Weekend at Mawmaw and Pawpaws

After a very long week at Chickadees, the boys were SO EXCITED to head to Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house this past weekend. 

We were able to get an early start and were on the road about 4:45 - which was good, as we hit storms along the way.  We stopped in Greenville for dinner around 6:30, which is always an adventure.  We picked Taco Bell - thinking it would be faster than other options - but it still took an hour for the boys to eat a bean burritto. 

Shortly after getting back on the road, Lincoln went to sleep.  Jackson decided to put a show on for Brian and me by singing his ABCs.  He sings his ABC's a lot (and asks to have the CD player play the ABC song too), so this wasn't surprising - except that he was singing a different version of the ABC's!  I'm sure most of you are thinking "there's more than one version of the ABC's", but yes, there is.  He was singing the ABC song from Super Why!  It was so cute...he would even say "We sang the alphabet" at the end like the pig says - until about the 50th time he sang it.  He sang all the way to Van Wert, and only succumbed to sleep after we stopped to fill up with gas.

The boys woke up when we arrived at my parents, but weren't quite as outgoing as usual.  They played shy with Mawmaw and Pawpaw, and then decided to go and sit on the couch and watch TV instead of socializing.  We were hoping they would go to sleep, but no luck.  After about an hour of visiting with my parents, Brian took the boys upstairs to bed.

Sleeping was rough.  The boys are in a "transitional" stage right now.  We have their cribs at home yet, but traveling is tricky.  They are too big for sleeping in a pack and play, but not quite ready to sleep in a big bed yet.  My parents have one Toddler bed - and I think we need to find them another one.  We tried putting both the boys in the one bed (at opposite ends), and somewhere around 2:30 in the morning, Jackson either fell out or crawled out of the Toddler bed.  I found him under the full bed in their bedroom, crying.  In an attempt to not wake Lincoln, I put Jackson in our bed.  Boy, was that a mistake!

Jackson doesn't sit still, even when he is sound asleep.  He was all over the bed - sometimes putting his feet in the pillow case on the underside of my pillow.  When he wasn't kicking me in the head (literally), he was laying beside me and smacking me in the face.  It was almost a relief when both the boys woke up at 7 Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, we canned tomatoes.  Mom had them all washed, dad scalded them, I cored and skinned them, and Brian and Mom packed them into cans.  It was a pretty smooth operation (other than the tomato I somehow squirted on the ceiling) and we were all done around noon.  After a delicous beef fajita lunch, Brian and I tried to get the boys to nap.

Notice, I said TRIED. 

All four of us crawled into the queen bed in the upstairs bedroom, but only 2 of us really wanted to take a nap.  At first, Brian and I were both irritated, as we were so tired from Friday night we just wanted them to go to sleep so we could take a quick nap.  The boys had other plans.  They were crawling on us, crawling down under the covers to the end of the bed playing "tent", giggling, laughing, and just playing.  Eventually, I couldn't hold onto the anger, and I just started laughing with them.  Honestly, it is an afternoon that I will remember for quite some time - all 4 of us in bed just laughing and making memories.

After 40 minutes, I gave up, and headed downstairs to shower for church.  The boys followed.  Jackson wanted to take a shower (they didn't have baths the night before since it was late when we arrived), so we gave the boys a shower in my parents new shower.  The boys loved it!  After their shower, we tucked them onto the couch to watch the Cars movie, and they both went to sleep. 

Brian stayed with the boys while I went to church with my parents.  After church, Brian and I headed off to my class reunion and my parents babysat.  I'm not sure who had a better time - us, my kids or my parents!

In order to avoid "meltdown" like happened last time we left the boys with my parents, my mom decided they would take the boys to the Dairy Treat for dinner.  So, we strapped the boys in their car seats, and sent them to town for dinner.  The boys looked a little confused when they were pulling away since Pawpaw was driving, and Mommy and Daddy were waving goodbye, but not a tear was shed.  Success!

The boys ate chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner, but the main attraction at the Dairy Treat is ice cream.  My parents got them chocolate ice cream in a cup, and the boys were so excited because it had a FACE!  We are still hearing about the face on the ice cream!

When Brian and I got home later that night (or early the next morning I guess), mom and dad were up watching the race, and the boys were fast asleep in their "blanket beds" on the living room floor.  Not wanting a repeat of Friday night, we left them on the floor, and I crawled on the couch for a good nights rest.

Sunday morning we heard all about the face on the ice cream, and how much fun it was sleeping on the floor!  Lincoln now asks if he can sleep on the floor every night.  The boys definitely enjoyed their time with Mawmaw and Pawpaw!

Brian went to church Sunday morning while I fed the boys breakfast, packed things up, and got everyone dressed and ready for the day.  We went to visit Great Grandma for a little while, and then headed to the fair (more on this in another post).  It was late when we got home (after 7:30 Sunday night), and we were all exhausted, but it was all worth it!  Thanks again Mawmaw and Pawpaw for a great weekend!