Today I am in a horrible mood. It just seems like one thing after another is going wrong, wrong, wrong. Anyway, I thought I would recount our travel journal here to try to get un-irritated. This is super long, and is really just for our benefit in later years, so don't feel the need to read it all! Unless you just have nothing better to do! :) Here we go:
Wednesday, 6/6
We travel home... me in the front seat of Grandpa Roy's car, kids in the backseat. They don't fall asleep until around 10:00pm, when Sadie informs me that she's hungry and that she "Wants dumplins!" Surprise! When we get to Great Grandma's house, she HAS "dumplins" and the kids wolf some down at 11:30pm.
Thursday, 6/7
The kids eat a big breakfast with Great Grandma, then have a "birthday party" with all of her stuffed teddy bears. This is staged in the floor in front of the bed with the bears in a big circle around a cake that Sadie made out of little boxes, complete with pretend candles. Next, we went to Angela's house and played pirates with Cameron and Caleb - Caleb yells, "Argh Mate-ee!" over and over. Then all four of them jumped on Angela's bed and hid from all the lions - they run wild in NC, you know. When we went outside, Josie yelled, "Wook! Wook! Goats!" and toddled on over to feed them all kinds of weeds, rocks, whatever she could find. Cameron "chewed on Sadie like a dog," when they were playing in the big tunnel - which she did NOT enjoy - then Angela let Sadie drive the golf cart, which she DID enjoy. We all rode down to Great Grandma's house for a big lunch of pinto beans and cornbread. Later, we went swimming at Papaw and Mamaw's house... Sadie liked it except when she gulped down a big mouthful of water and Josie's favorite part was eating popsicles in the pool next to Papaw. He also let them jump in the water so he could catch them and they couldn't get enough of that. That night Natasha and Britt and Sadie built a human pyramid and Josie combed everyone's hair.
Friday, 6/8
We went back to Angela's and the kids all rode around on all the toys in the basement, played the drums, and had lunch. Caleb said, and I quote, "I do not want that on my plate. I do not want THAT on my plate." In other words, whatever I gave him to eat, he didn't want it. Until we got to the cherries... Caleb and Josie must've eaten 50 cherries between them. We all napped at Great Grandma's, went to see Papaw and Mamaw for a few minutes, then we went to
Amanda's house for a cookout with all my girlfriends and their kids. Sadie saw Amanda's husband's "target deer" out in the yard and she said, "Why didn't he shoot him in the face?" because all of the arrow marks were in the deer's body. I said, "You can ask him," (meaning Amanda's husband, who was in the house)... Sadie looked at me, looked the deer, then leaned over and said to the deer, "Why didn't he shoot you in the face?!" We had LOTS of fun running, jumping, staring at Amanda's dogs, playing pool downstairs, drinking CapriSun, and watching Happy Feet.
Saturday, 6/9
Sadie got up early and went outside to feed the birds with Great Grandma. Then both of the girls rode the tricycle and played hiding in Grandma's closet and yelling, "NO NO NO!" at each other as loud as they could when the other one tried to get in. We went to eat breakfast at "Jack's" with Derek and Theda, and Josie had a great time playing with her ice, eating all of her livermush PLUS all of mine, and Sadie had gravy biscuits. Derek bought them candy as we were leaving and so Josie finally let him hold her... she can be easily bribed. At Grandma's, Sadie sat on a stool and pretended to be Josh's teacher. She kept telling him to "Pay attention! I'm your teacher!" Josie kept saying, "Lub you!" to Thomas. Then we went with Natasha to her church for their youth rally. The kids had a GREAT time playing basketball, eating snow cones, jumping in the bouncy house (Sadie had to be dragged out of here... her little face was bright red and she was having so much fun I thought she would pass out), and eating candy as their "prizes." Sadie "bagged her first deer" at the "Deerhunter" booth, where she got to hold a little pretend bow and shoot little suction cup darts at a deer (only in the South! :) and she won! I think she was the only little kid who actually got it to stick to the target... she was so proud! I think the best part was the face painting... Sadie got two hearts on her face and Josie got one heart. Natasha took her back over to the booth later and when I walked up, Natasha was laughing. I said, "What is that on her face?" Josie was sitting really still while the lady painted something bright yellow on her cheek. Natasha snickered, "A chicken." When they asked Josie what she wanted on her other cheek, she said a chicken!" After they finished painting this tiny cute little chicken on her face, Natasha held up a mirror so Josie could see it. She looked in the mirror and said, "OH.... MY CHICKEN! I LUB IT!"
Sadie said to me, "I like this church! I want to come back here tomorrow!" When we got home, Josie collapsed into bed but Sadie stayed up late to eat pintos and cornbread with Grandma "over yonder at the table" (Sadie's words).
Sunday, 6/10
We went to church on the mountain with Great Grandma. Josie wore the little seersucker dress Grandma gave her for her birthday and Sadie wore the white one that Mamaw got for her on our last trip home. They liked the drive to church... up the mountain, past the cows, goats, and chickens, and up the bumpity-bumpity dirt road. They like to go "AHHhhhhhh" while the car is hitting the gravel. At church, they ate M&M's that the preacher handed out to all the kids, went to Sunday School - Josie liked it, but Sadie didn't - played with their little cousins, running up and down the wheelchair ramp just like I did when I was little - Sat with Great Grandma and Josh and talked to Great-Great Aunt Odessa. When we came home, we had corn on the cob and spaghetti, and then Josh brought over Herbie, his fancy-schmancy souped up golf cart. We had BIG fun riding through the woods, beeping the horn, riding around and around and around the garden.... Sadie said, "That was a GOOD FUN TIME!" Josie said, "Josh! He-elp!" when Uncle Thomas was doing the driving. Then we looked at scrapbooks with Aunt Sharon and went to Papaw's to play in the pool some more. Brian came over, too, and Sadie played the accordion and Josie threw sticks into the new ponds that Papaw built. We went out to get pizza, and they ate tons of food and took turns sneezing and echoing (making fun of Mamaw's sneeze) in the parking lot. Then we went to play at the park... sliding, looking at the ducks, trying to catch lightning bugs, and Josie ran as fast as she could to try to keep up when we walking along the trail. She yelled, "Fast! Fast! Mamaw! Me! He-elp!" They of course got filthy in the sandbox and Great Grandma and I had to give both "baby mermaid" (squeak squeak) a bath.
Monday, 6/11
Ate livermush and eggs with Great Grandma. She played "airplane" with Josie (Josie loved this and ate ALL of her food) and then fed the birds again with Sadie. They snuggled together in a "pallet" she made on the floor to watch Dragontales. Then we went to our favorite place up the mountain to eat with Mamaw and Papaw. We ate red eye gravy! watched ducks, and fed the baby trout in the pond... there were hundreds of them in there. Mamaw bought both the girls a cute little black and white leopard hat, and they laughed their heads off at Papaw on the way down the mountain because he was being a "silly bodey." I don't know what that means, but apparently, it is something hilarious. Later, we went over to Louis & Brenda's to play with Noah
and Dalton... the kids ate hotdogs on the new screened-in porch, ran crazily up and down the driveway, jumped on the bed, and took turns kissing Dalton. At Grandma's again, they played stacking "pee-dohs" and ran up and down the porch steps with Uncle Thomas. We ate cajun chicken for supper with Grandma.
SHEESH... we were busy. I didn't realize until I started typing this. I must stop making complete sentences. Onward!
Tuesday, 6/12
Rode golf cart Angela & boys to pool at Sharon and Gary's. Had lunch under picnic shelter on their deck. Grandma packed food for an army. Kids did not care at this point if I was dead or alive. They only wanted Sharon, Angela, and Cameron. Josie kept calling Cameron "Tay-lub" (I
guess she thinks both of them are named Caleb) and would not let anyone else hold her in the water, even though he's only 6! Sadie would jump, jump, jump into the water to Angela or Sharon, but not me. Josie squirted Sharon in the face with a watergun and laughed like crazy. They were all very brave swimmers. Then they all went for a walk in the woods with Buddy the dog and Uncle Garry... played on the swingset, Josie climbed up the huge ladder all by herself, amazing Great Grandma to no end. Went to Papaw's, ate supper from the Igloo (YUM) then played with Mamaw while Mommy talked to Papaw. Ate watermelon (Josie ate SIX pieces) a
nd played with the porch swing... Sadie's new saying, "I can do it my-say-ulf!"
Wednesday, 6/13
New vocabulary:
My hay-ur
Over thay-ur
Yippee-ay-kay-aye - git along little dawgies
Went to lunch with Sherry, Teresa, and Denise. Went to see "Friend Becky," as opposed to "Aunt Becky," at work and we bought some cook tennis rackets and a ball. Josie wore Grandma's glasses and read her "bible." Went for ice cream with Mamaw & Papaw. Sadie got orange pineapple and Josie got blueberry... Mamaw & Papaw shared butter pecan. We sat out on the porch for about 2 hours and played and talked - got ice cream ALL OVER everything, sat in oil (Josie), "balanced" on the cement things in the parking lot, danced, sang, played peekaboo behind the porch columns, and generally just had a good old time. Went back to Great Grandma's for beans and stewed potatoes, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Josh came over and played, went for a walk, and Elizabeth gave them a bath and put them to bed.
Thursday, 6/14
Fed birds. Sadie ran to tell me about "A wonderful tur-prise! All the bird food is gone!" Cameron came and took their picture with his very own camera. They watched Sesame Street, jumped on Cameron and squashed him. Played "tennis" outside, came running back in when they heard a "snake" in the bushes. Went to Heather's and had happy meals for lunch. Played choo-choo with Carson and Sydney, jumped on chairs, and listened to Heather tell us about snakes, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats! Right in her own yard! And I thought MY yard was bad! We went back to Papaw's and sat on the carport while we watched the rain... the kids ran and hid from the thunder and lightning, ate popsicles, and stayed with Mamaw to watch The Incredible Journey. Josie's diaper was so wet that it fell off at the wasteband... we all cracked up. She cried when we left. So I stopped for Bo-Berry biscuits on the way back to Grandma's.
Friday, 6/15
Papaw took the day off work so we went for a special treat... the cook on the table Japapese restaurant! Sadie said, "I LOVE THIS PLACE! Oh boy!!" They had a great time, and Josie yelled, "FIRE! FIRE!" during the cooking show. They ate lots of rice and carrots, and Sadie even liked the salad. Then we had milkshakes afterward, and spent as much time as we could together before we left that night, much to Grandma's dismay.
We went over to Louis and Brenda's again to have a cookout with Chasity, Kimmie, and the boys, and then Thomas and Elizabeth and Josh came over to see us off. Though I tried, I couldn't fend Grandma off - she loaded the car down with enough food that you'd think we were driving to Alaska!
Last night I went into Sadie's room after I had washed my hair... it was down and clean and curly, and I realized just how much I've been keeping it up in a ponytail when she said, "Oh, Mommy! I like your hair! It's so long and beautiful!" I don't think I've ever felt prettier. :) 
Josie has started calling me "Mom" instead of Mommy. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It makes her sound so much more grown up! But I must admit that it's cute to hear her little elfish voice saying, "Okay, Mom. Sowwy, Mom. I do it, Mom. Pease, Mom?"
