a weekend without j.

what a busy weekend. j. went to NE for a family wedding, so here is everything elenora and i packed in:

1) i stayed home from work friday morning and went to the pancake house with j. and ella before he took off for the airport.

2) e. arrived with penelope and eli to watch visit for a half hour before i went to work for 2 hours. yes, this was my vacation day.

3) fed ella lunch and then put her down for a nap and started boiling spare ribs.

4) s. and aurora arrived and i ran and got the CSA "cropit share" before ella woke up.

5) we made barbecued spare ribs and brussels sprouts with herby mashed potatoes for dinner. the girls loved the meal, which was honestly one of the best i've ever made.

6) we all watched snow white and the seven dwarfs--elenora's first full-length animated film--and ate popcorn.

and that's just friday.

saturday we went to ballet and then rushed home to pack a picnic lunch before going to manchester-by-the-sea to take aurora to the park while s. worked. it was definitely a challenge to watch 2 girls out in public. at first it was tough if one girl ran off in one direction while the other one was busy doing something, but i got the hang of it and we had a good time.

after the park, ella wanted to go to rockport, and it was early enough in the day that i did take her there. we strollered about and looked at the ocean and had good mommy-and-me time together. ended up in j.'s cafe where we got quiche and salad for dinner.

by the time we got home she was exhausted, so she was in bed and fast asleep before 6 pm.

today we had a leisurely breakfast and then ran a few errands before my cousin e. and robyn arrived to spend the afternoon with us. the girls were so sweet, and e. kindly gave both ella and me haircuts. it'd been awhile.

ella conked out by 3 pm, so we'll have a couple hours when she wakes up before putting her to bed.

j. comes home late tonight. i missed him. life is easier with 3.