Why I haven't blogged in 11 days...

Mima & P'pa (Kiersten's parents) have been in town, and what a week (+) we had!

Friday I spent all day packing, cleaning, and getting us ready to be away for the weekend. We travelled Friday night to Murfreesboro, TN to be at a birthday party for Benjamin's twin cousins, Paris & Zack (now 3 years old!) on Saturday morning. From Murfreesboro we continued travelling southeast about 200 more miles to Atlanta, GA where my uncle's family lives. We met up with my parents there and spent Saturday evening and Sunday morning all together. Sunday afternoon Mima & P'pa accompanied us back to Louisville. Complete with rest stops and meals for 4 adults and 1 baby (who's rest stop activities take longer than the 4 adults' combined!), our trip took over 9 hours. We didn't return to Louisville until after midnight! Unfortunately, late nights Friday, Saturday, and Sunday meant Benjamin lost a total of an entire night's sleep over the course of the weekend. Oops! At least he seemed to handle it pretty well.

The trip, although long, was worth it. Aside from the birthday bash in TN, we...
-ate at Mary Mac's in downtown Atlanta (good ol' southern cookin', for those who aren't familiar)
-attended a brass concert in which my cousin James was playing. Benjamin was a VERY good boy. The concert didn't start until 8:00pm (his bedtime), but he sat quietly and looked at his book the whole time (ok, he talked a tiny little bit, but it was happy baby sounds and only during the part where they reset the stage for the next group). When the music started he looked, wide-eyed at the ceiling, from which the sound was bouncing down on us. He just couldn't figure it out!
-had lots of opportunity to catch up with family and show Benjamin off to some relatives he hadn't yet met

The next week was filled with activity as my mom and I tried to do some projects around the house and get some errands done while we had the benefit of an extra (rental) car. We were out and about nearly every day, which is very unusual for Benjamin and I. Thursday we stayed home, for the most part, and Benjamin was unusually excited about crawling around the living room and rediscovering his toys.

We had a few interesting twists in our week, just to keep us on our toes! During the weekend's road trip our speedometer went totally crazy. By the end it was hardly working. So Tuesday and Wednesday the car was in the shop for the speedometer sensor. That extra car really came in handy! Another day Mom & I decided to measure the space behind our bed for a plastic bin to store sheets & blankets in (as opposed to the small open shelf that was occupying this same space). When we began to pull linens off the shelf we discovered that the area (walls & baseboards on an outside corner), was wet and molding...including the linens. Several trips to Target, loads of laundry, and hours of rearranging possessions later, the problem was resolved. It wasn't exactly my first choice of how to spend our short time together, but on the other hand if I had to deal with that all myself I think I would have just sat down and cried. So, ultimately it was good timing that Mom was here.

In case you are wondering where the men come in, my dad and Seth spent the week working hard at their jobs. We hardly saw them!

We said our goodbyes Sunday after church and a quick lunch. They still had to drive back to Atlanta to catch their plane back to CA.

Thanks, Mima & P'pa for a great, memorable week. We look forward to seeing Mima again in February for the birth of Baby Girl.