Best sweater ever

So where did I last leave off? Right... Friday night. My mom dropped my brother Pete off in the afternoon, and it turned into a guys' night--Greg and Wayne both came over in the evening. We still did laundry--Tony started it, and I finished it after the guys got here--but we didn't do much cleaning. We saved that for Saturday morning.

We were up fairly early with Ari, and Tony, Pete and I did a quick cleaning before Tony's dad came over. We all went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch--Tony's dad had been there before, but none of the rest of us had. The food was excellent. Even the chicken tenders kids' meal that Ari got was really good--I don't know what they bread the chicken with, but it was delicious. Tony and I still have a gift card for there that we haven't used yet, so we will definitely be going back soon.

After lunch, we went to the mall so that Pappy could spoil his granddaughter a little. We got her a few things at the Children's Place--a sweater, a hoodie, and a pair of khakis. And as I was picking all that out, Ari kept grabbing at a leopard-print shirt on the clearance rack. I expressed my distaste for the shirt, but Tony and his dad ganged up on me, saying things like, "It's only $5" and "Aw, but look--she really likes it." So we added the hideous leopard-print shirt to our pile. Tony's dad came back to the apartment for a little while, then headed home. And Greg and Wayne ended up coming over that night for yet another guys' night.

Today was church, and Ari wore her new sweater. It's that classic Children's Place sweater, and I almost bought it for her a couple times, but always held off. But now, since it was on sale and Tony's dad was buying, I couldn't resist it any longer. Tell me that this is not the most awesome outfit ever.



Something about it makes her look so grown-up...



After church and a quick lunch at Wendy's, I insisted that Tony head down the street to the walk-in clinic. He's been fighting a nasty cold for over a week, with barely any improvement. and every time he coughs, it's deafening--loud and hacky and horrible-sounding. And when he agreed to go without must protest, I knew that was another sign that he was really feeling lousy. They said he has a sinus infection that's about to turn into bronchitis. No fever, and his lungs sound good, but they prescribed an antibiotic. So hopefully he can kick this thing pretty quickly. We're pretty sure he caught it from Ari, who came down with a cold only a couple days before him, but she seems fine. She still has the runny nose and every so often she'll cough, but overall, she's on the mend. And I'm just hoping and praying that I don't catch this thing. The only thing that sucks about that is that it means I've been avoiding Tony--only kissing him on the cheek, for example. It's amazing how much you miss little things like that when you're suddenly being so careful to avoid doing them.

So now here I sit at the computer, the last evening of the weekend. I'll give you three guesses who's sitting in my living room right now... Tony, Pete, Greg and Wayne. I made a full-fledged, real live dinner tonight for the boys--Shake-n-Bake chicken, rice, and veggies on the side. And I made brownies before they got here. All the leftovers are put away, and the dishwasher is cleaning all my dishes. I feel like such a perfect little housewife right now.

They're playing video games right now, and Ari is charming them into paying attention to her every so often. But it's about her bedtime, so I'm off to enjoy a few minutes with her before we have to start the bedtime routine.