Cleveland Weekend Recap: Ballroom and Football.

So!  Lately every Monday I think to myself "wow.  that was an awesome weekend.  I really should write a recap."  And then I'm so worn out (and the kids are so worn out) from said weekend that I never finish it.  Sometimes I upload the pictures to flickr.  Sometimes I even get as far as starting the blog post.  But usually I don't have a chance to finish it.

NOT THIS WEEK. *shakes fist in the air in defiance*

(even though it's midnight)
 (and I had to break this up into 2 posts)

So this past weekend was funtimes. Fri night we finally took the kids to see Planes.  It was... not as terrible as Cars 2?  Let's put it this way - I wouldn't recommend it unless you have kids.  Unlike Toy Story 3 or Brave which AWESOME.  Also I can't even think about without crying.  Pixar just isn't at it's best with this franchise.

full disclosure:  I loathe Dane Cook.

Although I have to admit part of my distaste for this film is coming from the place of a jaded parent.  Every new character introduced I just thought "Great.  Now my kid's going to want that toy.  blerg."

Just what I wanted!  To give Disney more monies!  SOB.

 But the dude LOVED it and has been talking about it ever since.  Also serious crazy happened in the parking lot but I'll leave that one on twitter.

Saturday morning I got to do this:

Wait, what?

Yes.  I took my daughter to the Cleveland Dancesport Challenge.  See my cousin has gotten into ballroom dance lately and was competing.  So we went to support her.  As it happens one of my friends from the amazing knitting group that I never get to go to anymore was competing, too.

My cousin is in purple, my knititng friend in blue.

Both of them rocked it.  And it was super fun to learn about this whole culture that exists that I know nothing about.  Also there were vendors:

Somehow I took a picture of the simplest dress there.  This one doesn't even have feathers!  or fringe!

That afternoon we were all worn out from the day's activities. So we all took a family nap.  Those are the best.  And solid naps meant we could do something crazy that evening.  Like take all 3 of our kids to Ingenuity Fest.  BUT.  I'm going to talk about the entire Ingenuity portion of our weekend tomorrow to keep this from rambling on...

Sunday morning we spent tackling some organization projects that have been languishing.  Seriously I don't know what everyone does with ALL OF THE PAPER OMG.  Every day my kid comes home from preschool with another piece of nonsense / valuable piece of artwork.  Add to it the important parent handouts....  We're drowning in it and it's just the tip of the iceburg.  The thought of dealing with it when I have 3 school aged kids....

So if anyone has any school paper organization tips I'm all ears!  I did make some progress, though.  All of the art supplies have moved into a new ikea product in the basement.  And I have a home for the school stuff to live in.  Basically we went from this:

Hoarder cabinet of SHAME next to my kid's art table-turned-PILE OF COLORING AND WOE.

to this:

less craptastic cabinet of random next to an empty corner with a broken lamp.  PROGRESS.

Baby steps, right?

Sunday afternoon was spent as God intended:  Watching football and knitting, with a dog at my feet:

 Or for the expanded view:

I have to say.... watching a game with a team that is playing to win is pretty fun.  I hope the Browns play this angry next week.  It really felt like they had a chip on their shoulder.  And they should after all of the talk all week.  One player does not make a team.  That statement came though yesterday.

GO BROWNS!

wait.

Yay for a great fall weekend in Cleveland!