{Rodeo, Weekend Away & A Project}

The past week seems like a blur!  Let's start with Thursday.  My friend Whitney and I loaded up the kids and headed to the rodeo for some good fun!  And boy did it not disappoint!

 

Luke loooooooved the animals.

 

 

What you don't see in this picture is Ben with his death grip on me. 

Apparently the animals kinda freaked him out.  The deer who was eating my jean jacket kinda freaked me out too though.  So I really can't blame him.

 

Apparently free whistles are the best thing eva...

 

After funday Thursday, I headed out of town for two nights to visit with some old friends on Friday.  This is the first time I have left the boys for this long since I can't even remember.  Chat stayed with them all weekend and had a full schedule with those two.  It was a wonderful time away, but guess what happened? 

I got sick.

I know, I know.  I am a broken record.  Seriously when will my immune system improve?!!?  I woke up Friday and my throat felt funny, but I rallied and headed out around 3:00 pm to pick up my friends Robin, Brooke and Candice to head to Kerrville.  It took us till about 8:15 pm to get there, but I loved every minute of that car ride.  There is nothing better than being locked in a car with three of your best friends for hours.  We talked and talked and talked.  I loved it.  We finally got there, picked up our other friend Lindsay and then headed to get something to eat for a late dinner.  I think I was a bit delirius at this point because all I remember is laughing hysterically (like could-not-stop-laughing-even-though-everyone-is-staring-at-you laughing) when the waitress told us that a special was asparagus.  I have no idea.  But I laughed so hard that I cried and it was the best feeling.  We headed back to Lindsay's house (after a Dairy Queen run -- Kerrville has three -- can you believe it?!?!) and stayed up talking till about 1:00 am and then all fell fast asleep.  Well till about 7:30 am and then we were all up since our darn internal clocks are forever messed up due to our children.

Saturday was great even though I woke up and felt horrible.  I pretty much lost my voice which is just a cruel joke when all you want to do is talk on weekends like these.  But I powered through!  We talked the morning away and even had a little sprinkle for Lindsay who is expecting her third baby in just about three weeks.  We did it in pjs with no make-up and probably hadn't even brushed our teeth.  It was perfect.  We finally got ourselves together and headed out the door by about 2:30 pm to meet our other college friends in Fredericksberg.  We met at a winery (which is funny since half the group was pregnant) and then went to a fun dinner afterward.  There is nothing like time with good friends...

Love. These. Girls.

We headed back to Kerrville after dinner and tried to make it an earlier night.  We went to bed somewhere between 11:00 and midnight and got a bit more sleep than the night before.  I woke up not being able to breathe but took more medicine and a hot bath and felt a bit better.  We had some final chats over donuts and we were headed back to Houston by 10:00 am.  As we all hugged Lindsay goodbye and everyone's eyes got a bit teary, I realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends. 

I made it back to Houston just in time to get ready to head to a family wedding with Chat and the boys.  I was exhausted and sick, but really looked forward to this wedding so I just focused on that versus the hippo sitting on my chest.  Luke had trouble waking up from his nap and getting ready.  He really had a bad meltdown -- it was hard since he hadn't acted like this in a long time.  He was really crying and almost thrashing around in his carseat on the way over to the wedding so when we parked, I told Chat to take Ben and head in and that we would be there in a bit.  Luke got in the front seat with me and I just held him for about 15 minutes.  He just laid his head on my chest and wrapped my arms around him. We sat in silence just holding each other and took some time to reset after a very busy weekend.  After that, Luke seemed to get better and we made it through the night.

Sometimes I forget that Luke still needs his mommy.  He is growing up so fast and he is becoming so independent that I forget that he actually is so young and that I am so much to him -- security, balance, love.  I am sad that my time away had an effect on him and he struggled do to it, but it warms my heart that my touch, my words and my love are what he needs most.  I know it is fleeting and that he won't always need me like this, but there is nothing more precious to me than his sweet arms around my neck.  It always makes coming home so sweet. 

Lastly, today I got a tutorial in machine quilting.  Yes, I am trying to be crafty and do a few things as a hobby.  Like making a quilt!  Chat's grandmother was in town from Oregon and she helped me today.  I don't know what I would have done without her.  We got pinning all the layers down and then even started quilting with my sewing machine.  Boy it is hard work!  I am thinking it is going to take me months to get this project finished...