There aren’t enough days in the weekend.
~Rod Schmidt

Oh how I love the weekend!

The kids and I ventured out of town the past few weekends:  two weeks ago we went to Hatcher Pass, and last weekend to Girdwood:

This weekend we stayed home.  And when I say “stayed home,” I mean it quite literally.  Today I didn’t even change out of my fuzzy fleece pajama pants.

Did I mention I love weekends?

I have never been a morning person, so weekends give me the blessed gift of crawling out of bed whenever I darn well please.  Clark wakes up early no matter what day it is, so by 7 or so I pretty much have the bed to myself.  I usually steal his pillow and doze for a while, and then lounge in bed for another hour reading.  It’s the most relaxing, wonderful start to a day.

This morning I was reading the most amazing book – I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.  It’s a wonder I got out of bed at all, and quite frankly I can’t wait to publish this post and get back to it!

Eventually the smell from the kitchen pulled me downstairs.  Clark makes the kids a homemade breakfast every Saturday and Sunday.  It’s one of his things.  Monday through Friday mornings are rushed and we resort to boxed cereal or packaged oatmeal, so he insists we do better on the weekends.  The kids love his homemade waffles (from scratch), World Famous Cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and blueberry muffins.

Who knows what we will do after breakfast, but at least it’s on our terms.  Watching football, running errands, hitting a trail, dinner with friends… it’s never the same.

And there’s actually time for fun stuff.  Today Maggie and I Halloweened the House:

And there’s time for cooking.  On the weekends, dinner isn’t a daily chore but instead an opportunity to try new recipes.  It’s a chance to wow the kids with simple things they never knew existed, like a bowl made out of bread.  How did they not know about these?

The weekend is also a time to catch up. On sleep, chores, housework, and paperwork.  Writing and reading.  Sorting mail and paying bills.  And laundry.

Lots of laundry.

After the past two weekends away, we had a mountain of laundry.  But now it’s all washed, dried, and safely tucked away.  The floors are vacuumed, the toilets scrubbed, and the countertops shiny.

Tomorrow, when I come home from work, I’ll walk into a home where I can relax, rather than see another set of jobs and duties.

My past two weekends away filled my tank, but this weekend at home recharged my batteries.

So now… back to that great book!