Yesterday

Yesterday was Monday.

Normally Mondays don't go well for me for whatever reason, but yesterday was a superb day.

I made up my mind on Sunday night that I was going to try to stay away from the computer all day on Monday. I have an unfinished library book due on Wednesday (Next by Michael Crichton) and I was determined to finish it. Plus, I had tons of laundry to do and some house-cleaning to accomplish. I find that the Internet just sucks me in some days, so I was determined to avoid it so I could get some things done.

I ended up checking my email twice yesterday, but I didn't spend more than 5 minutes online each time. Yea, me!

I took my 4 year-old to the dentist and surprised our favorite hygienist with a birthday cake and present (it was her 26th birthday yesterday). It made her day, which, in turn, made MY day. After that, I treated Quinn and Lillian to Happy Meals at McDonald's (which is rare) and they both got cute gingerbread man toys (from the movie "Shrek the Third"). They say, "Not my gingerbread buttons!", which is probably one of my favorite lines from the original Shrek movie. AND... the best part... they have OFF switches, so that when I get tired of Lillian pressing the button repeatedly ("not my, not my, not my, not my, not my gingerbread buttons!") I can just switch the thing off and hide it under the couch cushions. GEE-NEE-US!

After we finished eating, I put Lillian down for her afternoon snooze (she's 4 months away from turning 3, but thank heavens she still loves her naps!) Quinn and I retired to my bedroom, where Quinn played quietly with his new tractor/trailer/truck Tonka toy while I read. After awhile Quinn joined me on the bed and we snuggled up to take our own nap. How sweet is that feeling of warm child snuggled close to you? How sweet does his hair smell? How wonderful is it when he says, "Mommy, I love 'snuggalin' you!"? Bliss. Pure bliss.

I spent the afternoon helping my oldest child with a school project and watching Food TV with my other kids (They love Paula Deen, Giada and Barefoot Contessa.) Then I cooked dinner (grilled steaks!) and we had a nice meal together. The best part of dinner? EVERYONE ate. That's not normal at our house. Normally there is at least one child complaining about the food. It was a Monday miracle!

My husband and I cuddled together on the couch and watched "Dancing with the Stars" (go Joey!), "Heroes" (Adrian Pasdar is GONE?!?!) and "The Bachelor" (I knew it would be Tessa!) on TV (thank goodness for DVR) and then we went to bed.

I think May 21, 2007 will go own in history as my favorite Monday ever.

(And this blog has officially become the one with the biggest use of parentheses.)