Family weekend and Ellie leaving

We spent this last weekend doing family things and staying very busy. On Friday night, we watched The Princess Bride for family movie night. It was awesome!
Saturday morning, Michael took the boys to engineering camp open house and I went to get my hair done and did a quick trip to Austin to sell some toys on craigslist. We met back up for lunch at home and then drove down to New Braunfels to see the movie, Planes. Michael and I thought it was pretty terrible and should have gone direct to DVD, but the kids liked it. We came out of the movie into a huge thunderstorm and we were thrilled as we are in a terrible drought. When we got back to San Marcos, we decided to throw diet and money to the wind and have dinner at the teppanyaki grill at Kobe. The kids enjoyed the show there while Michael and I talked travel and our future plans. It was lovely, and since we requested no butter and only half as much soy sauce as usual, we didn't even feel sick after!
Sunday morning we cleaned the house and then packed up all of our maltese, Ellie's things. We got Ellie almost four years ago. We rescued her from a breeder where she had not been treated well at all. I have loved her and loved having a small dog, but as the kids got older and louder and I started working and we started traveling more and more and Michael began working out of town again, she has become more and more of a burden. She has been so unhappy without our constant attention that she has begun punishing me more and more as well. I had realized that we needed to find her a better home. I put this out on facebook and luckily I found a great home for her right away! Cheris' mother was looking for a lap dog. She is retired, has time and love and a quiet home for Ellie. We took Ellie up to Austin and handed her off. I already have reports that she is very, very happy with her new home. I am relieved, and while I do miss her, I know this is much better.
After our dog transfer, Michael and the boys and I met up with Marchelle and the baby. We had a delicious lunch at Polvos and I got a chance to catch up with Marchelle and hold and cuddle the baby. It was wonderful!
That afternoon we drove to the Long Center and took the boys to see The Bremen Town Musicians which was written by an old friend of mine and put on by summer stock Austin. We all enjoyed it very much.
It was an easy, family-centric weekend and we all enjoyed each other very much. Michael is gone to Laredo this week and the boys are doing lego camp- Sam in the morning camp and Davis in the afternoon. Lilliana is doing theater camp. Yesterday I had to get four new tires on the car. I was so mad. I turns out that on an all wheel drive car, you have to get all the tires replaced if only one is damaged. I've spent the rest of the week getting ready for Katie and Soren's visit! They come tomorrow and we are going to head down to the beach. I can't wait.