Am I the only one??? Just haven't been able to think of anything to write about. Which is crazy! I just took a trip to Colorado, had a Girl Party, and--of course--there's the endless supply of blogworthy material supplied simply by living with three little people. Guess I just haven't been in the mood. It's a good thing I don't have to worry about NARR. ;-)
The trip to Colorado was terrific! We left when James got off work last Thursday night and got a few hours behind us. We stopped and got a motel room in a little town called Hereford, Texas. I remember because it smelled like a cow. Actually, this was without a doubt the smelliest trip I've ever taken. Driving through Texas is alwasy an aromatic experience, but usually the odors come and go as you pass by beef farms and active oil rigs. Not so this time. The whole state just stunk. Stank? Stinked? Anyway, it was terrible. I don't think Sam is ever going to be the same again. Every time he's seen a cow since then he's sure to point it out. "Look, Mom, it's a cow. Cow's stink. 'At's a-scusting!!!"
Back to the motel. The room itself was very, very nice and I've never been so glad to have my handy scented candle in my overnight bag! It made the room pleasant enough we could uncover our mouths and noses and actually sleep. I even forgot about being in a cowy town until we opened the door the next morning. ~ugh~ The lobby was great, though, and their waffle irons made waffles in the shape of Texas! How cool is that?! The kids thought it was fantastic.
The drive into Colorado was amazing. Just enough fresh snow to make everything look clean and fresh and beyond gorgeous. Besides the cool, crisp mountain air, which I appreciated all the more after our cow/oil infested trip. When I go back there I'm reminded all over again of how very blessed I am to have grown up in such a magnificent place. As happy as we are in Texas, it still feels like "home" when I drive through those mountains and I soak it all in with an appreciation I never could have had while I lived there.
We were able to visit with Dad and Jon for a little while up at the Men's Retreat campground before the kids and I headed on to Denver. We got to Emilee's house at about 8:00, I think. We let the kid-o's play for a while, then put them to bed and started the girl party! We spent most of our time sipping on flavored cocoas and looking through my old photo albums, per Haley's request. I don't remember what we did after that, but it must have been enjoyable because we were up until 3:00am!
The next day Haley's cousin Laura came over to meet the Master. Emilee, that is. You see, Laura is just getting into scrapbooking and brought her book over to show what she's done so far and receive some pointers. Emilee is amazing and had helped her make a few improvements and filled her mind with lots of ideas and inspiration before she left a couple of hours later. Laura is a really, really nice girl and it was fun to be with her.
We made hearthside cider and a pumpkin roll that day. Uummm... ordered pizza for dinner... I'm thinking... I know we didn't do anything with the kids and rarely even saw them. They just hung out in the basement the whole time. Watching videos most of the time, I'm afraid! Oh well, it was a party, right?!
That night we girls stayed up and played games. I Buy, Clue, Memory Madness, Yatzee... And talked. And laughed a lot. Although I can't seem to recall anything specific that was actually funny, now that I think about it. Oh well. That's what girl parties are all about, right?! We lasted until 2:00am that night. I was at Emilee's house for a total of about 36 hours and we slept all of about 6! Ha! Maybe just a little more... ;-)
The next morning I loaded the kids up and headed back to the Men's Retreat campground. James rode with Jon and Dad rode with me so that I'd have at least a little while to visit with him. We went out to eat in Salida, then visited at Chris & Shanda's house until church time. We had a good service and Dad preached a really, really good message on sanctification. Wow. I was so blessed. Afterward, Jon and Dad left for Denver and we stayed the night with Chris and Shanda. It was so great to be with them! I still miss the time we used to spend with them when we lived in Salida and it's sooooooooo good to have a taste of it every now and then!
We drove back to Texas the next day and it seemed like a very, very long trip after our weekend of very little sleep. It was fun, however, as it usually us. The kids didn't get restless until the last hour or so, so I tried to come up with things to keep them occupied. We sang for a while, then I started up our own Memory Madness type game. I'd give them a category and they'd take turns giving an answer until somebody couldn't come up with one. We started with colors and then animals. Then Katie said she wanted to pick the category. Her choice? Bones. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have to play a game like this with your 3, 4, and 5 year olds and you're giving answers such as "ribs" and "pelvis" while your kids are saying "clavicle," "phalanges," and "metatarsals"? One of Joe's answers was "cervial vertibrae." Dumb Leap Pad. Those things were only created to make parents look stupid. Do a pretty good job of it, too.
It's been a good week since we got home. I got unpacked on Tuesday and got the house straightened up. I've been doing lots of school and kid-related things since we've been home. Got both nasty bathrooms scrubbed down, shining, and smelling strong of cleaning chemicals. And I have half of the kitchen floor scrubbed to a shine, too. The other half comes today.
I took the kids to Midland on Thursday and we did big shopping at Wal-Mart. (It had gotten so bad around here that the night before we had had peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches... on hamburger buns (!)... with Ramen noodles... for dinner!) We met James at Mardel, then we all went out to dinner together. Afterward, James took the kid and grocery laden van back to Andrews and I took the car over to Odessa for Ladies' Bible Study at Stacey's house. Afterward, Stacey lent me a couple of books from her vast collection of Christian fiction. I went home and read the first one (Love Comes Softly) that night (only took me 'til 2:00am -- I'm so dumb!!!), then the next book in the series last night (done by 12:30am). It was so great!!! It feels so good to be caught up enough on things to actually spend some time reading. It's so much better than watching a movie--even a good one. Just seems like it's good for your brain or something. Anyway, it's been great.
Aside from that, we've had the general kid craziness around here. Joe had a personal weapon ban for a week after he shot Katie in the face with one of his dart guns... twice. I made him go around and collect every piece of weaponry in the house and I stashed them all away. That was a long week for all of us. Joe does little else nowdays than shoot guns, bows & arrows, slingshots (even if it's just a stretchy lizard he has) and slash things with swords or makeshift knives. He spends most of his days in the backyard now and I'm thinking it's a good thing.
Enough rambling. I was just trying to make up for the week+ that I took off. ;-) Hope all is well with everybody -- and I hope we see some activity out there on the blogs sometime soon!
~Becki~
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