As weekends go.....

this one was fairly insane, but in a good way.

First.....














was the youth group retreat just outside of Tyler. The half we stayed for was really fun. The boys and I (and Todd when he actually slept that first night) were in one of the "cabin" rooms that had bunks built in all round the walls. It was just us so the boys got to play monkey quite a bit. We went to the sessions with the "big kids" and played pickle ball and tether ball ,blew bubbles and played with our dog...who wasn't nearly as thrilled about being there as we were. My kids had a blast and I'm pretty sure the Jr. and Sr. High kids were lovin' it too.

Next...



















was our nephew's birthday party in Ennis. We drove from camp to Ennis (I don't even remember how long it took but it was more than an hour, that's for sure) for the best 4 year old birthday party I have ever witnessed. My Sister-in-Law is a party genius, let me just tell you that much. What you see in the photo is Dora, Boots and Swiper....the stars of the party (also friends and relatives of the birthday boy-the one in the middle is his sister). We went on an adventure through the park that was just a hoot. Ike had a blast and Josiah was in Dora heaven. Even Hunter had fun.
By the time it was over, however, we all felt like we'd been beat with a stick. Everyone had a long weekend for various reasons and the kids were all starting to break down and poor Granny was on the verge of falling over. Needless to say, the boys and I opted out of staying in Ennis for the night.
We headed home and finally made it to bed after 10...well, 11 for some of us. This morning as we were getting ready for church Josiah announced that he was sick. I made sympathetic noises and continued ironing my dress until he said it again. Sure enough, he had a fever. I should have known when he didn't eat his pancakes. He hasn't eaten much all day and still had a low fever before his last dose of Ibuprophen a few hours ago. We'll see how it is in the morning. Now Hunter says he feels sick too but that's a harder one to call, since he always feels sick on school nights. Poor baby :-( Isaac also has a weird mark on his neck that he's really complaining about. It looks like a long, thin burn but he hasn't been around anything hot. It may be just a good scrape from all the "brotherly love" that goes on around here. We'll be watching that as well.
Todd made it home this evening but is in pretty rough shape. Those long weekend retreats start hitting harder and harder as we age, eh? Of course, the sinus migrain doesn't help one bit.
I, myself, however feel great!!! Lots of energy all day, no aches or pains (not counting my kids). I'm starting to feel out of place here. Maybe I should go drop something on my foot. O.K. Maybe not.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and we should all be recovered by Wednesday or so.