Swings and "Bugg-ays"

Friday afternoon we pulled out of Mom’s driveway and headed for K’s house for a long weekend. We were all pretty much worthless after the energy we spent at Mom’s! A few streets from K’s, MW adamantly declared that she HAD to go tee tee. K and I urged her to hold it a little longer…we were almost home. I think we began chanting and singing to her about holding “it”…we were all laughing… MW’s pleas for us to stop became more urgent…we were only three or so streets away! MW began screaming, “Please stop, I can’t hold it any more! It’s going to come out! PLEASE STOP!!!” So K, in command at the wheel, smoothly steers us in front of her friend’s house, where we made good use of the grass near the edge of the street. I was laughing so hard I could barely even help MW…I’m pretty sure that from the spot where she relieved herself you could see K’s street! How crazy! Thankfully and hopefully anyone with children completely understands that sometimes those things just happen.

Sweet K had all kinds of water toys for my kids to play with in her gorgeous newly landscaped back yard! The kids exhausted themselves in the baby pool while K and I made dinner – which, by the way, was FABULOUS! MW amazed me by eating 19 shrimp! She started with five. She asked for five more. Gulp…she ate those, then five more…and then sweet Uncle M gave her several off of his plate…for a whopping total of about 19! Where did she pack it all?

Saturday the guys ran out to do their thing while K and I kept the little ones at home, and then we traded and K and I got to run errands. Fun, fun! I got to use my William Sonoma gift card that I’d been holding on to since Christmas! New soap and lotion for the kitchen as well as some oh, so fine new kitchen towels. They are so nice! Amazingly nice! I love to dry my hands on them! Wow! (I have noticed, since bringing them home, that I am much more eager to do the dishes…)

Sunday we got to go to church with K and M. It was refreshing to worship with other believers in a different town…to follow a slightly different liturgy (the order of things in the bulletin), and to sing some old RUF songs! It brought back the good ol’ college days of RUF on Thursday and Sunday nights! Not to mention several friends from college attend church with K and M…

Sunday night we had some of the best Bar-B-Q I’ve ever tasted! This little “joint” had $5 off ribs for two as a Father’s Day special…yummy! We crowded around a table inside the packed restaurant. K fixed water for everyone and in the process of setting it on the table, dumped part of a cup of it right in T3’s lap…it was hilarious!

K and M have the most wonderful swing in their front yard on an old oak tree…it’s a wide board, perfect for seating two, hung with two thick pieces of rope, one on either side. MW LOVES that swing! I bet she spent a few hours, total, swinging on it. T pushed her so high I felt like I might vomit! My stomach did flips as I watched my baby girl float higher and higher before gravity pulled her back down..and swoosh, she was off again. T got quite a kick out of the look on my face. I’m such a mother!

She also discovered a new joy…catching lightning “bugg-ay-s” as she calls them. This started at my Mom’s house. I’d forgotten about catching lightning bugs! MW loved it! She would see one and chase it down and yell for it! This little evening treat continued at K and M’s. They walked her down their street in pursuit of new lightning “bugg-ays.” Sunday night she had several in her jar and long story short, she gave them each a chance to “go home to their families.” All but one, “Timmy the Turtle lightning bugg-ay,” left the jar. Convinced that “Timmy the Turtle Lightning Bugg-ay” didn’t have a family, MW carried him in his new glass habitat, inside. TtTLB slept in his jar on the bathroom counter until Monday morning, when he rode all the way to T’s parent with us.

Before I leave K and M’s visit – thank y’all so much for welcoming us into your home and loving us with such open arms. Thank you for smiling at the messes our children made, for laughing as their shrieks of delight, and sometimes at their shrieks of um, not delight! Thank you for allowing them to explore your home. Thank you for loving them. What a blessing y’all are and how thankful I am to have you both!

From there, we went to T’s parents house. The plan was to drop MW off with them for a week of VBS! We arrived at their house before they’d returned home. They’d had their locks changed and we’d left our new key at home…so we hung out in the back yard. Again, I marvel at the wonderous ways God created little boys to be boys and little girls to be girls. T3 went straight for the dirt. He was climbing and tumbling and not at all bothered by the falls and scrapes. MW immediately took occupancy of the play house and played the “cooking, cleaning, nurturing” role. We enjoyed a brief visit and then headed home, sans our precious little MW!