Grandma and Pawpaw's House

    During our trip to Mom and Dad's in January we also took a trip down south to visit Grandma and Pawpaw, something I hadn't done in a long time and need to do more often. We all loaded up and headed down to their house to spend the night.

Checking out the wood pile by the smokehouse.

 Always exploring!

Juice break!

     When we arrived they were happy to see us, however the boys took a little while to warm up. Uncle Bubba broke the ice by inviting the boys to go look at the tractor and then they were friends for life. Pawpaw and Cooper also got along great. He was curious about butchering and meat and the equipment used, and Pawpaw was happy to share his knowledge and instruction (4 y/o version of course). Cooper even got to use the meat slicer and made a packet of ham to take to his daddy. After the tour he came in the house and told me all about how butchering works…..first you take the fur off, then you hang it in the freezer, then you slice it up and put it in paper. He paid attention during his little tour! 

 

Cooper fell into some stinging grass and it hurt! 

He also was fascinated by Grandma's cauliflower she was growing.  

Wouldn't be a complete day without a fight…

this time Ace didn't want Tucker pushing his dump wagon.

    Meanwhile Mom, Grandma, Tucker and I got to visit some, inside and outside. It was another beautiful day, so we stayed outside….which was a good thing since the electricity went off about 3 and didn't turn on until 7pm!

Eating ham sandwiches by lantern light. The boys weren't complaining. 

Cooper was asking "Where does ham come from again? Pigs?"

     You know how my boys are when they get to play outside, they were filthy and I was just about to use up my wipe supply giving them a wipe bath when the electricity came back on. We've not been that thankful for electricity in a long time.

Trekked out to the pond to feed the fish. It was short lived fun because Tucker decided he wanted to go swimming and the other boys were trying to get closer and closer to the water. 

This picture says it all….Tucker's writhing towards the water….

Ace wouldn't stop ringing the loud bell to call the fish…..and I got a big whiff of the fish food…

Cooper's probably busy telling me what to do next. 

    Bedtime came and we all filed into Mom's (and her sisters) old room for the night. Cooper, Tucker and I took the bed and Mom and Ace slept on the floor on mattresses. As we went to bed Cooper and I kept hearing a creepy sound outside and he kept asking me what it was. I told him it wasn't anything to worry about and kept waiting for Mom to chime in and reassure me, I mean him, that all was good, but she didn't. Only later did I find out that she was a little creeped out by the sound as well, ha! Thankfully we had a fan to lull us to sleep…until the boys started coughing, and thinking it might help, Mom turned the fan off. Then it was quiet and still (not my ideal sleeping conditions), and at that point Mom was by my side holding her mattress trying to decide whether to move it to the daybed that it came from in another room. I laughed and then furrowed my brows….I wanted to sleep, not help her decide where to sleep! We heard the creepy sound again, amplified by no fan and Mom peeked out of the window while I held her mattress. Sound discovered…machinery down the road. I slept better after that.

 

Mom raking a house into place with pine needle walls.

 The boys were loving the hay loft…..somebody wanted to go up there really badly. 

Hanging out in the barn

    The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and Cooper helped Pawpaw feed the cows. Then we went to visit Kelsey and meet sweet baby Claire. First we made a stop at Aunt Katherine's house to visit her and Uncle Donald. It was a good visit, and we were very glad we took the time to stop.
     Claire was a sweetie and she kicked my baby fever into high drive when I held her! Of course Cooper liked her too and was disappointed that we didn't let him hold her.

Kelsey, Claire and me

I think she liked us.

     After our visit we took some chicken back to Grandma and Pawpaw's house and ate lunch. Then we visited Uncle Bubba at his house. This was big highlight for Cooper because Uncle Bubba let him work the excavator and move the bucket up and down. It was so nice of him to take the time to work with the Coopster. Ace watched from a tractor nearby but he didn't want to take his own turn.

 

 Hard at work. Love Cooper's expressions as he works hard.

     Finally it was time to leave and head back to GG and Papa's. We hated to leave them because we'd had such a fun time, and about 20 minutes down the road we'd wished we would have stayed another night. Instead we'll just have to make sure and go back very soon and visit more often.

One final picture before we left. Cooper wanted to stay there, next time he will.

     It was a great visit and I'm thankful to have grandparents with such knowledge and skills to pass down to me. After we'd been back a few days Cooper was asking about what meat was which animal and he said "How do you get the fur off when butchering?…..I don't know, but I know who knows…Pawpaw!!!" They apparently bonded during the visit. Grandma and Pawpaw are going to come visit me sometime soon hopefully and I'm excited to have them…..I'd better make sure my chicken pen is clean and my garden looks good by then!!!!

"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers." Proverbs 17:6

Our winter visit with the relatives

    The kids and I usually head to my parents' house once a season or so for about a week to visit them and our family down that way. It lets us have more than just a couple days to visit and enjoy family, and it gives Dalton a week without the craziness, to catch up on things and get a full night's sleep.
     Winter is a good time to go a-visiting because it's cold, dreary and boring at home and GG and Papa have a fireplace so there's a good atmosphere….not to mention the extra help on those long winter days. So we headed down in January (yes, I'm late on my post yet again). It was a super fun visit and the weather cooperated nicely so we were able to play outside a lot!

 

Enjoying the view from the top. These boys like making music.

"Papa, are you gonna give me another bite or am I gonna have to come and get it?' 

Standoff over a snack.

Cooper and I did our exercises one morning.

 

Defend the castle!!! Protect the baby!!! I was the bad guy and these guys protected Tucker from being taken. One time I did succeed in a capture, but he was too heavy to carry back to my castle 

so I gave him back. 

Checking cows with Papa. I took my turn at stroller pushing duty.

HIghlights of the trip for these guys….a visit to Tractor Supply (Cooper's face says it all) and a trip to the dump where Cooper said he saw "the biggest bulldozer you've ever seen!" 

Cousin time! The Franks came over to visit one evening.

Playing with Tucker's new toy and Paw Patrol game.

     We went  to Grandma and PawPaw's house too…. but that's another post…. and when we got back to Mom and Dad's we enjoyed another beautiful day or two, then Dalton came to pick me up for a wedding and we left the kiddos with them for the weekend. We attended a friend's wedding in Bastrop at a beautiful resort called Hyatt Lost Pines. The rehearsal was wonderful and it was great to visit with the bride and groom and their family. We sat with quite a diverse and fun group, including the bride and groom, and enjoyed lots of laughter, stories, delicious food and beverage. Then we headed to Garrett and Amy's new home, about an hour away, to stay the night with them. I thought I took pictures but I guess I deleted them (Garrett said he wanted Mom and Dad to come see in person. ; )
     Unfortunately when we arrived they began telling me about the ghost that lives with them and the funny noises that they hear and that they think she died in the room we were going to sleep in. As you may or may not know, I have a very very very active imagination that can disturb me to no end. So that night I was very anxious by the time we went to bed. To make matters worse, there was no fan or noise of any kind, so I could hear any little noise. (At home we sleep with a fan, radio or something on at all times….partly due to my imagination.) I smushed myself as close to Dalton as possible, covered every part of my body with the cover that I could, leaving an airhole for my mouth, and then attempted to sleep. I couldn't relax….so I plugged my ears with my fingers, which really is not a great position to try and fall asleep in. I managed to fall in and out of sleep all night, attempting to unplug my ears for a bit, then going back to it. Needless to say it was not a good night for me. I woke up less than refreshed and with an earache because of all the plugging. The others laughed at me and I laughed at myself…..it was so silly but I will tell you fear is a funny and awful thing. There is a song that says, there's no thief like fear…..and it's right!
      We got a tour of their house and the acreage it sits on. It's a great place for them to start out on, and I'm so happy for them. Especially Garrett, who was so tired of living in a small house in a subdivision in New Braunfels. We ate breakfast with Amy, Garrett and Nana, then went browsing a little and said goodbye to them, so happy that we'd stopped by and stayed the night. As we were getting in, Garrett said he saw the ghost (I can't remember her name now) get in too, so I politely opened the back door to let her out again (just in case.)

While we were getting all dressed up, the boys were enjoying relaxed luxury with donuts for breakfast.

     The entire day was dreary and cold and when we got back to the hotel we found out that the wedding and reception were outdoors. We got dressed and headed down. It was a lovely ceremony (even though we got rained on the last half) and the reception was very fun. We were so thankful that we were able to come be a part of celebrating their big day!

    Sunday we got up and headed back north. We met Mom and Dad for a hamburger and kid exchange, then headed home.

Tucker made a friend at the restaurant. All packed in for the ride home!

   "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The Sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore." Psalm 121:5-8