Weekend Rewind

Actual mileage, from northern border to southern, calculated with a baby and toddler in the backseat: longer than I care to even think about. But this is still an AWESOME place to go!


This rewind involves only me and the little boys, as J had his own (very quiet) weekend here at home. Brief recap for a madcap trip:

Thursday. 7:00 am - 7:00 pm. Driving from Minnesota to southern Missouri. The boys were GREAT, all things considered. When S started getting fussy near the end, P would yell: "We're almost to Grandma and Grandpa's!" over S's yelling. What troopers. God in all of His mercy blessed us by sending a warm front through the Plains, so we left twenty degrees and feet of snow only to be running in grass (!! There IS grass underneath all of that slush!) in sixty-five degrees ten hours later. The boys were so delighted to be outside in actual warm sunshine, they were shrieking. And Mom/Grandma had a delicious supper waiting for us--AND chocolate-chip cookies. Heaven will be like this, I think; exhausted, we stumble to a threshold where our Father is waiting to catch us and feed us. And maybe, just maybe, He'll have chocolate-chip cookies--the perfect ones, a.k.a. Plato and the perfect bed.

Friday. I awoke to hungry boys and exhaustion, and my lovely mother sent me back to bed, praise the Lord. We enjoyed a lazy, restful day, capped off by a trip to consumerism's answer to the stresses of child-caring to buy a diaper bag (we live four hours from the nearest BRU, so this is a novelty, a gift. They actually sell more than one item of baby paraphanalia! Wonder of wonders! I'm like the Soviet women emerging from the Cold War, shocked by the sight of oranges and pineapples piled in the corner grocery. They DO exist! Okay, I'm getting a little carried away). THEN we met up with Grandpa who returned safetely from Canada and ate together at the home of the world's best chicken sandwich, where P got his long-sought red balloon.



This pic posted solely for the sake of S's curls. TOO cute.

Saturday. Ate. Rested. Visited. Blogged. Ate. Shopped. Visited. Napped. Watched Gpa put up the swing and P distend his neck watching him. Watched S climb the labyrinth under the table. Visited. Ate homemade German Chocolate Cake (made with P's help)! YUM.





Sunday. Attended early service at Immanuel (reality: arrived five minutes into service despite being up two hours early). The boys were terrific and the parishoners sitting behind us amused by S's flirting and amazed at how quiet and well-behaved and cute both boys were. "I can't believe he sat in the pew all by himself!" one lady said of P, post-service, after seeing us leave him while we went up for communion. Shameless bragging? Yes. Also, I hope, a plug for taking kids to church, actual church, from birth onward. Result? They can learn to sit and be quiet AND listen during the service. P now joins in the liturgy--and makes commentary, like hearing the Lord's Prayer: "Daddy says that," he told Grandma. The rest of the day? Me and P drove back to MN, arriving after dark. S will enjoy a few days with undivided adult attention--and we miss him, and his "talking" and eating unedible items that I haven't picked up off the floor quickly enough. Happy week, all!




Me: "Smile, boys! Look over HERE!" Gpts: "We'll smile; put the Iphone over there so their eyes are up." Boys: Zoned out, watching the Hallelujah Chorus flash mob. Result? Classic family photo, of course.