a little road trip

The last two weeks have been a complete juggling act, and littered with hours upon hours (a bit more than 27, with more on the way)in the car, strange mail incidences, and the most unbelievable googling experience I have had to date -- quite possibly, the most disturbing thing so far in this game of motherhood.  

Then there was the pot of tomato soup that boiled itself completely out of the pot, and now decorates my stove top in the form of tarnished orange blech.

The suitcases - for some reason - haven't unpacked themselves, which means I'll have ten tons of laundry to do, the fruits of great shopping to find homes (read: boxes) for, and more laundry to do.  I also happen to have errands to run, hats to mail, a home to clean, boxes to pack, and photo sessions to complete.  Not that I have a three page to do list or anything.

We will reach a nursing milestone this week - the longest one.  Eisley doesn't nurse often, but she does to fall asleep and throughout the night (she's savoring that newborn stage for me, my thoughtful little tornado).

While the last couple weeks reminded me why vacations are few and far between though dreams beg to differ, cemented the fact that Eisley cannot stand the car for more than 76 minutes at a time, and caused my exhaustion level to rise to an alarmingly high rate despite readily available amounts of caffeine...it was complete love.

Time with my beautiful God Children - cousins playing with trains, the never-ending enchantment of balloons, cupcakes, carnivals, and shopping buddies.  The two little squishy ones, ever so gentle and as cute as ever.

Childhood memories begging to be relived as they flood back in a rush of bittersweet emotions - going to the hatchery and park that we went to every summer growing up, watching my own little girls feed the fish with such joy.  Of all the time I spent at that park when I was young, I never, ever imagined bringing my own children back.  I am so thankful for the memories that travel generations.

And watching my grandparents.  I am speechless.  Bound by joy and completely overwhelmed with grateful feelings that they get to enjoy their great grandchildren.  The love, the toys that have survived years and years, the gingersnaps, the smells.  I'm so glad my girls get to experience the same things I did.

We had the neatest tea party on our last day.

We ended our trip with an adventure to Branson - we did The Dixie Stampede which held Eisley's attention far longer than anything else in her entire life.  We loved it!

The following day was full of fun at Silver Dollar City. Ruby rode her first roller coaster, said it was scary, and then rode twice more.  The most hilarious frightened face happened, and then shrieks of joy and bouncy THIS IS FU-UUUN's followed for the remainder of the ride.

I put Eisley on her first amusement park ride ever, and what likely may have been her last.  Looks can be deceiving, and the jumping frogs caused a bit of distress.

 can you spot the scared face?

Eisleyism:

Eisley has recently become very interested in the potty - when we were staying with Aunt Sara & Uncle Phil, she requested to sit on it.  She sat for a very long, very obviously tried, and I mentioned to her that I would give her a sucker if she could go "tee-tee" (her cutesy potty word, not mine).  She was hesitant to get down, but after more than five minutes, I decided to grab a diaper.  In the meantime, she managed to pee all over the floor, then said, "Suh-Suh??"  Nice try, kid.  Nice try.

Rubyisms:

The political propoganda has infiltrated my three year old's mind, despite the little exposure to television with those ads; she knows our president as Bonk Obamo.

Ruby got to go with Dezi to his Sunday School class.  When I asked her what they did, she said, "We sweeped, we throwed brownies in the oven, and we waited for Jesus to come!"