Hello from the other side of my favorite weekend of the year, Oscars weekend! In addition to sheet pan nachos, Buffalo popcorn and an Everything Everywhere All At Once-heavy award ceremony, this weekend also involved a visit to Dempsey’s tumbling class, Avatar: The Way of Water, bagels and a baby shower. It all went too fast!

I was so impressed and delighted over how comfortable Dempsey seemed at class! Such a huge change from the last time I went. We had so much fun. And Lydia got some good attention from the teachers and Grandma. She took a good nap when we got back! We were trying to decide if we wanted to go out to dinner when a certain little miss decided to have a crying fit so that made our decision for us 😅 Made up for it with ice cream for dessert then started Babylon after Dempsey went to bed and the beginning of that movie gave me the same sense of overstimulation as life with a baby and a toddler 😬

Saturday feels too short when you spend three and a half hours of it in a movie theater. Avatar was the only best picture nominee we hadn’t seen and you HAVE to see that one in a theater, right? Dropped the kids off at Grandma’s and headed to Pandora for a torturous three hours that I hated almost every second of. I should’ve known when we re-watched the original a few months ago that I wouldn’t like the sequel but WOW, I hated it. Allow me to share my Letterboxd review — If not for the incredible visuals of this movie, I’d rate it much lower. I find it so deeply stupid. James Cameron is so immersed in the world of Pandora that he’s lost all sense of how people speak in the real world but it includes a lot less “bro” and “butthole.” The dreadlocks? Don’t get me started. Seeing humans next to Na’vi somehow makes both of them look silly. In conclusion, this film features a made up whale saying “It’s too painful.” Joey liked it 😋😂 Anyway, picked the kids up, made chicken tacos, put Dempsey to bed and finished Babylon and respectfully, that movie is not for me. Brad Pitt sure is charming though!

What a Sunday! Started with bagel sandwiches then a few errands and chores before Lydia and I scooted out to Jacy’s baby shower. They had a berry theme for their baby girl and it was all so cute and beautiful just like that mama-to-be! Lydia got passed around and even slept for a bit. How cute are she and Delaney with their great grandpa??

Reunited with the boys back at home and got ready for our evening festivities by making sheet pan nachos, filling out our ballots (Dempsey picking Women Talking for Best Picture was a tough beat) and settling into the couch for the show. I went 17 for 23 so yay for me and I actually thought the telecast minus those Spielberg jokes at the beginning was pretty good. The EEAAO crew sure knows how to deliver a speech but the highlight of the show was absolutely the “Naatu, Naatu” performance. Joey and Dempsey were dancing all over the place! Till next year, Oscar!

Would you believe Joey and I snuck away for some adult time twice this weekend?? Felt nice but weird at the same time. I missed the kids, but they had fun with their grandparents, so it all worked out fine!

Friday kicked off Denver Restaurant and while we’ve been more out than in on it in the past few years, it seemed like a good excuse for a date night so I booked us an early reservation at The Bindery. Not to be totally lame, but early dinners out means we can be home for bedtime and don’t have to burden anyone with putting Dempsey to bed while also trying to care for Lydia. Seems to work out for now! I thought the meal and the service at The Bindery were absolutely fantastic! Would recommend. After Demps was in bed, we watched The Whale and I have many thoughts. Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau are very good but the rest of the movie is mediocre to bad. Did not care for the plot line or performance of either teenage character and all that stuff about positivity and people being amazing rang totally false to me.

A Saturday to ourselves! I told Joey to humor me and eat some waffles out of the freezer instead of making fresh ones. Felt nice to not have to clean up any dishes! Oh and he and Dempsey went to get coffee for us and those are the shoes he left in 😂 Around 9, the boys headed to Home Depot for their craft class and came back with a pinball machine that’s equal parts cool and frustrating to use 😅

After Demps went down for his nap, I took a walk and saw my first crocus of the season! I’m SO ready for spring. Made a chicken and quinoa dish with peanut sauce for dinner and Demps was having none of it 😑 Our attempts at calling the chicken “fat bacon” didn’t work either when he tasted a piece and told us “that’s chicken!” 😅 Oh well. Fell asleep to Argentina, 1985 later on, so I guess I was tired!

The Oscars are fast approaching and Joey and I have been trying to find time to go see Avatar 2, but when we realized we also wanted to see the Shorts, we pivoted and made plans to fit those in instead. My parents were kind enough to come watch the kids so we could spend all afternoon at the theater. Saints, truly! My sis and Wayne came over for a bit too and those four pictures in the middle are ones I received from my babysitters 🤍 The Shorts were good, particularly “Ivalu,” “An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It” and yes, “My Year of Dicks,” which had me laughing out loud in the theater. Back at home, we had BBQ ranch chicken salads and Buffalo chickpea meatballs for dinner and yum to both! Nearly finished our movie but I guess we’ll have to see the end tonight. Nothing like taking three days to watch a movie 😂

Happy Monday!