Lincoln was very excited to see them there when he got home from school and he hung out with them until they were all done that evening. And then he was all ready to move his clothes over. So while he was busy with that and the twins were napping I got busy and cleaned the grill, planted a few new shrubs, planted my flower pots and sprayed for bugs. We ate dinner a little late that night and then Andrew took the kids outside to play. Ellie and I headed to her school to help Leah decorate for the teacher appreciation luncheon that was the next day. We used some of the branch centerpieces from Kaitlin’s wedding and then I made tags to hang on them with quotes about teachers and also some quotes from the kids at school about their teachers. We didn’t get to finish though because we had to head to her gymnastics lesson. It is hard to believe she only has a few left before her recital. She is pretty excited, but also nervous.
Wednesday was our last official small group of the school
year so I started the day by cleaning the bathrooms and all of that fun
stuff. I was also in charge of snacks
for the evening, so I had to work on those.
Lincoln was disappointed Andy and Jeff weren’t coming back. I kind of was too since he was
well-entertained while they were here J. I worked on cleaning out the garage and our
car a bit while the kids played outside for a little while. Bennett found Lincoln’s roller skates and
decided to try them out. It didn’t last
too long though which is probably a good thing.
I made a feta dip I saw on my mom’s Pinterest board for
one of the snacks for small group and it was a big hit-especially with
Andrew. I didn’t try it since I knew it
was something I wouldn’t care for but it was super easy. I will miss seeing everyone from our group
every week but it will be nice to have a bit of a break of getting everything
ready and cleaning up the messes and whatever other surprises we find
downstairs afterwards.
Thursday morning the twins and I went shopping. We hit up Aldi, Wal-Mart and Home Depot. I love how they like to help me put things on
the conveyor belts when we are checking out.
Lincoln brought home his Mother’s Day present for me from school. It was hit handprint in concrete (with his
crooked pinky and all) and a little card-so sweet J. It had a note that said it had to cure a
little longer, so we will set it outside in a few days.
Then
it was time to start getting ready to leave for Louisville the next
morning. Lincoln helped me a bit and
then he played up in his room for a while.
Jackson was staying home with Andrew this time and the rest of us were
riding with my parents to Louisville to celebrate Colton and Carolina’s
birthdays. Ellie brought home her
Mother’s Day gift that afternoon-a sweet poem with a flower made out of her
handprints and a card that said, "Dear Mom, Thank you for letting me help you. Thank you for letting me do gymnastics. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for everything." She knows how to make me feel special :-).
Jackson had baseball practice that night, so I took him
and then ran by my parents house to move all the car seats over to their
car. Then my dad decided to vacuum out
my car for me since all the seats were out-he is very nice to us! Then it was time to pick Jackson up. I do enjoy our little bit of one-on-one time
we get every now and then. Even if it is
just a car ride home from practice. He
is growing so quickly and I definitely want to keep our conversations
going! He was looking forward to the
weekend home with just Andrew but he almost changed his mind when he found out
Ellie was getting to skip school on Friday.
Ellie will be disappointed though when Jackson gets his perfect attendance
award for the year and she was so close.
It would have made for a very short weekend though if we waited to leave
after she got out of school.
So Friday morning, Andrew and Jackson headed off to work
and school and the rest of us headed to Louisville. It was a bit of a rough trip though. Miles and Bennett were both in the back seat
and I think they decided it was okay to be demanding since I was so close. Then Miles threw up a little over an hour
into the trip. So we pulled off at a gas station and cleaned him up and changed
him. We wiped down his blanket with some
antibacterial gel and wipes and then I held it out the window as we drove down
the road to air it out. It kind of
worked. Then we made it past St. Louis
and I needed to stop at a Marshalls to exchange some shirts. It looked like it was just off the
interstate, but it was a little farther away and traffic was bad getting in and
out. Next stop was a Cracker Barrel down
the road where Bennett decided it was a good time to throw up just as we were
sitting down. Luckily neither episode
was too bad. My dad got some paper
towels from the bathroom and cleaned up the floor while I cleaned up
Bennett. I am so thankful we were
traveling with my parents. The boys were
hungry though and ate a good lunch. I
decided they were getting car sick in the back of the car, so I moved their car
seats up front before we left the restaurant and they were better after
that. But it was a little tight for me
in the back. Lincoln’s car seat was
already in the middle so I was behind one of the middle seats and leg room is
limited back there. I would try to
stretch them up in the middle every now and then. And then we had a horrible time keeping track
of pacifiers-actually all weekend we did and I ended up needing to buy more
before we headed home.
So we finally made it to Louisville and all the kids were
happy to see each other. It was my first time going to Amanda and
Todd’s house and it was beautiful. They
did some remodeling when they moved in and it was very nice. We enjoyed a nice (loud) evening visiting and
kept the kids up kind of late. I didn’t
bring the pack-n-plays for the twins and they just slept in the same bed with
me. It was okay. Bennett threw his paci over the side a few
times so I had to get up and get that.
Then Miles would not go to sleep.
It was probably three in the
morning before he actually started sleeping soundly. I had to keep telling him to lay back
down. The rain came the next day so we
didn’t get to see the kids play soccer.
The twins got to sleep though, which is a good thing since I knew they
weren’t getting naps that day. Miles
actually slept until 10:30. We spent the
morning helping get things ready for the party that was at one. My mom and I got sent to the store to pick up
a few extra things. Lissy showed up with
Bella and Brady about party time. Sara
was having a little bit of cramping and spotting and was put on bed rest for
the weekend, so Lissy brought the kids for her.
It rained off and on during the
party (we were under a severe thunderstorm warning at one point) so the kids
were stuck inside. But they had a lot of
fun. Then one of our old babysitters,
Dawn, and her family came by. They
actually live just a few blocks away from Amanda and Todd. It was great to get to see her again and visit. We had plans to go to a Louisville Bats game
that night but weren’t sure if they were even going to have it. But things started clearing up, so we all
rushed around to get the kids ready.
Kind of odd, but it was Halloween night at the field and the kids got to
go trick-or-treating around the concourse if they dressed up. So we had a cat, Superman, Batman, Luigi, a
princess and a fairy. I had capes for
Miles and Bennett but they didn’t want anything to do with them. I do have to say one of the sweetest/funniest things said during the weekend has to go to Brady. He came up to Lincoln dressed as Superman and said in his cute Brady voice, "Lincoln, you look so handsome." We were late getting to the game, but that
was fine. We were in the sun so it was
hot when we first got there, but then the sun started going down. I was stuck at the end with the twins, so
others got food for us while the older kids went trick-or-treating. It was a fun, crazy evening. The twins were a mess, a dirty, sticky
mess. They both enjoyed filling a water
bottle with popcorn and even tried to drink it.
We decided the middle of the 7th inning, after “Take Me Out
to the Ballgame” was a good time to leave.
When we got home, all the kids headed inside for baths
and Amanda took Lissy and I to a couple of stores. I had a return for Old Navy and had to get
some pacifiers at Target. The website
said Old Navy closed at 9:30 and when we walked in a little after 9, they told
us they were already closed. So we ran
by Target real quick and headed home.
The kids were all bathed when we got there which was so nice of everyone
involved in that. Most of the kids slept
downstairs in the basement and fell asleep watching a movie. I kept the twins up a while longer because
they were still not ready to settle down.
But our night was a bit better than the night before. I did have to get onto Miles a bit and he
started crying, but then he finally fell asleep. They both woke up a few times during the
night, but went back to sleep pretty easily.
Amanda and Todd set up a nice brunch for us the next
morning and my dad made pancakes. Miles
and Bennett each ate 2 ½ pancakes so they were hungry boys. We got everything packed and loaded up and
just had to wait until Lissy took some quick pictures of Colton and
Carolina. Then we were off. We gave the twins some Benadryl before we
left. My dad tried to find some
Dramamine for them since we thought it was car sickness that bothered them before. But he couldn’t find any, so we went with
Benadryl. They did sleep for the first
hour or so of the trip which was good. We
stopped in St. Louis to see Sara real quick.
She was doing well and I think she took things easy over the weekend
while her kids were gone. Then it was
back on the road. We were all excited to
get home. After spending the 7/8 hour
car trip in the back seat, it makes me a little worried about sitting in a
cramped airplane seat for the 8 hour flight to Rome in September.
Andrew and Jackson stayed busy while we were gone. Jackson had a fun night at school Friday night but he wasn’t really interested in going, so he and Andrew went for a bike ride out at 1000 Hills. I was able to watch a couple videos Andrew had taken and he did a good job. He had baseball practice Saturday morning and then they went turkey hunting and rode a little. Andrew got one, so they cooked it up for dinner and had a good guys’ weekend.
Then Sunday morning they went to church and stayed afterwards for an appreciation lunch for Joe and Leah. They have both resigned from their positions at the church. Leah used to organize the volunteers and prep the lessons for Early Childhood and she has become too busy with her real estate business to keep up with that too. And Joe took a job at ATSU. So they will still be going to church there, just not working there. Then Leah even invited them over for dinner Sunday night since we still weren’t home. When we finally got home, Jackson gave me my Mother’s Day Gift from him which was an essay he wrote at school. It was the sweetest thing and about brought me to tears (I did have to try real hard for it not to happen though). I tried taking a picture of it, but it was still hard to read, so I think I am going to have to write it down here…
"Mom, I love you because you take me places. You take me to the park, to Dairy Queen, to Disney World and lots of other fun places. You take care of me when I am hurt or sad or angry. You always help me when I need help. You work on basketball and swimming with me so I get better at it. I also get the occasional toy. You make delicious food. Especially on my birthday. You are so nice and loving and funny too. Nobody could ever replace you. You do so much for me. Even when I get mad at you, you care for me. Just about every mess I make you clean up. You always forgive me no matter what I do. I love you so much. I can't imagine not having you in my life. That is why I love you mom."
The rest of the evening was spent unpacking and trying to
get some laundry done. It has been great
seeing my family, but I am looking forward to some weekends at home.
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