This was quite a weekend!

Friday, the kids had no school and were home most of the day. N had a playdate here with his friend Tommy and the girls had piano lessons and did homework. Daddy and I went out to dinner with Chris and Laurie to celebrate my birthday, which was fun and very yummy.

On Saturday, M and I went to do her bat mitzvah project, which entailed going to the Sinai House holiday party way out in Bladensburg MD  and taking family portraits of the families there. She ended up doing much more than just family pics – she took pics of the party itself, the board members who were there, the White Elephant exchange, and some of the staff. They turned out really well. I will post some photos this week.

Meanwhile, Daddy, N and A went to Max's bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai. Poor Daddy threw his back out again so it was difficult for him. I relieved him at the synagogue when M and I were done and we ended up being among the last guests to leave! N had a lot of fun watching the dancing and sometimes participating, and he came home with a number of DJ props. We got home around 4, and then the girls had a sleepover at their friend Lexi's from camp out in Olney. (Lots of driving this weekend!) I dropped them off around 6 and headed home for a fun treat: Kornelia, N's teacher from last year, came to babysit. He was a little shy at first but happy to see her. So cute. Daddy and I left them doing crafts at the white table and she said he was very easy.

We went to a neighborhood holiday party but were home at 10 – tired.

Today, the girls stayed at Lexi's until 3, which was when I could get out there to pick them up. Beforehand, N and I ran some errands, including Trader Joe's, his favorite errand of all time. Then N came home and had a playdate with Alice, who had asked if he could come over (as did Livia, who wants to have a playdate with N "for a week" and a sleepover with M and N). We were all reunited here around 6 after M and A and I ran errands at Michael's, M's favorite store in the world, and Lord & Taylor.

Family dinner here tonight, then ordered holiday cards, which took a lot of negotiating but is finally done.

This is the first week in a while where the kids have school all 5 days. Looking forward to a normal schedule this week. We have some evening plans but it should be a quiet week.

Will post pics tomorrow of the sleepover, M's project, and N's artwork. (I told him we were going to eat dinner at the brown table tonight because he was in the midst of doing artwork on the white table, which I called "the art studio". He loved that so much and kept calling it that the rest of the night.)