Monday, July 21, 2008

Events the past two (well, now three) weeks, Part 3: our stay in AR

The short version is that we had a great time in AR. You can scan the pictures below or if you really want all the details, feel free to keep reading!

Sunday morning after the concert we went to early service at Woodmont (with the 26 other people who go to early service!) and then hit the road back to AR where I was going to stay the following week while John, Danny and Stefanie headed on home.

When we got to Searcy, we all went over to the hospital and sang a few songs for Mamaw and Papaw, which was really special. Thanks again, to John, Danny and Stef for delaying your trip home another 30 minutes!

Sunday night, Mom and I went to see "Star Spangled Girl" put on by the Searcy Summer Dinner Theater and directed by Craig Jones. It was a fun show, and even more fun to see my cousin, Logan, perform so well in it!

The kids were still at John's mother's house, so Mom just took me over there after the show to spend the night. It was so good to see the kids again! Mom took the whole week off, so she came to pick us up the next morning, since John had our van! The rest of the day was basically spent recovering from the crazy trip, and I was so thankful for the rest. I did get to spend a little time with Papaw, too, which was so good.


Mom giving Johnathan his b-day present: An Indiana Jones Hat and whip! So cool!

Tuesday we headed to Mt. View where "the girls" and their families were there with Grammie and Papaw at Jack's. If you know "Jack's" you know what I'm talking about. If not, don't worry about it. :) We spent the day shopping and finding wonderful treasures and things we liked "a lot!" My children even did relatively well with lots of help from Mom, Grammie, Aunt Karla, Aunt Jina, Claire, Alissa and Rebekah! We ate at the "Drug Store," and I had their fresh lemonade with my lunch. Mmm, mmm ... there's just nothin' better!


Aunt Karla and "The Hat."

I had a chance to visit with Aunt Jina more about her water birth experience with Rebekah (her fourth), since that's what I'm leaning toward with Jonas. The most compelling thing she said was that she would've had all her other children that way if she had known how wonderful it was! Mostly, I was grateful for her listening ear and encouragement as I get closer to my due date!

Before we left to head back to Searcy, Aunt Karla and Aunt Jina gave me a distressed antique white wagon wheel wall decoration for the nursery, since I'm doing a cowboy theme. It is so cute! I have already painted Jonas's letters red and attached them to the wheel and have it hanging in the nursery! I'll put up pictures of that in a later post.

Wednesday, we met Mamaw for lunch at Mazzio's. It just wouldn't be a true Searcy visit without Mazzio's! After lunch, I spent about 4 hours up at the hospital while Mom put the kids down for a nap. Yea, Mom! Mamaw and I had some good conversation, and Papaw joined in from time to time. It also was good to see familiar faces that came to visit Papaw!


Story time with Nana--always a favorite!

That evening was Home Bible Study that Mom has been hosting in the summers for 15 years now! I'm so thankful for that wonderful group and what it has meant to Mom through the years.

Thursday Daisha and her two sweet children came over for a playdate. Johnathan and Gideon and fun being boys, Kalleigh had fun trying to keep up with the boys, and Naomi just smiled most of the time! I'm so glad Daisha and I just happened to be in Searcy the same week and that we got to catch up for a little bit!


Gideon and Johnathan doing their best to hold their little sisters!


Could Naomi be any cuter? I don't think so.

Thursday afternoon we shopped Searcy! Mom got some fun jewelry for my birthday, and I am now cool because of it. :) I found a diaper bag for Jonas and got Mom a "Nana" bracelet that has the birthstones of her grandchildren on it! I went ahead and got an August stone for Jonas, so he had better wait until then! My due date is the 22nd, so surely that won't be an issue.

Friday morning, we stopped back by the hospital to see Mamaw and Papaw once more before we left town. Papaw was having a good day and was sitting up in a chair when we got there! Kalleigh had her beloved bear with her when she came in, and decided to share it with Papaw! It was if she could sense that Papaw needed some comfort, and knowing that her bear gave her a lot of comfort, she thought Papaw might want to hold her bear for a while, too! Saying goodbye is always hard, especially since I'm not going to be able to make it for for the reunion this cmoing weekend, but I promised Papaw that after Jonas Dean is born that I would bring him up to meet his namesake!

From there we headed down to Little Rock and shopped a little more, ate at Pei Wei (YUM) and met John around 2:30. We loaded up in our own van and headed back to Tyler while Mom stayed in LR a little longer and I believe did a bit more damage.

All in all, a wonderful week in AR. Time for Mom to spend with two grandkids before there are three, and time for me to put my feet up a little! Good time spent with Mamaw and Papaw. But it's always good to be home again, especially with John!

3 comments:

Britney said...

Looks like you all had a great time. I am so glad you got to spend some time at Jack's; I know Grammie was looking forward to seeing Carol and spending time with her again. I am sure there was MUCH laughter to be had by all - oh, wait, I can hear Karla & Jina's cackles resounding over the miles of distance between here and there. : ) We are looking forward to seeing y'all tomorrow night.

Kristi Petrak said...

Sounds like the best time! I'm so jealous. I love those pictures! They are so adorable. Glad you had fun at Jack's, shopping, eating with Mamaw at Mazzio's, etc. Glad you had a fun time before you become a mother of three. ^_^ Love you!

Anonymous said...

It was a FANTASTIC week!