February 18, 2012

One last hug before...

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures) 

• Graham was in our bed at 6:30 and was wanting to know if this was the day he was going to go to the circus.  I told him yes but that we had a few more minutes to sleep until we needed to go.  He then added that we would need to go so we wouldn't be late for the circus.  He was so excited he could hardly wait.
• Everyone stirred pretty well and Reagan immediately started packing her bears.  She had asked last night if she could take them and I told her that she could but that she would have to get right up in the morning and pack them-and that she did.  I also got out a bin and asked Anderson to pack a few toys for the boys to take to Nonna's house.  I had suggested some trucks and trailers and he ran off and did this.  I saw him minutes later and asked if he wanted to add some more toys to the bin.  He said that it was full already.  Later, I looked in the bin and he had neatly placed 2 trucks and 2 trailers in the bin.  It was nowhere near full but in his mind he had it as full as he could get it.  I dumped in a few tractors and all of their lightening mcqueen cars.
• While I got ready, got the kids ready and while they ate, Robby spent his time loading up the car.  Packing for this trip was fairly easy and not too stressful but loading the car didn't prove to be either of those things.  Since the kids were splitting up, it amounted to lots of little bags going different places.  Robby, the traveler, even asked if it was worth it!  
• Though one bag was Campbell's favorite-Reagan's suitcase.  I had packed Campbell's clothes in it and she spent the morning taking it back and forth through the upstairs.  She was so proud that it had her stuff in it.  She would roll it around while holding her baby-so cute (and yep, I left her baby at home-hopefully, she rested well without it.  She had enough other stuff.  This morning I was telling everyone else to find their night time toys and I asked Campbell what she wanted to take.  She was still in her crib and started handing me everything out of it to put in the suitcase.  I filled the suitcase and then had to leave the rest at home-but I sure meant to bring that baby.
• When we made it to Grannymom's to drop of Keaton and Campbell, Campbell had decided that she wasn't going to come in (she had knew something was up).  Robby carried her in and she was pretty upset but then she saw the exersaucer that Grannymom had gotten out of Keaton.  After seeing this, Campbell was ready to unbuckle Keaton and put her in.   Later in the day, Keaton did get her turn in the exersaucer and loved every minute of it.
• Keaton spent the morning at Dana's house while Grannymom, Grandpa and Campbell went to a health fair.  Then lunch at Dana's and playtime with Lilly and Cash.  I am sure that Campbell thinks she is something else getting all of that attention.  She took a nap on Grannymom's bed and was pretty happy about sleeping in her sleeping bag tonight.  
• Graham was so excited to get to go with the "big kids" this weekend.  At Nonna' s house, the event today was going to the circus.  Nonna, Pops and Jason weren't that impressed with the circus but the kids sure were.  Reagan liked the man and woman skating, Anderson liked the elephants and Graham was pretty intrigued by the motorcycles (though he didn't like all of the loud circus noises).  Pops even took out a small loan and bought everyone cotton candy-blue for the boys and pink for Reagan.  
• The kids came home and rode bikes, had supper and even played a few games.  Reagan played PayDay which was one of my favorite games growing up.  They were in their way to bed when we called around 8 so hopefully they will sleep well.
• When called to check on them tonight and Anderson asked "Did you do good shopping at Ikea?"  And yes, I did.  Robby and I had a few stops along the way to Dallas (mainly because we had our big sonic drinks before leaving Little Rock) and made it just as it started to rain.
• Someone from his work had mentioned a pizza place and we found it only to discover that it opened at 5.  Since it was 3 we opted for a sandwich place nearby.  I had soup and it was perfect since it was cold and rainy.  Then we arrived at IKEA.  Let me tell you, most people in Dallas were at IKEA today.  It was crazy but we did manage to walk through downstairs.  We walked up and down every aisle.  Usually with the kids, they are ready to get out of there by the time we get downstairs and we just have to breeze through.  Now, we are usually tired too which is probably another reason we rush through downstairs.  
• I bought a few things-picture frames (need to buy another one tomorrow for Reagan since she asked if one was for her), straws, a big vase, a stool, bins and an extension cord.  Exciting stuff.  We then headed to our hotel-priceline in Downtown Dallas.  Robby usually doesn't do priceline with the kids since we pretty much need to have a fridge, easy parking, breakfast.  But since it was just us, he didn't mind doing priceline.  We have a great rate in the Sheraton downtown.  The only problem was parking-21 overnight.  He thought we would just park in the street but the meters here start at 7 on Sunday morning (most places you don't have to pay on weekends).  Robby didn't really want to wake up so we circled about 10  more times until we found a lot nearby.  We looked for a spot for nearly an hour...something you can't do with kids.
• A few other things that we have done today that you can't do with kids are: stop for a potty break and be back in the car in 3 minutes, quickly run into a store in the pouring rain without getting too wet, spend 4 hours lolly gagging at IKEA, mosey through walmart, drive for half an hour looking for supper and walk into a hotel without a cart.  It sure is different traveling without the kids.  This is fun but I wouldn't trade things for anything.I love those little boogers!  They will get to go on the next trip and that is what Robby and I have spent most of the day talking about/planning.