What a Team!: What a Week!

This week has been CRAZY. Actually the last month has been pretty busy. We've had lots of visitors, and Emmett was gone for a week at a conference.

Last Sunday, Ben threw up (at my friend Candice's house) in the afternoon. His eye had been kind of goopy, but I hadn't worried about it too much. I wasn't sure if the vomiting was just related to the heat - or maybe reflux? - but I thought we would wait and see. Monday was Evan's last day of school. We had big plans to pick up Evan at school, pack a picnic lunch and spend the afternoon at the church pool. Unfortunately, Ben threw up again on Monday morning, so I made an appointment to see the pediatrician on Tuesday afternoon. Emmett did all the celebrating with Evan and Corrie while Ben and I stayed home.

Tuesday morning, Corrie went to her first day of Polliwogs camp at the World Birding Center. She loved it! We knew a few families and recruited some others to join the camp, too, so Corrie knew 6 of the 13 kids. Evan got to go swimming with his friend Lucas. Ben napped and I tried to get some cleaning done.

Tuesday afternoon, I took all three of the kids to the doctor's office. She checked Ben out thoroughly and gave us some antibiotics for his eyes and his tummy. We had a quick break at home before I took everybody to the grocery store. We made it through unscathed - which is saying something. It's not always smooth-sailing with three kids at the grocery store. Ha! Although I will confess that I was ruled by my stomach (and coerced by my children) into bringing home Toaster Strudel, Nutella and a couple of frozen pizzas.

Wednesday started out GREAT. Our friend Melissa (from Chicago, now in South Carolina) was coming to town for a visit. She flew into San Antonio and I drove the 4 hours to pick her up. Emmett (bless his heart!) took a day off of work to stay home with the kids. I drove by myself - listened to music and a couple of sermons, called a good friend and my mom, and just enjoyed the time alone. Finally made it to the airport, picked up Melissa and swung by Chipotle (woot!) to grab a burrito and some chips and guacamole. I was feelin' good!

Then ... a couple of hours into the drive, just south of a small town called George West, the van started bumping and shaking. I slowed down and pulled over at a slightly sketchy "Country Store/Game Room" with boarded up windows and big signs saying "No Public Restrooms" and "Ring bell to enter." Uh oh. It turned out that the front right tire had a huge lump on it, and after we were parked for a few minutes, the lump popped. No problem. We could change a tire. Except ... no spare. We called Geico and AAA. There were many phone calls made to find a new tire, and finally one was located in Alice, TX. By the time the tow truck arrived, the Walmart Tire Center was closed. So ... the tow truck driver took us to a nearby hotel. Unfortunately, that hotel (and the other three next to the WalMart) were all booked with oil field workers.

The truck driver kindly drove us across town to another hotel. This was not a fancy hotel at all, but it worked for us. (Did I mention yet that I forgot to bring my breast pump with me on this drive? I bought a manual one at Walmart, plus a Tshirt, underwear and a toothbrush). Fortunately, Melissa had all her luggage, so I could use her toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

In the morning, we had to figure out how to get back to Walmart. At breakfast, a local trucker overheard me asking for help at the front desk and offered to give me a ride. Then he realized that the cab of his truck was full, so he asked another trucker to drop me off. God kept me safe and provided all the rides I needed.

When I got to Walmart, they couldn't find the tire. Sigh. However, they called around and found a tire at another tire store in town. The guy from Walmart gave me a ride to that tire store so I could buy the tire, then he drove me (and the tire) back to Walmart to put the tire on. I thanked him profusely, drove back to the hotel to pick up Melissa, and we finally made our way home ... arriving on Thursday afternoon.

Whew.

The rest of the week was less eventful. An afternoon at the splash park, a couple of hours at the pool, a yogurt outing, and lots of time with Melissa and the kids.

Now we're already halfway through the next week, and I still feel like my head is spinning. I have such high hopes for summer, but I have not accomplished much of anything yet. :)

Here's a pic of Corrie and a friend at the bounce house last week: