He's back!

I hardly know what to do with this keyboard at my fingertips. It feels like it's been so long since I have used it. :) What could possibly have taken me away from my blogging addiction for 5 whole days? Well, you knew that I had family here. You knew that my house had 6 little boys in it. You knew that I would be busy catching up with my dear sister, but you may not have known that our husbands went on a camping/fishing trip in the wilderness 11 hours away from here for 5 days. Yep! Not only did I have 6 boys here, ages 8, 6, 5, 3, 3, and 18 months, but NO DADDIES to help out. :) My sister Trish and I feel very accomplished in having done this amazing thing. We took care of these crazy, lovable, stubborn boys, made massive amounts of food, cleaned up (it felt like we were doing this constantly!), grilled (oh yeah - I can so grill!), swam, went to the park, broke up squabbles, went grocery shopping - I'm telling you we are just about feeling like wonder women after this past 5 days. :) When Dave signed up to go on this wilderness trip with 8 other guys from church I was very excited for him, but (sheepishly) a bit bummed for me. Being here with my three guys and all of the responsibilities of home by myself for 5 days didn't sound extremely appealing to me. That aside, I honestly was thrilled that he was able to go. I considered traveling the 9 hours to go spend the week with my family, but that didn't sound real appealing either. Rest stops and food breaks with K, who still needs much assistance with walking and is quickly becoming too heavy to carry, Jay, who is helpful, but still very 3, and Noe who is not great at knowing boundaries yet, seemed like it could possibly be asking for stress that I don't need. When we came up with the idea to invite my sister Trish, her husband Mike, and 3 boys to spend the week here so that Mike could accompany Dave on the trip and Trish could hang out with me and our 3, I was thrilled with the solution!

It was busy. It was constant. Trish and I packed the days with activities and kept the boys up from naps, then we would put them down to bed early and spend 8pm to midnight praying together, pouring out our hearts, laughing (Till we spit out our coke, could hardly breath, and crossed our legs), watching movies, eating amazing food, and just enjoying a relationship that has been important to each of us our entire lives. I can not put into words how precious this was for me. Living a few states away has been tough. When Trish and I were growing up I never imagined our lives would take the turns they have. We miss each other alot, but it has been nice to look so forward to each trip we take to see each other. As I sit here, having said goodbye a short 4 hours ago, I already feel the ache of missing these 5 people who are so important to me.

So, while our guys did this:

And this:

And enjoyed beauty like this:

We spent our days in sweet chaos caring for these blessings:

The cousins enjoyed each other immensely. Although Trish and I had to act as referee a time or two (per day maybe?) :) Things went smoother than expected and it was really sweet to see all of the guys interacting.

Trish and I have learned some delicious recipes from our mom and enjoyed putting those to use this week. We made the yummiest egg rolls, cheesy dip, chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon rolls. It was just fun!

Now we all can relate to Jay in this picture. We each feel a little something like this:

My house is begging for a scrubbing, I am behind on a few things, but tonight - well, tonight I am just going to relax, bask in memories, enjoy my David, and thank God for all of the blessings in my life.