It is a perfect Sunday night...a little rainy, comfy p.j.s, house mostly organized and ready for the start of the week and a three-day work trip, and the Oscars are on.  I allowed Luz to stay up a little past her bedtime because she was so enthusiastic about it.  She was inspired and awed and reacted exactly like I did as a child, imagining herself there one day. She was also incredibly confused about why Hugo was winning so many awards (neither of us has seen it yet, but now we are curious).  I love watching the Academy Awards.  I look forward to it every year and am thrilled that Luz enjoys it too.  I will have someone to watch it with now.

We had a nice, relaxing weekend filled with the mundane things that have to happen at the end of a long vacation.  There were a few trips to the park (Luz's newest obsession is dribbling and the incessant bouncing noise inside of the house makes me nuts; James' newest obsession is pretending he is in a marching band - he plays all the parts with gusto - one of these days I will get it on film, that activity, though incredibly entertaining, also makes me nuts),  a new haircut for James, soccer, READ class, one last longish run to prep for the marathon, and cooking (meatballs with  tomato sauce and patatas bravas with two different sauces - neither of which were great, except the aioli - try as I might, I just never get it totally right in the kitchen).

All in all it was lovely weekend that went by way too fast.  It is hard to believe how different things looked just a week ago:

I miss the endless fun, but getting back to the daily grind is ok too.  Now we just need to think of what we should be giving up for Lent.  Nobody around here is ready to commit to anything yet...we want to be good and sure we pick something significant.