Mom's Away for the Weekend!

This weekend I left for a retreat with some of the women that volunteer in the Mpact program at our church. Joey had the kids all weekend, I left him with a detailed schedule for the weekend typed up with photos of course :) and headed out Friday morning. Saturday Joey and his mom took the boys to get haircuts at McFly's barber shop. Ayden jumped up in his chair like a champ (he loves to get his hair cut. Brock surprised everyone when he sat still and happy for his haircut. Normally Brock will scream the entire time, I hate it that the one time I wasn't there Brock made a milestone! Next was shopping at Target. My aunt Debra gave the kids some money when she was down to get them something with so I promised the kids that they could go shopping and pick out anything they wanted (well anything from the dollar isle at the front door :) Grandma Lancaster was with them so they got to venture to the "big toy" isle. Ayden & Brock got trucks and Bethany got a pink cell phone and little baby doll that was the perfect size for her to cup in her arm. Next, they headed for lunch at Chick fil A. I love to hear Brock say chicken, he scrunches his little mouth up and closes one eye, he is so dramatic when he talks it's so cute! The kids played in the play center there; Ayden & Brock have always been scared to go down the slide so Bethany had to show them up by taking her little 16 month old self right up that ladder and down the slide! She is such a brave and adventurous little girl, it just seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital and now she's running, jumping, and climbing........ Ok, back to the story, got lost there for a moment thinking about my baby girl growing up! After the kids were all wore out from shopping and eating Joey headed home for them to have naps. About 4:00 when they woke up Joey was brave and tried to take all the kids grocery shopping At the last minute I called my mom to go with him for reinforcement (that was good call) Brock screamed for cheese the whole time, Ayden fought with Brock over toys, they wanted everything in the store and when it was all said an done Joey said "Never again, I will not take all the children grocery shopping ever again! Saturday night Joey's mom and dad were nice enough to take Joey and the kids out to Torreros for dinner. Now this is another one of those events that you have to prepare yourself for because it has the potential to be a disaster. Turns out this was not the best place to take the kids that night but everyone was fed and they survived so it was ok. Sunday Joey took the kids to church. After church they ate lunch at Joey's mom and dad's house and then took naps. I got home about 4:00 and went to our house first to drop all of my stuff off from the trip before I met everyone at the grandparent's house. When I opened the door of our house it looked like we had been robbed! There were toys everywhere, every sippy cup in the house was used, breakfast was still on the table, dishes were piled up in the sink, oh, it was a disaster! Surprisingly though my first thought was happiness; seeing the toys everywhere meant that they kids had fun with their dad, seeing the dishes and breakfast bowls on the table meant they were fed, seeing the towels and clothes everywhere meant they had been bathed and changed. Joey did exactly what needed to be done, he made sure our babies were taken care of and spent the weekend having fun with their dad. It took about 30 minutes (mom's are awesome at clean up time) and I had the entire house cleaned up, dishes done, floors swept and vacuumed, beds made and clothes washed and in the dryer. I met Joey and the kids at his mom and dad's house where everyone except Ayden and Joey's mom were napping. Joey got up about 20 minutes later and had that look on his face like he was in survival mode. I let him think that I had not been home yet so all he could say was "When you see the house, I'm sorry" I told him it couldn't be that bad, what kind of damage could three babies do in a two days :) Oh, how I wish I could have captured the look on Joey's face when he opened the door of our house to see the floor freshly vacuumed and those pile of washed dishes. He just smiled from ear to ear. I am so blessed to have a husband that enjoys spending time with his kids and would even apologize for not having the house cleaned after he had watched them ALL weekend while I was gone on a mini vacation. God is good and I am blessed!