A weekend away, and the end of the world's longest second birthday extravaganza.

Finley's going to be incredibly disappointed when she realizes her three week long birthday celebration has come to a close and she no longer gets cupcakes for breakfast. We're not sure how to break the news, although we're pretty sure we're going to keep letting her think all of our Amazon Prime packages are for her. Largely because she hilariously sings "happy birthday to Finley" every time the delivery guy comes and never seems disappointed that she got diapers, for example, or any number of ungulate urine products Seth's been ordering for hunting season.

It was a good run, though. She got a whole birthday weekend on her real birthday, had cupcakes at daycare (with Dad's attendance), repossessed Aunt Michelle's Halloween cupcakes and ate them for breakfast regularly, and yesterday she had the time of her life at her party.

And this was on top of a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, who graciously took loads of time off work to visit this weekend to accommodate Seth's AOC exercise and give him a hand while I enjoyed my first kidless weekend away in more than a year and a half. (But not before getting enough overlap time to snag a date night with Seth and catch a couple of Ford's adorable couch naps with Grandpa.)

With a sprained ankle and two kids with nasty colds who had been taking turns waking up at night, I almost cancelled about a million times, including Friday morning when both kids woke up coughing as I tried to sneak out the door to catch my insanely early morning flight. But Seth snuggled them both and told me to run for it, and off to the airport for my adventure I sped, barely making my flight.

As is always the way, of course I was glad I had made myself go. I missed my babies madly, but knew they were enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa, who sent pictures like this one.

Seth got to go deer hunting, covered in aforementioned vile substances, without having to negotiate down to the minute and hear about how much paper writing I was not getting done while he sat in a treestand.

And I got to fly with only one bag, drink beer in the middle of the day, road trip on my own schedule, and sleep seven hours at a glorious stretch.

I love Texas, especially Austin, and Jackie and I spent a "life well lived" Friday riding bikes around Town Lake, stopping for beer and tacos in 70 degree weather. (Pretty much our dream come true.) We made pilgrimages to Chuy's and the cupcake truck. We roadtripped to Shiner with the windows down and music blaring. 

Saturday, April kept me company while I hobbled the 5k instead of the half marathon I had intended to run and- although wildly disappointed about this- I felt better after enjoying post-run beers on the lawn in front of the Shiner Brewery. My own personal version of heaven.

Back in Austin, we had a girls' night on the town complete with live music and Home Slice pizza before an early morning flight to get back in time for Finley's party.  The weekend had been just what the doctor ordered.

So naturally, it snowed and iced at home, my flight was delayed, and I had multiple panic attacks before pulling up to the house seconds before Finley's party, smelling like the floor of a bar and looking liked I had been dragged in by a bus. Seth and his parents had done all of the party prep, and I did not feel like the Mom of the Year (although I bought Finley off for my absence with new pink cowboy boots.) 

But they had done a bang-up job, and the party was a rousing success, complete with bear meat steaks, Tumblebus fun, Jayne's beautiful cupcakes ground into the carpet, markers on the wall, an incredibly loud kid jam session with drums and guitars (why do we have such loud toys??), plenty of beer for the grownups, and a good time had by all.

Finley slept like a rock last night, and Tony & Jayne cleaned up our biohazard of a house while we put her and Ford to bed, so we definitely feel like we nailed it. (And could not be more grateful for grandparents.)

Although she had her last cupcake for breakfast this morning, so tomorrow is going to be a rough return to the real world for the birthday princess.

Tony & Jayne headed back home today too, and with Finley's birthday down and a low key Thanksgiving getaway planned this week, it's hard to believe that the next big thing is the holidays. I can't even begin to contemplate all the schoolwork I have to squeeze in between now and then (not to mention Christmas cards and shopping)(this may be a gift card year), but a month from now we'll be headed west for our crazy Christmas adventure.

Mind. Blown.

The photos of the week are Finley in her batgirl costume from Heather & Jim (a real crackup),

and these amazing videos from the birthday jam session.