the land of the boogie woogies

i thought you might be waiting for a new post to remove the previous lovely post {and pictures} you see every time you clicked on the blog :)

this weekend brought a flood of childhood memories back, at least for the better half of this marriage. we made a spur of the moment trip to shreveport, LA to visit stephens grandparents and great grandmother. the last time we made the trip was over a year ago, when bennett was six weeks old. we were long overdue for another trip!

friday was quite an interesting day for bennett and me, and if you have a second, ill tell you all about it:

bennett woke up, i went and got him up, then he fell asleep again on my shoulder for another 15 minutes {WEIRD!!}. then i fed him breakfast and he sat in my lap while i was eating mine and he was finishing his banana. he choked a little on his last bite {bc he slid down and was more like lying down in my lap by that point....not to mention the bites he takes are WAY too big} and proceeded to throw up his entire breakfast. all over me, the sofa, the floor, and everything else on the way to the kitchen sink. i sat him in the sink and cleaned him {and me} up. {WEIRD!} he carried on his merry way while i cleaned the sofa and the rug and everything else. my phone rang and i went to the computer to find an address and bennett followed me. he walked out of the room and two seconds later began screaming. i got off the phone and ran to the next room to find that he had sprayed upholstery cleaner in his eye. i {trying to be brave and not freak out like i wanted to} ran him to the kitchen sink {again!} and splashed water all over his face. it appears that the cleaner didnt get IN his eye, just on his face. {WEIRD! and scary} we wait for stephen, since we were planning on leaving town at 12pm to make the long drive to shreveport. i feed bennett a snack and we sit in daddy's chair in the den to watch some tv before daddy gets home. bennett falls asleep next to me, wakes up just enough to climb onto my chest and fall asleep again. for twenty minutes {WEIRD!!!}. stephen's case runs late so we dont end up leaving until 4. bennett has not had a nap. we have a great trip over to shreveport, stopping around 7pm to get dinner. bennett does not want to get out of the car and keeps saying "moh vrmmmmm" {more riding in the car}. ITS BEEN THREE HOURS IN THE CAR. we eat mcalisters in the car, bennett falls asleep for around an hour and a half. then he wakes up, and THROWS EVERYTHING UP...ALL OVER HIMSELF AND ME. {WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!} we stop and get him cleaned up and he falls asleep again. and then there is so much more about when we finally get to the hotel and they dont have the room right and then the room they give us hasnt been cleaned {its 12 midnight by now} so they have to find us another room and we all finally go to sleep at 1am.

WHEW!

the last time something like this happened, we were in new orleans over valentines day weekend. and it had to do with teeth. again. the boy just doesnt take it well i guess. he has about eight teeth coming in right now {seriously}. four incisors and four one-year molars. something about that just doesnt sound fair, huh?? i probably wouldnt feel that great either.

the weekend was a whirlwind type - since we got to shreveport so late friday night and left sunday morning. but it was a great weekend...a much needed weekend...a memorable weekend.

talking about childhood memories, the second we arrived saturday morning stephens grandmother {mamaw preston - preston being their last name} pulled out a box full of toys stephen and his brothers played with when they were younger. bennett had cars and trucks and toys galore.

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at one point he and stephen disappeared and i found them doing this

all you need:

bowl

water

dish soap

hand mixer

then get to work! bennett loved it. simplicity at its best. who needs batteries?!?!

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we spent the day visiting - im sad i didnt get a single picture of bennett and Mamaw Preston! boo!

{stephen's great grandmother - Mamaw Thomas. she is such a firecracker. you cant help but laugh when you talk to her - not really because of anything she says, its just that she is almost 100 yrs old, and it sounds so...spicy coming out of her mouth! she is such an inspiration - she has lived by herself until just a couple months ago. its amazing!!!}

feeding the ducks

sunday before we left we managed to scarf down some southernmaid donuts

{i spy an "A"....stephen started this a long time ago - writing letters on bennetts hands and getting him to repeat them. now, bennett will frequently come up to us, show us his hand and say "B!!" or "A!!". funny funny}

and pose for some pictures over the water like last time

as you see elmo was never far away

this is my serious face

"daddy's baybee"

hugging Papaw Preston -

Papaw Preston has been sick for some time now, and just recently stopped his chemo treatments. he is a living breathing bundle of love and always has been. the first thing he said when bennett walked in the door was "there's my boogie woogie!!". Papaw has names for all his "children" - stephen has always lovingly been "steve-a-roni". the entire trip was more than worth it, just to hear Papaw's laugh and see his smile. he is such a generous soul and has such a great heart. and he is always the one wearing a smile. we pray he continues to wear that smile and be pain free. we love you Papaw! bennett has said your name at least a dozen times today :)

{and lets just say the trip home was MUCH less eventful!!}