Home Sweet Home

The boys and I had the pleasure of going "home" for about a week. We traveled to Duncan, OK first to see my grandparents. It was my Papa's 84th birthday and my parents and aunt and uncle were also there to celebrate. It was so good to see my Papa and Mema. My Mema had a stroke last October and I (we all) continue to be amazed at her recovery. She is an amazing woman and I love her SO very much! We left there on Sunday to travel to Lubbock with my parents. We were in Lubbock from Sunday to Sunday and it was WONDERFUL! I love going home but it's always so very hard to leave, especially the longer we stay. Our family is so close and we just love spending time together. 500 miles is simply TOO FAR AWAY!!!

We got to see some very special friends while we were home. Monday and Tuesday we spent time with my good friend, Melisse, and her 2 sons, Caden and Cole. Melisse and I laughed because our boys are 5, 4, 3, & 2. Monday we went to the gym, swimming and then lunch. Tuesday we met at a park, had lunch and then went back to their house to swim. Here are a few pics of the boys at the park and then swimming.

Caden(4), Cole(2), Isaiah(5), Samuel(3)

Enjoying a snack atop the slide!

The mist button was REALLY hard to push. They thought if they ALL pushed they could do it!

Bumblebee (a.k.a. Isaiah) & Batman (a.k.a. Samuel)

Darth Superman (a.k.a. Cole)

"Oh no! Batman is in trouble!"

"No match for Bumblebee!" (Notice Cole has now switched to Spider Superman and his mask is upside down!)

I don't think anyone else could fit in the pool!!!

Enjoying a popsicle after their swim!

We had SO much fun with Melisse, Caden and Cole! We miss you all!!!

The night before Isaiah and I left my nephew, and the boys cousin, Big Zach (as we call him) came to spend the night at Papa and Nana's. The boys had a great time with Big Zach and it was great to spend that time with him! That night ALL the boys slept in the same room. Papa was going to sleep in his bed, in his room since Big Zach was sleeping in the room with the boys. However, when Isaiah learned of this, he became sad and said, "But Papa, it's my last night here!" Papa couldn't turn him down! So, Big Zach slept in the daybed and Papa, Samuel AND Isaiah slept on the air mattress. You should know that my dad ALWAYS sleeps on the air mattress with one or both of the boys. At our house, he sleeps with one or sometimes both on the FULL SIZE bed in Samuel's room! He really is a GREAT Papa!!! Here's a pic of the sleeping arrangements on the last night.

Papa, Sam and Isaiah (under the blanket with his arm wrapped around Sam's leg).

You might have noticed that I said the above sleeping arrangements were the night before ISAIAH and I left. That's because Samuel stayed...alone...for the first time ever! I was a little concerned at how this would play out but he did really well. The morning we had to leave we were loading the car and Sam brought his pillow and monkey that he sleeps with out to the car. I explained to him that Mommy didn't need his pillow and monkey because he was staying in Lubbock. He said, "No, I don't wanna stay in Lubbock. I wanna go with you and Bubba!" I asked him why he didn't want to stay and he said, "Because Papa doesn't like me!" I told my dad this and my dad said, "Sam, you know Papa loves you!" Sam said, "Oh yea, I forgot!" Silly Sam. He ended up being fine with staying but was VERY cute when we were saying good-bye. He hugged Isaiah about 4 times and told him he would miss him. He put his little arm around me, started patting my back and said, "I'm weally gonna miss you, Mommy!" I teared up. I told him I would miss him too but would see him in just a few days! It was harder than I thought to leave him. I called later that day to see how he was doing. Mom said he was doing just fine. She told me they had been outside while my dad and Big Zach mowed and edged the front yard. Mom was going in to get Dad some water and Sam said, "Nana, I'm gonna take a haircut and meet you in the kitchen okay?" Of course he meant shortcut!!! Oh Sam!!!

So, Isaiah and I left on Sunday and drove to Springtown, TX to stay the night with my aunt and uncle. It was a nice way to break up the trip and something for Isaiah to look forward to since he couldn't stay in Lubbock with Sam. My aunt and uncle live outside of town on some land and have a beautiful home with a swimming pool. Isaiah was in the pool within 15 minutes of arriving at their house! We had a relaxing evening swimming, eating and watching Spiderman 3. We left the next morning and arrived home to Cypress about 2:30 on Monday. We were VERY happy to see Daddy and he was equally excited to see us! As a surprise to me, Bryan had cleaned our carpets while we were gone so he racked up some brownie points there! Samuel will be home TOMORROW afternoon and we can't wait to see him!

I LOVE GOING HOME!!!