Maple Leaf Mommy

I'm always sharing with you folks tales of the crazy rant worthy moments.  Today instead I thought I would share my idea of the perfect Sunday...

Today my husband got up with G-girl when she woke up at not quite 7am.  As Baby-G was awake and fussing we started our usual wake up morning routine of nursing and rocking. She surprised me by falling back asleep.  I was absolutely shocked when she proceeded to stay asleep as I laid her back in her crib.  My husband in the meantime had gotten up, taken a shower, was dressed and was heading downstairs to hang out with G-Girl.  Thinking I had fallen into some sort of alternate reality I crawled back into bed until 7:44 am, when I was awoken by Baby-G crying out for me.  She signed asking for milk, so I rocked her and nursed her a second time. I dozed off in the rocking chair holding her.  I startled awake to some loud noise from downstairs to find the baby laying on my lap once again sound asleep.  The clock read 8:14. I tried to lay her back in her crib, but this time she woke up and immediately started crying.  I dressed the babe and we headed downstairs. I was very happy to discover that my husband had already had breakfast with G-Girl.  I contemplated handing off the baby and crawling back into bed.  Instead I asked my husband if there was anything he felt like doing today.

"Well," he said, "I was thinking we could go check out some garage sales."  I am a treasure hunter. My husband is not. I love going to garage sales. I adore everything about it. He can barely stand it.  I was shocked that he was suggesting that's how we spend our morning. Easily convinced I got the kids ready, stocked up on juice and diapers and headed out the door.

We drove around somewhat randomly, and followed the signs to four or five garage sales.  Well we TRIED To follow the signs. I think a special place should be reserved in hell for folks who can't bother to take down their signs after the sale.  One place even had giant poster boards stapled to the tree on their front lawn declaring they were having a yard sale right here, right now, but the gate was locked and no one was home.

We hadn't found a single yard sale worth really looking at. The baby was fussy and G-Girl was starting to get whiny about the fact that we hadn't found any sales with kids stuff.  Somehow, miraculously, my husband wasn't getting grumpy over all of this. I had one lead left. I had seen a Kijiji ad saying today was the "giant Chandler street sale".  I've gone to this sale in the past. It's at least five blocks long, and dozens of houses take part. We parked at the head of the street, put Baby-G in the stroller, and walked.

It was awesome. It was after 11am by this point and the yard sales were pretty picked over, but we had a great time walking down the street. Strangers gave my adorable girls free stuff. (Most of which, to be honest, was total junk which promptly disappeared into the "charity box" when we got home.) G-Girl was well behaved and actually listening to her father and I. She held my hand and only "looked with her eyes" at all the yard sale goodies. My husband let Baby-G out of the stroller and she toddled down the street holding his hand. We stopped at a giant "Crime Stoppers" tent and G-Girl shared a hotdog with her dad.  I spent $2 for a new outfit for G-Girl. Another $4 or so netted me a pile of VHS and DVD videos for the kids.  I hadn't really planned on being outside, so I hadn't brought sunscreen.  We all got too much sun. Though Baby-G didn't fare too badly as she spent most of the time in the shaded stroller. We hustled for the car once G-Girl declared she needed a washroom Right Now.  We then headed to the near by BackRoads Cafe and grabbed lunch.  I was super proud of G-Girl for holding off 'til we got to the restaurant washroom.

I had seen this great tin dollhouse, but passed it up as I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend $10 and I hated the thought of carting it down the street.  I had wanted to go back and grab it, but "potty emergency" took precedence. After lunch we drove back to the sale and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was still there. I agreed with the previous owner that it was definitely worth at least $40 or $50 in an antique store, all the while trying to talk her down to $8.  Did I mention that I love garage sales?

G-Girl was perfectly behaved when we stopped in at the local gaming store and picked up this months comic books.  Both kids conked out on the ride home. Amazingly my husband was able to get the baby out of her carseat and up into her crib without waking her.  I didn't have as much luck lugging thirty-three pounds of snoring G-Girl from the car to her bedroom.  She woke up, but after much drama and fussing she did eventually pass back out.

The kids napped while my husband and I hid in the basement and cuddled dozily on the couch.  I may have fallen asleep for a moment or ten. I awoke to find my husband standing over me with Baby-G, who was hungry and demanding to nurse.

My husband barbecued sausages for dinner. G-Girl napped right through it. Which was sort of great, because we had a nice quiet meal with just Baby-G. Later, as I was getting the babe ready for bed my husband heated up G-Girls dinner. He even sat with her in the dining room and kept her company. While I tided up a bit and hung out in the basement cleaning and fixing my new toy.

So yeah, that is the tale of my perfect day. My husband let me sleep in like an extra 40 minutes. We went to yard sales. My kids laughed in the sunshine. I found a fantastic tin Marx/Walt Disney dollhouse. I got new comic books. I didn't have to cook dinner. Oh and everyone was in bed by ten, leaving me a moment to myself to compose this post. Not sure what I did to deserve all this awesomeness from my husband today, but I sure did appreciate it.

So what did you folks do this weekend? Did you get outside and enjoy the spring weather?  What is your idea of the perfect low-key family day?