The Breinholt's: "The Week"

For the past two summers we've had our nieces Sydney and Mallory stay with us for what they've dubbed as "The Week". They get to come parent-free for a week and let us spoil them and spend some quality time together. They are the ones that call us Xhaxhi and Halla-which means Uncle and Aunt in Albanian. This year was a little harder since Heath was working (and I have a hard time concentrating on work when they're here), but it was totally worth it. It was a little shorter this year, but still just as much fun. We met Ben and Mer in Waco on Tues after work. We ate dinner together and then hit the road with the girls. That night we pretty much just did the bedtime routine since it was so late. Wednesday ended up being our day of fun. I took the girls to get their hair cut. We went to this kid friendly place where they put a bow, "pixie dust", and a scent in your hair at the end. You also get to put a card into a machine and it spits out a toy. They had fun, but didn't get as much cut off as they would have liked. After that we headed to a nail place so they could get their back-to-school mani/pedis. Sydney chose purple and lime green with flowers, and Malla chose sparkly teal and gold with flowers. I did a basic pedicure with pink polish. It was fun to see them enjoying it. Haircuts and nails wouldn't be complete without a new school outfit so we went to the mall to check things out. We got some cute clothes at Children's Place and a new outfit for their bears from Build-A-Bear. We left so we could get home to meet Heath. When we were all together we left to venture down to South Austin to visit Gattitown (It's like Chuck E. Cheese with a buffet). We ate dinner, and then played some games. Then headed home for our bed time routine-PJs, teeth brushing, Moon song by Xhaxhi, prayers, tucked into bed with a kiss, then falling asleep with the dogs. We had planned on spreading some of that fun out, but they landed on the same day due to coupons and other things. The next day was low key and involved hanging out at the house watching shows/coloring/playing games followed by swimming with Xhaxhi when he got home from work. Although we did go back to Snip-its to get their cut shorter. This time they were gutsy and both got short bobs. Friday morning we swam again and then took our annual trip to Big Top Candy Shop. The candy store is downtown and the girls wanted to see the inside of the Capitol building so we did that. Gotta throw a little education into a vacation, right? They liked that it was made of pink granite and how big it was inside. Heath told them some fun facts about it and then we left. We headed home to eat dinner and play some games. The plan was for their parents to come the next day and stay the weekend, but we decided to meet them in Waco again and then they come back another weekend to hang out. So Saturday morning we went swimming for one last hurrah then Heath left to meet Ben in Waco. It was sad to see them go. The house has been so quiet. The dogs miss all the loving they were getting. It was so nice having car seats in our backseat, tiny clothes to wash, and a reason to sit at the table to eat. We can't wait to have little ones in our lives and do those things everyday. When I went up to work after the girls left I found Thank You notes from Sydney to Xhaxhi, Halla, and our dogs Ally and Sophie. It was the sweetest thing. Made us tear up. They are such sweet kids. They enjoy this week so much, but I don't think they realize how much more we do. Phew, a shout out to all those working moms though. It.is.hard. But so, so worth it.