Absence Explained

Wow, it's been about 3 weeks since I last posted! That might just be a record! We sure have been busy these past weeks, especially the last week and a half. We just returned Monday afternoon from a 10 day trip back up to Big D, and like I have said before, Dorothy was right, there is no place quite like home. Johnathan and I had a wonderful time visiting our family, and I thought I'd recap our trip here for those of you interested (and for those of you who are uninterested...well, too bad!). I want to document a few of Johnathan's "firsts", so if you just want to read those, then scroll thru the bold print!:

Thursday, May 7th: Drove to pick up Grandma Evelyn who was going up to Grand Prairie so that she could catch a ride to David's (Aaron's brother) graduation the following weekend. We picked her up so that she could stay with us and be able to leave with us bright and early Friday morning. Johnathan took his first steps all by himself...and Aaron was the first one to see him do it! Yay!

Friday, May 8th: I only got about 3 hours total of sleep (thanks to Johnathan getting his bottom, second from the middle tooth on the left side...his left lateral incisor I believe). This left him, haha, get it, "left him", quite crabby, and so I got only 3 hours or so of sleep altogether! Yikes! We started off on our "road trip", not quite so bright and early, but we were off nonetheless. After an uneventful trip (with lots of prayer and caffeine to make it up without falling asleep), we dropped Grandma Evelyn off in G.P., and then we headed to Gail's house to work on a "secret project" that was set to be revealed on Monday...more on that later! Friday evening (late-ish) we got to our final destination...Grammy and Grandpa's house! Yay!

Saturday, May 9th: Went with Gwenny and Miles to Gail's house to continue some work on our little secret. Saturday evening Gwenny and I went to Greta's performance of Oklahoma the Musical...and boy, was it fantastic!!! I really was amazing, and I had a great time...shoeless and all! Inside story, no time to explain here!

Sunday, May 10th: Happy Mother's Day to Me---and all you other wonderful mothers out there!!! I was able to spend some time with my own dear mother, and I felt loved beyond measure from the little guy who makes each of my days a huge ball of joy!

Monday, May 11th: Okay, so here's the deal with the secret project---for weeks my dad, siblings and myself had been planning a special night to honor my mother for all her many years of dedicating herself to teaching us. 23 years y'all! Wow! We reserved a special table at Olive Garden where we were going to celebrate our night with our teacher! The siblings were going to have a "game night" at Gwen's, and Mom was expecting a "date night" with Dad on Monday...what she didn't know was that the plans were set in motion as we all schemed to get dressed up and ready to meet her and Dad at the restaurant. We all pitched in and made a totally fantastic scrapbook, full of memories from our school days. Long story short, Mom was totally surprised, the night was perfect, and the scrapbook gift was a blessing to Mom and us too! It was awesome...and she was totally surprised! PERFECT!!! We love you, MOM!!!

Tuesday, May 12th: Just hung out at Mom and Dad's, and made a couple of t-shirts...they are pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Wednesday, May 13th: Made some t-shirts for the boys---Miles' says "Stink Happens" and has a little skunk on it, and Johnathan's says "Monkey Business" with a cute little monkey on it. Miles and Johnathan became quite good buddies over the course of our week+ there, and it was a joy to watch them actually play together! Miles is such a sweetie, and has so many cute little antics. Another first for all you bold-print readers - Johnathan had his first ice cream cone!!! Gwenny found some soy ice cream, and Johnny loved it to the max! Thanks, Auntie Gwen!

Thursday, May 14th: Johnathan visited his Nana, Papi, two great-grandmas, Celia and Evelyn & his great-aunt, Karen! We were able to go to Grand Prairie for dinner, and spent some time hanging out with Aaron's family. Johnathan had a great time with his adoring grand parents, and I had fun too! Oh, and Thursday was the day that I first heard Johnathan saying "thank you" quite distinctly. His little vocabulary is growing!

Friday, May 15th: Happy Birthday, Gloria!!! We celebrated Gloey's b-day in the morning, and that evening we went over to Gwen's and Matt's for a real sibling get together...all the scheming for our "siblings night" on Monday made us want to do it for real. So we did, and it was a blast! Johnathan was a bit crabby as the night wore on, so I tried to put him down for a nap...that didn't go over well, so I got him up, fed him some Sour Patch Kids...I know, bad Mommy, but the cute little face he made while eating them was priceless...and, after enjoying the sweet goodness, lo and behold, he started to walk!!! Yep, Johnathan began walking while hopped up on sugar! He stayed up until almost 1 o'clock and had the time of his life! Haha!!!

Saturday, May 16th: Happy Graduation, Glenna!!! Happy Graduation, David!!! We went to Geenzne's graduation, and were so proud of her as she walked across the stage, a high school graduate!!! Uncle David was in our thoughts Saturday as he graduated from Sam Houston State University. Yay David!!! That evening we all celebrated with Glenna, enjoying a graduation dinner at my folk's, and after some encouragement from his uncle Gaffin, Johnathan continued to walk...25 continuous steps was the record that he set!

Sunday, May 17th: Heard Johnathan saying "ball" when he saw the volleyball out in the garage at my folk's! Yay, Monkey! Way to go!!! Celebrated Gloria's (belated) birthday with a family lunch. It's a "tradition" in our family to celebrate birthdays multiple times if you're able to! Fun stuff, and just another excuse to get everyone together! That afternoon, after packing everything up, we headed to Johnathan's Tia & Tio's. We wanted to congratulate David on graduating, and we needed to pick up Grandma Evelyn who had stayed over after the graduation. Plus, I'm always ready for an excuse to see my sweet heart of a niece, Ava!!! We had fun hanging out with all of them, and enjoyed watching Johnathan and Ava interact with each other. Ava is such a cutie pie, and she is brilliant too! She talks really well, is obedient and just all around adorable! We love you, sweet Ava Joy!

Monday, May 18th: Yay! The day we get to see Aaron/Daddy again! We left David and Kayla's, dropped Grandma off on our way back, and arrived home safe and sound by 2:15 in the afternoon. It was wonderful to see Aaron after our absence, and Johnathan was more than happy to be out of his car seat...he did fantastic on our drive, and I was very thankful that he was such a trooper! I love you, sweet boy!

Anyways, that's our little trip in a nutshell...quite a big nutshell, anyways...lots more happened, of course, but I just don't have enough time (or patience) to be able to write it all down! Love y'all!