Here Comes the Weekend
print
Time for lazy pancake breakfasts, homemade pizza, and, of course, instilling a love of '80s music.
Like my mother before me, I've never made a batch of pancakes in my life. My 3-year-old, Hayley, will plainly tell you that's Daddy's domain, reserved for weekend mornings when he doesn't have to go to work.
My husband gets up early on Saturday mornings and uses this time to introduce our 7-month-old to "the right kind of music." He cranks up the '80s radio station and croons away as he makes breakfast. Lucy claps along and bounces up and down, and howls with laughter as he demonstrates some smokin' air guitar.
My husband makes homemade pizza almost every Sunday, and our 2 1/2-year-old, Wyatt, loves to join in. He helps add the ingredients and roll out the dough, but his favorite job is to turn the oven light on to check the pizza. In the summer we use tomatoes and basil from our garden and eat outside on the back patio.
Once or twice a month on Sunday afternoon, we pack up the boys and a picnic lunch and jump in the car. We take the scenic roads and drive for hours, looking at all the beautiful farms and singing silly songs. We find a perfect place to stop along the road to have our lunch and stretch our legs, and then back in the car we go to explore some more.
Our family wakes up on Saturday mornings and heads to Courtney's — one of those yummy, "can't believe I'm eating this," sausage biscuit, hash browns, omelet kind of places. Ms. Lori and the gang greet us like old friends, and my daughters sit up at the counter and help roll silverware in napkins. It is our version of Cheers!
With a 4-month-old and a toddler, sleeping in on Saturdays is not an option. We get up early, go to breakfast, then head out on a trail for a hike. Rainer rides in his baby wrap, and Dieter is carried by Dad (and walks some too). We usually go to a place with a stream — Dieter could throw rocks into the water for hours.
I'm a minister, and my son, Rafael, 5, looks forward to "Church Day" because he comes to choir rehearsal with me before worship (and, truth be told, loves how relatively unsupervised he is at the cookie table after worship).
Every Saturday morning, with the stealth of a herd of elephants, my daughter Audrey and I sneak up to the bed where Daddy is "sleeping." At precisely the right moment she flops herself on the bed and screeches, "Hi, Daddy!" He is always completely surprised to see us and responds with the right combination of tickles and kisses.
We have "Something New Saturdays" each week. Most often it is a new recipe, but it could be a game, event, craft, or even something small. For example, one of my stepsons put mustard on his fries instead of ketchup at dinner and found he liked it much better!
On Saturday mornings my husband and I each take one of our twins with us as we run errands. We switch which twin we take every week. This way the girls each get the rare treat of undivided attention.
