddo . . . it's too cold for a sleeveless dress and bare legs. 

Well, it's 9:15 . . . Bassam got called back to work.  I'm going to ignore my untidy house and hit the sack.  Unless the cleaning fairy stops in tonight while I'm sleeping, it'll still be here in the morning and I'll take of it then. 

Pumpkins!

Ahhh . . . Sunday night. The strange combination of "Omigosh! The week ahead is so busy!" and "Thank goodness the weekend is over and we can get back to our routine!"

Two soccer games yesterday. Matthew played first. And although no one on his team was listening to the coach, they still managed to pull out a win. No goals for Matty, but he didn't allow any goals when he was goalie. Not bad.

Gracie seemed to have misplaced her mojo. I can't really explain what is going on there. She is frustrated and I think, a bit timid after last week's kick to the head. I hope she gets it back because it was hard to watch her play this week.

Today was an unusually cool day. I think it went up to the low 60's . . . maybe. So after church, we changed clothes and headed over to Gentry's Farm. An awesome day to be at the pumpkin patch. We did the corn maze, hay maze, pumpkin pickin', hayride and all the other activities they had. It was kinda dusty out there --but we had a great time and it was nice not to be sweating bullets like we are most years!

Everyone exercised . . . except Bassam!

An even busier Saturday than normal, if you can believe it.

The day started early for me as I participated in the Women's Half Marathon in Nashville. It was the first time Nashvegas has hosted a Women's Running Magazine race and it was pretty good event. Unlike the Country Music 1/2 Marathon & Marathon, there were just 5,000 runners at today's race. This year the CMM had 34,000. Too crowded. Plus, as the name of the race implies it was basically an all-estrogen crowd. A few men running with wives/girlfriends/mothers, but that's about it. Race shirts are cut for women (a rarity!!) and there is pink as far as the eye can see!

As I was struggling with yet another foot injury (or just the same injury revisited), I knew my 2:05 goal was probably out of reach. I think was on target for a 2:07 or 2:08 until mile 12 at which point we reached the biggest hill of the event. Yes....at mile 12!!! Now, I should say that ALL Nashville races are hilly. This is a hilly town, so there is no avoiding them. The first six miles seemed like they were all uphill. But we were feeling good, so it didn't seem so bad. Hit another big one around 9. That was took the wind out of me, but I made it. Then I hit the Shelby Street bridge at mile 12. This is a very long, very steep bridge. I kid you not when I say 80% of the people around me were walking or running so slow they might as well have been walking. I started up and then had a throbbing pain in my calf--kind of felt like a charley horse. I was forced to start hiking. When I reached the top, I decided enough was enough and ran, albeit awkwardly, the rest of the way in. I ended up finishing in 2:10. One of the Vanderbilt medical staff must have noticed my gait and pulled me into the medical tent where they wrapped my calf (quite impressively, may I add) in an ice pack. I gathered my medal and hobbled off to get some chow and meet up with my friends.

Of course, there was no languishing to be done after the race. Matthew had a game in the morning. And I'll be darned ---the kid scored his second goal of the season! So proud. Gracie played this afternoon and perhaps for the first time didn't score a single game. Granted she only got to play 1/2 the time because we had 11 players and other side had 6, plus she got sidelined for a bit because she got kicked in the head (ouch!), but she finished with a smile on her face, so all's well.

Directly from soccer we headed over to church for the annual Oktoberfet celebration. So much fun! The kids had a ball and brought home copious amounts of prizes from the different games. While the food smelled terrific, my post-race stomach is always a little touchy, so I skipped the brats and just got a soft pretzel. The gift baskets I put together for the silent auction brought in over $40, so I was happy about that, too.

The rest of the night will undoubtedly be quiet. Bassam is heading over to WB's Bar (our neighbor, Warren's, kegerator) and the kids are going to bounce on their trampoline. I'm going to enjoy the peace and quiet for a few minutes and then see how my tummy feels about a little beer, too.

Soccer Saturday

Is it really possible we got two more soccer games in the books without rain? Fall season is always hit or miss, but we've had two beautiful, sunny (albeit a little warm) weekends in a row! Next weekend will probably be the clunker. First, I have a race. Second, it's soccer picture day. We've had many damp picture days in years past. Drizzly enough to be yucky and make you soggy after standing around for 45 minutes before the game waiting to have your picture taken, but not rainy enough to actually cancel anything.

But back to today . . . . we were so excited that Matty scored a goal today! I don't think he scored a single goal last year. Came close several times and played crazy hard, but just couldn't get it in. Today, he went all the way!

Gracie got a couple goals herself, although I will say she was dragging for the most of the game. She spent a decent amount of time chasing the action, instead of IN the action.

Regardless, goals by both kids seemed reason for celebration! Off to Sonic we went!

Soccer Saturday!

Fall soccer has begun! Matthew's team (the Red Fire Dragons) played this morning at 10:15. I think they ended up in a tie. Matthew played hard and stayed aggressive despite the heat (and a very tough opponent). We heard afterwards that four of the kids on the other side played travel ball in addition to Y soccer. Let me tell you, it showed. Wow (But I still think their parents are crazy for schlepping them around to two different leagues every week!).

Gracie's team (the Swipers) played at 1:00 pm. Gracie rocked 4 goals this morning. They only played about 40 minutes, but none of the girls seemed particularly upset about that. It was really warm and sticky. The Swipers (as well as the spectators) were plenty sweaty and ready to go.

Not sure how our kids managed to have matching uniforms once again this year, but we're all sporting the red this year!

The case of the disappearing Saturdays . . . .

My Odyssey is parked back in the driveway (not the garage--because my side is currently housing packing materials from our new bookshelves and our old desk). I'm happy to report she looks as good as new. Quite frankly, it better because it was an expensive repair.

Soccer schedules were posted today. The good news is my kids have NO overlapping games (and they are both on the red team!). The bad news is Matthew plays at 9 or 10:15 am most Saturdays and Gracie plays at 1, 2 or 3:00 pm. While it's good we'll be able to see both play each week, it pretty much wipes out Saturdays for the next 8 weeks. I mean, except for our crazy social calendar on Saturday nights. *snicker*

Lunch x 2

Today was double lunch Friday. First I joined Matthew at Kenrose at 10:50 and then met up with Gracie for her class picnic at noon. Despite divvying up the food between the two lunch bags I packed, I probably still ate more than normal.

Gracie had her first soccer practice tonight. Coach is a first-timer and his daughter is a first-time player. I won't lie, it was hard for me to sit on the sidelines and simply be a bystander. Especially when Gracie was goofing off. She seems to have lost a little of her zest for the game. Or maybe she just tired. 6:00 pm on Friday nights is a tough practice time --but it's what we got, so she'll have to get used to it.

Me, too.

Back to soccer

Matthew had his first soccer practice tonight. And for the first time in a long time, it was only 81 degrees (at least at 5:30). Fabulous! He has the same coach as last season which rocks --but just a few players that we know. Safe to say, Matthew hasn't morphed into Pele since last spring, but he's having fun.

Met some of the new parents while they practiced. As I talked to one, it became very clear to me that she has had Botox. A lot of Botox. Her forehead and eyebrows couldn't move to save her life. It was as freaky and fascinating at the same time. I tried to look IN her eyes while she talked and not ABOVE them, but it was hard.

Really hard.

Weekend wrap up

I'm waiting for the lazy days of summer to begin. Okay, I know officially summer doesn't begin for a week, but since school is out around here, we call it summer. And this weekend was anything but lazy.

Matthew finished out his soccer season on Saturday. WHOO HOO!! He happily added his 8th trophy to his collection. As for Bassam and I, we were happy to reclaim Saturdays for a bit (not they'll suddenly be free, but you know what I mean).

Bassam was on call this weekend, so he was in and out of all these activities. Poor guy. But now that he is at Centennial, at least the trip is shorter. On the other hand, he has at least two times as many patients to see. He was able to get over to the Farmer's Market with us, but shortly after had to roll back in to the hospital.

On late Saturday afternoon we went to have pictures of the kids taken. I usually try to schedule them right between their birthdays. It's not like when they are toddlers and they change dramatically in the matter of a month or two. Since the photographer I like to use specializes in outdoor photography, we generally end up a little closer to Gracie's birthday since it tends to be cooler. Except this weekend of course, when it was 90+ degrees. Instead of using Crockett Park as we have the last couple years, we decided to shoot over at the Factory in Franklin. The backgrounds are really interesting with brick, metal as well as some pretty landscaping. We had her shoot some family shots this year, too. Despite being pretty sweaty when all was said and done, hopefully she captured some good smiles!

Sunday was pretty boring -- church (last day of Sunday School), playing outside, a trip to the Y and then we took the kids to the pool to practice swimming (see, it really is summer here ---it's not even Memorial Day yet!). Bassam cheffed up some yummy Mahi Mahi for dinner and I've been putting off finishing the church newsletter in favor of completing another Shutterfly picture book because they are 40% off for a couple days. I've been trying to get caught up on albums (would love to be a scrapbooker, but it's so not my thing!) and then when they go on sale, actually order one or two. This was a "limit one" sale, but it's fine, since I only had one ready.

And that's the weekend in a nutshell . . . .

Time flies . . .

We are in the midst of the end-of-the-year crunch. Gracie wraps up preschool on Friday. Matthew finishes next week. Good grief, when am I going to get my MUCH NEEDED pedicure?

Last night we celebrated the end of Gracie's soccer season. She was excited to add a second trophy to her collection. We were supposed to have a final game on Saturday (a make up), but I was just informed that the team has opted to forfeit because the parents are "ready for the season to be over." I personally feel that was a bit selfish, since there were 12 other little girls who are affected by this decision (my team), but whatever . . . it's out of my control.

After picking up Gracie from preschool, we headed over to the dance store for some new ballet slippers. Of course at the end of the year hers are just too tight to continue wearing. It will be nice to have some slightly less grubby slippers on her feet for the recital, but you know she'll outgrow them by the time September rolls around and classes start back up.

Of course, she informed me today that she might not do ballet next fall. When I asked what she might do instead she said, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe ping pong?"

Girlfriend is so weird sometimes!

Whew!

Today was decision day for me in terms of the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. My 12 mile run on Monday was so painful that I probably walked nearly 4 miles. I called Bassam from the trail in tears and even considered phoning a friend to pick me up. Yeah, it was that bad. A trip to the Orthopedist on Wednesday allowed me to get the insightful diagnosis of "Bio-mechanically, your feet are just messed up."

Nice, huh.

Anyway, after taking the rest of the week off, I told myself I would do 10 on Saturday morning (when it was cool) and if I was able to complete it in a reasonable amount of time without an unreasonable amount of pain, I would go ahead with plans to race next Saturday. I did 10.8 miles and felt pretty good (although I could tell I had taken time off--whew!). There was some discomfort in my feet, but what I would consider manageable. I know there will be no personal record for me on Saturday--and my time will undoubtedly be slower than last year (but hopefully not the year before that), but hopefully I can make a respectable finish. In the meantime, I'm seeing a physical therapist on Wednesday and then waiting to hear about a consult with a guy who specializes in orthodics for athletes.

Once the run was done it was on to the rest of our Saturday craziness. Both kids had soccer games---Matthew played incredibly well and had 3 successful stints as goalie. He had two shots on offense that looked promising, but one just missed and the other got stopped by the goalie.

Gracie scored just one goal this morning. I shouldn't say "just," because it really is fantastic! One of her teammates had her best game ever and scored 3 (her first 3, might I add!), unfortunately, she scored 2 of them by stealing the ball away from her own teammates, one of whom was Gracie. You can guess how pleased Miss G was by that. Still, as the coach I was oh-so-proud of the whole lot of them!

After soccer, Gracie had a birthday party for her pal, Lilly. Then we headed over to the Hale's for dinner (Portillos and Italian Sausage---Yummmm!!!!!). The kids are off to bed, and I'm not far behind. A poor night of sleep, plus the run and the rest of the festivities wore me out!

In the meantime, here are some fun shots I captured today. There are two where I managed to catch the aftermath of a ball Matthew kicked that whacked some other poor kid in the face. Caught some crazy facial expressions. It was totally an accident on Matthew's part (although you'll see in another one he willingly joined in to what was some VERY aggressive play).

This is what the weekend should look like . . . .

An absolutely gorgeous Saturday.

Knowing that today's amazing weather was to be followed by rain tomorrow, I forced myself to do a 10 mile run today. It went pretty well and I was able to manage a sub 10 min/mile pace. Glad to have that one in the books.

Afterwards it was time for soccer, as well as team pictures. It was the first sunny picture day I can remember in a long time. Unfortunately, we had to be there insanely early and of course both kids played within 30 minutes of each other at different locations. Another divide and conquer Saturday.

The rest of the afternoon has been spent outside enjoying the sunshine --and not cleaning the house (especially my craft room, which desperately needs it) and other chores. The Clarks are headed over for dinner in a bit --and Bassam is cheffing up some burgers and brats. Nothing fancy, but exactly what a day like today calls for!

Hoops and goals . . . .

My parents arrived last night for a brief visit as they travel south to Florida. They got to see both kids play soccer today. Gracie was up first with a 9 a.m. game. She scored 5 goals. Yeah! Despite that, it was a hard game as we only had 7 girls for 2 fields. Everyone played the whole game and the other team had a couple great players.

Matthew had his first game today and he really rocked it (he is the cool one in the shades!). He made some good plays, had a successful stint as goalie and even had a couple breakaways to the goal, although wasn't able to score. Proud parents and grandparents!!

The rest of the day was low key. Bassam and my dad trekked out to the nursery for a new Dogwood tree. We all played outside and my mom and I made a quick dash to Old Navy and DSW shoes (where I found the cutest suede Steve Madden boots for 50% off!). Of course, there was just a little bit of basketball on TV, too! All in all, a great day!

Be our Guest!

In a strange twist, Matthew's 11:30 am soccer game got cancelled, while Gracie's 11:00 game did not. Matthew plays at Crockett Park--and they take really good care of those fields. They are used for all kinds of tournaments and so the city is invested in keeping them in nice condition. Since they were a muddy messy on Thursday night, I can't imagine how they were today.

Gracie, meanwhile, plays at the Y. It has to be really bad for them to cancel. An on-and-off light drizzle and chilly temperatures was not going to do it. Gracie did well -- scored 2 goals! Yeah!

Afterwards, we met up with the Clark family for lunch (Bennett also played at the Y at 11:00 am) and then took the kids home for a quick costume change.

And yes, I actually mean costume (at least where Gracie is concerned).

The middle school put on a production of Beauty and the Beast. Decided I would take the kids to see it . . . and of course, Gracie didn't want to just SEE the play, but to go as if she was IN the play. Yes, we went wearing our Belle costume. Since they hosted a tea party afterwards where the kids could meet all the characters, this was actually quite fun. While Matthew slurped up 3 cups of what he said was "the BEST fruit tea ever," Gracie beamed while people admired her in her yellow princess gown. She was not the only princess there --and not the only Belle (we ran into friends Katie and Ellie, also dressed as Belle), but boy, she might as well have been. Twice, I found her circling the boy who played Gaston (who was adorable) . . . . I'm pretty sure she was flirting!

Crappy night for basketball -- the Illini, Vandy and K-State all lost in their respective tournaments. Boo.

Wild and wacky weekend

Sunday evening is almost upon us --and as usual -- I'm exhausted.

Having said that, I think I earned it this time.

Friday night we hosted 4 student from Carthage College. The problem was when we picked them up after their concert we were greeted with the news that they did NOT have to be back at church at 8 a.m. on Saturday as previously reported. They had to be back at church at 5:30 a.m. SERIOUSLY!??! Since we live 30 minutes from church, that meant leaving by 5--and for me, getting up by 4:30 to finish putting their lunches together and pulling out stuff for breakfast (which was nothing more that juice, Nutrigrain bars and fruit). Needless to say, I felt a bit tired the rest of the day. Later that morning, we had a make up practice for Gracie's soccer team. We have 4 new girls (but only received 3 new uniforms--that's another story), so we're having to go back to the basics of "no hands on the ball" and kicking in the right direction. Gracie seemed off her game on and didn't get her foot on the ball much during the scrimmage. Having said that, she didn't complain about being tired or needing another water break, so she was ahead of the game on that front.

After her practice, it was time for ME to practice. I attended a 2 hour coaching clinic that was awesome. Learned some great games and other activities to implement in practice. And they didn't just tell us about them. We actually played them all. I got quite a workout! I was also reminded that for being a coach, I have very limited ball handling skills. Definitely my last year of coaching.

Right after the clinic, we headed to Matthew's final basketball game. He had 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 fouls! Mom was proud --even of the fouls! He added his 7th trophy to his collection! Yeah, Matthew!

We rounded out Saturday with a birthday party with the Clarks. It was Renn's 3rd birthday and they had an awesome party (featuring all things Curious George) to celebrate. Beth cheffed up some amazing homemade pizza and they served the most beautiful monkey cake I've ever seen. Bassam even broke his Lenten fast to partake in a bit.

This morning we went to church. Matthew seemed really under the weather, even dozing off on the way to church. We skipped Sunday School and he rested in our bed for an hour or so watching--wait for this --professional bowling!! Later, he went outside to soak up the sunshine and shoot some hoops and seemed much better. He's definitely congested --but hopefully it's not more than a cold. *fingers crossed*

As for me, I did an 8 1/2 mile run with my pal, Holly. Between the amazing weather (60+ degrees and sunny) and the good conversation, the miles sailed by. Having said that, I'm pretty tired right now and imagine it will be an early night.

All in all, a great weekend --but whew-- it wore me out!!