our unlaborious (you know it's a word) weekend

It all started Friday afternoon when I got the bright idea to set up the tent in the backyard. It was such a nice day and frankly, I just had the camping bug. Jamie wanted to take Spencer to the high school football game, so it was just me and the three stooges. I figured I could handle the lot of them.



How hard could it be, camping out with my kids? We're just in the backyard. I'm sure we'll have a great time. We'll just go in if it gets too cold, and Op will protect us from wily coyotes and coons.

Ok........so I hadn't considered needing protection from things on the inside of the tent.

I'll admit I had second thoughts.

But really, they all did great. Nathan even read to us from my Bible, they all stayed in their sleeping bags, and no one needed to go in to potty at the last minute. They fell asleep just after Jamie and Spencer got home from the game. We all slept pretty well. Especially after 12:30, which is when Ben and Nathan both erupted into spontaneous sleep-battle on either side of me. I can't remember what either one of them was fighting/running away from, but for just a second or two, I thought I might have to pull out my sword. You know, the one I keep under my pillow. They're standard camping equipment.

The morning was beautiful, even if it did start at 6:30. Before the sun came up. (gasp) It was chilly and still, and beautiful enough to distract me from the "I'm too old to sleep on the ground when did that happen" back pain. We went inside for pancakes and eggs, and I felt like the best mommy in the world as I drank my coffee.

So that was Friday. Saturday seems to me a crazy blur of cleaning and organizing. I remember cleaning Spencer's room with him, which was a big fat ginormous undertaking, because to get new carpet in our basement, we moved all the furniture into his room, and it stayed that way for about a month. Even after removing the furniture and boxes, well....let me enlighten you as to what you may find in a 12-year-old boy's room:

1. legos in every crevice imaginable

2. granola bar wrappers (which was very interesting considering our no food in your bedroom rule)

3. overdue library books

4. cups, spoons, and forks (see number 2)

5. game pieces

6. homework

7. marbles

8. puzzle pieces

9. lego catalogs (Christmas edition - mistakenly considered trash by the unappreciative mom)

10. dice, paper clips, pencils, award medals, bookmarks, and dead bugs

I could keep going. But I'll refrain. Now it's beautifully and wonderfully clean and he's not allowed to go in there because he'll mess it up, so he sleeps on the floor just in front of his door. We let him have his pillow.

Moving on to Sunday.

That blur of super-cleaning on Saturday? Included was finishing every scrap of laundry (including sleeping bags) and bathing all the children. Okay, Spencer bathed himself. That'd be awkward. But the other three...

So when I woke up Sunday morning to two bed-wetting incidents that required me to put something in the laundry basket, plus cleaning kids again, plus Alli wetting her Sunday dress just an hour later, and of course the usual trying to get four kids fed, clothed, combed, and out the door and to church on time, I was a total, and I mean total grump by the time I got there. We were late anyway, so after dropping the kids off in their respective classrooms, I stood in the hallway and seethed. Alone. Swimming in seethingness while everyone else was worshipping. After a few minutes of breathing exercises, I was able to adjust my attitude and step into the sanctuary without horns on my head.

After that, my day was great. We went to Aunt Martia's for lunch and Scrabble and naps. Well, Jamie and Alli got naps.

It's only one of the sweetest moments in the whole wide world.

We grilled steaks for dinner, and had watermelon, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and roasted potatoes. Then the kids rolled homemade vanilla ice cream (fun!) to top Auntie M's texas sheet cake. It was yum. I gained a pound. And lost at Scrabble. One of these days I'll let her lose to my genius word plays, but for right now, I feel it would be best for me to keep letting her win. You know, out of respect for my elders and all.

Monday.

Monday we had a bunch of friends over: our friends Craig and Vanessa and their little girl Eliana, Tyler and Nicole and their little boy Gavin, Chris and Amanda, and Robert. The first two couples are friends from other churches, and Robert and Chris are guitarists on our worship team. Later, Aaron and Jen and their little girl Hannah joined us, too. They're also friends from church.

I thought I should take a picture of the whole crowd, like a good blogger should.

But then Robert brought this homemade cheesecake and my brain went numb. It was all my camera could think about. It gravitated toward the pretty little thing and made me take a picture. Isn't it beautiful?

Real men make cheesecake.

Later that evening, after our guests left, we went to Julie and Levi's for a Mom's group kick-off, family style. All the dads and kids came along for pizza and watermelon, and Levi gave horse rides on Andy and Hunter. It was great - a beautiful night and lots of good fellowship. And a football stuck in a tree. More about that in a minute.

Nathan and I went riding together, but it's rather difficult to take a picture of yourself riding a horse next to your son. I've been asking God for super-stretch arms for years. I'm puzzled at his delay.

So the tree thing. Some dads and sons were throwing around a small football and it got stuck in a tree limb. After several unsuccessful attempts at retrieving it (I think they were throwing shoes up there to try and dislodge it) they finally decided someone should go up there and rescue the football. Of course my brave and fearless husband was perfect for the job. If only there were a ladder (Julie said she had a ladder). A ladder would make things easier ("Hey, guys, I have a ladder"). Then Jamie (starting the climb) wouldn't have to climb up, but could just put a ladder ("Do they hear me saying I have a ladder???") underneath the limb and grab the football. So Jamie went with and with a mighty poke of a stick, dislodged the football and it fell perfectly into the receiving arms below.

You know they say that women are hard to figure out.

It was a good, full weekend. I love weekends that are full of fellowship. My favorite part was definitely the horse rides. Or the cheesecake.

Whatever.

Both seem to have left a mark on my back end.