Boogers and Bubbles

Quick break from the Family Planning series to provide an update and a few photos...

We had a whirlwind of a weekend! Chet's mom got married in his hometown on Saturday. He had to work Friday night and got off at 3:15 on Saturday morning. I slept for a little under two hours. He came back from work, loaded up the van, and we took off. It took us a little over 9 hours to get to NE Missouri, which was the best time we've made with kids in the car since we moved here (and we weren't speeding). The boys took a quick nap when we arrived, and we got ready for the wedding.

All the townspeople came out for the event, so that was really neat. Okay, I can't seriously pull off that word without laughing. Chet's mom actually used the word "townspeople" in reference to the folks from Novinger, and I cracked up! That's totally what they are, but we had the best time laughing at her word choice. I didn't realize that there were "townspeople" in existence past sometime in the mid-1940's, but I guess I was mistaken. Ha!

Anyway, the wedding and reception were Saturday night. This is the best picture we got of me(standing with our brother-in-law, Mike) the whole night...

On Sunday morning, we woke up and went to church at Pure Air Baptist Church. It's a really great old country church that is made up of about three extended families and a few extras. They sing "Happy Birthday" to you right in the service if it's your birthday. And if you decide to give a birthday offering or anniversary offering, then you get a pencil. The children there were SO KIND to my kids! They were very welcoming and shared a good chunk of the Easter treats that they had just received. A couple of the older ladies came up to me after the service and said, "It was so nice to have you here today! I just loved hearing the sound of little children in the service. We haven't had little ones here for quite some time." And they totally meant it, even though Gabe had to be removed because he was teething and exhausted and was having a really rough time. I've been to church there three or four times now, and there's definitely something really fun about it. I'm not saying I'd trade Clifton for it, but it's a really fun change of pace sometimes.

After church, we went on to Grandpa Kermit's for the annual Easter gathering (which we haven't been to in about 5 years). We had the Easter egg hunt outside, and the guys roasted hotdogs, grilled hamburgers, and toasted/burned marshmallows according to their preference. Gabe pretty much slept through the entire thing, he was so tired.

Then we went on to Chet's dad's house for the evening. He cooked us a big meal and wrestled with the boys most of the night. They had a great time playing with him! He had Easter treats for them, including a Mater and Ramone (from Cars) that talk and drive when they're shaken. The boys think they're pretty awesome!

After that was all over, we went back to Chet's mom's house, and the boys were able to open more fun gifts and candy. Ladan's favorite is "candy beans" (aka jelly beans... the Starburst variety are the best). They got a bathketball game (for the bathtub), a velcro bunny toss, and some fun little popper toys from Aunt Megan and Uncle Mike. Ladan was playing with the bunny toss game and wanted to throw it fast. He said, "I like fast cars, and fast bunnies!" Chet's mom and Danny gave them a basket full of goodies and a bubble machine. They played for a few minutes and went to bed late. We woke up on Monday morning, ate breakfast in town, and then hit the road again, arriving in Louisville in enough time to unload most of the van and sit down for just a few minutes before Chet had to go to work. It was a wild 40 hours, that's for sure!

The boys were finally able to play with the bubble machine outside today, but the wind was so strong, they didn't actually get to catch the bubbles. It was more like being pelted with them. Either way, they had a blast, and a couple of the neighbor girls we hadn't met yet came over to play too. Here are some photos...

If the bubble had been about one inch lower, this would have been the BEST picture!

Ladan does not go easy on the drama factor these days. There were about five bubbles coming his way, and he thought it was hilarious to act like they were brutally attacking him! He's great!

Finally, we got some really exciting news this weekend! Our good friend, Kyle Parrish, got engaged this weekend! We haven't lived in the same city as Kyle for nearly three years, but I feel like he's my little brother. We spent a lot of time with him throughout his college years, and we were so thankful to have a transparent relationship with him that went way beyond just the surface stuff. We heard his heart, and he heard ours. It was like he was part of our family. He's the source of Gabe's middle name, so it's clear that we think he's pretty awesome. Anyway, he's apparently found an amazing girl, and we're really excited for him! They're getting married in August, and we're going to make the trip. He told us that they might come to visit us here in Louisville sometime during the summer, and it was almost more than I could take. To see him more than once in the same year is going to be AMAZING! For those of you who don't know Kyle, sorry for the long discourse on a guy you don't know. For those of you who know Kyle, then you know what I'm talking about and might be a little bit jealous!

Well, I'm working on my next Family Planning post, and Amber's working on her "What If" post, so look forward to those in the near future!

(Note: There are some weird line breaks in this post! I kept fixing them, but they kept "fixing" themselves back. Whatever. I'm not going to waste any more time on it right now as long as you don't think that I don't know how to hit the "Enter" button the appropriate number of times to designate a paragraph break.)