Friday morning, unfortunately, brought a reprise of the Major Meltdown (does that make anyone else want to salute, ala How I Met Your Mother?) of earlier in the week. It wasn’t quite as bad, but I also didn’t react nearly as well.

And that’s an understatement.

I blew up. I yelled. I yelled so much I cried. That calmed HER down for a bit. She didn’t say anything, but she tilted her head and looked at my tear-streaked face and oh-so-slowly reached out to touch my cheek.

Don’t be thinking that’s sweet. Because the fit resumed just as soon as I stopped yelling. Thankfully, though, it ended before we got in the car to head out for the day.

I was determined to be positive and calm when I picked her up after work. And I was – but she was not. So I dropped her off with my husband and drove straight to the grocery store. I bought cookie dough and rented a chick flick – and began the countdown to bedtime.

Soon enough, Mark went to work and Annalyn went to bed. I broke apart the cookie dough, baked up more cookies than I really needed and popped in my movie.

By the time I went to bed, I was feeling a little better.

[Movie review side note: The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez is ridiculous. But if you’re in the mood for – or in need of – a silly romantic comedy, this might do the trick. Unless you hate JLo. Then you should probably skip it.]

On Saturday, we hung around all day, enjoying Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, naps and a trip to the grocery store. (Okay, I wouldn’t say we ENJOYED the trip to the grocery store. But we did survive without any major incident.)

Then, after naptimes, showers and a frantic surface clean of the house, I picked up our babysitter and we went on a date.

Thanks to generous friends and family, we’ve never had to pay a babysitter to watch Annalyn, so this was a first. One of our pastors’ daughter, who is in choir with me and works in Annalyn’s nursery, agreed to come over and watch our daughter, so Mark and I could get a few hours of much-needed time together.

When I asked Annalyn the next morning if she liked “New Lauren” (because my sister-in-law’s name is Lauren, and there can’t possibly be TWO Laurens!), she said, “She’s nice, but she doesn’t talk.”

I’m not really sure what that means. But I am pretty sure New Lauren didn’t eat dinner. I told her she could have anything in the kitchen and even pointed out a few good options. So I don’t know what that’s about. Aside from getting paid – and the kids. Sometimes. – the best part about babysitting back in my day was the frozen burritos. And watching Baywatch and The Commish.

I don’t know. I’m weird.

Sunday was another low-key day. We went to church, ate leftovers for lunch and enjoyed long naps. We also played a lot of pretend, watched another Mickey movie and ate a bowl full of messy chips.

The best things I heard this weekend? Annalyn looking at Mark and me, as we sat on the couch with those chips: “We’re sharing. We’re a family.”

And THAT is a good weekend.

Later this week, I’ll link this up to Tuesdays Unwrapped on Chatting at the Sky and Finer Things Friday at Amy’s Finer Things.

How was your weekend? Do anything exciting? Or relaxing? Or BOTH?

P.S. Feel free to check out my post about Cheesy Chicken from a while back. I’m linking it up to recipe carnivals this week. And even though I still don’t have a photo (what can I say? It doesn’t LOOK pretty.), it is DELICIOUS. And pretty much our family’s favorite thing to fix.

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