Success!

Whew. That was harder than I thought! Toby and I celebrated 15 years of marriage last Thursday, the 17th. I decided to surprise him with a little mini trip to a bed and breakfast in Abilene, KS. I did lots of research and was very happy that I ended up choosing Abilene.

For starters, he actually had a Saturday OFF!! I called a few people and had all of his "duties" taken care of. I let Master Kim know that we would have Jacob take his belt test on the make up day, I arranged for Sunday School to be taught by someone else, I texted our Saturday church to let them know we were not going to be there, and I prayed that Toby wouldn't be called into work.

The only glich was that Toby ended up not going into work on Friday night until 8:15PM. I had planned on going with the kids to run some last minute errands, but the Toby's truck was late, so he didn't need to go in until later. I thought quickly and thought of some excuse to run to the store and he said he would just hang out with the kiddos until I got back! Yay! I got everything I needed and it worked out.

As soon as Daddy left, I let the kids in on the surprise. I knew better than to tell them before then because they are not so good at keeping secrets! :) I sent them to bed and started packing and cleaning. I think I went to bed at 2:30! Holy moly! ...but I got it all done! I had a hard time packing though! Usually I lay everything out so that I can have it ready to go in the morning, but I couldn't do that because when Toby got home, he might think something was fishy. So, I did my best at hiding things and headed to bed.

I was up early the next morning and I headed to Mom's to drop them off. She's a saint!!! She worked the previous night and had not really slept, but watched my kiddos anyway. Yay Mom!!! Thank you! You rock!

I headed home, put some last minute things in the car and woke Toby at 8:45AM. I told him, "Welcome to a day full of surprises. Our children are not here. Do not ask questions; I will let you know information as needed. You need to shave and dress casually."

He woke up immediately and jumped in the shower! He got ready and then I had him sit in the car while I gathered our toiletries so he wouldn't know we were staying the night somewhere else!

We grabbed some breakfast and hit the road. Our first stop was the LeBold Mansion. Wow. Our docent was originally from San Francisco and had a ton of experience in antiques and history. We had a tour and asked tons of questions. It truly was very fascinating!

We had a couple of hours to kill before check in (no, he still didn't know!) so we headed to the Abilene Visitor's Bureau. They gave us lots of ideas and we decided Old Abilene would be fun. We found a gift shop in the vicinity. It was a long building that was obviously several different businesses. At the very end of the building was a wax museum. It cost a WHOPPING buck! Neither of us had ever seen a wax museum. It was pretty interesting but towards the exit, the last bay of "dummies" had lighting issues. It looked as if a circuit blew or something. We were trying to read the plaques in each exhibit and it started to get downright creepy in there! Ok. All done! LOL.

We went into the gift shop and bought something for the kiddos.

After that, we went to the Old Town Abilene section. ...lots of really old buildings, a working train that you can ride in and even have dinner, an old working carousel ...a ton of really cool stuff. It was pretty warm so we headed to the "saloon" to see what they had to offer. As we walked in a group of older folks were sitting around a circular table. A few tables were spread around the small room, and off to the right was a well-lit, low stage. We later found out the stage was for the can-can girls. In that small room that might have been a bit awkward! All the way in the back was the bar. there were no seats in front of it and an older gal was behind the bar. As we walked in, the crowd at the table immediately stopped their conversation and leaned in close to each other. They started speaking in low tones, and looking at us and smiling. It was charming to know that we gave them something to talk about! :) We went to the "bartender" and asked her what she had to drink.

"Sarsaparilla." ...long wait... "Oh, we also have ice cream. Vanilla."

Me: "um. Ok! We'll take a Sarsaparilla!" It cracked me up. We ended up standing there and talking to her for 30 minutes about the town. She owned all the buildings in Old Town and she was chalk full of interesting info!

After finishing our drink we walked outside and watch the worst gun fight we have ever seen! LOL! It was terrible! We were right in the middle of the audience and we terrified if we left the gunfighters would make a scene...so we decided to stay put! Oh gosh! We bolted as soon as we could!

We went to the Abilene Victorian Bed and Breakfast. Toby was indeed surprised! He said he had a hunch I was up to something because he noticed that Google had really "interesting" search queries...but he had no idea what was up my sleeve! Yay! We checked in (Mamie's Honeymoon Suite) and got settled. Oh! It was so beautiful!! The Host gave us a tour of the house and we got to see all the rooms. This place was unbelievable! We changed our clothes and headed to dinner at the Kirby House. Yum! Big beautiful restaurant that was owned by the same man who owned the LeBold Mansion. They actually looked exactly alike except the surface. The LeBold Mansion is made of limestone and the Kirby House is made of wood.

After dinner we took a trolley tour of the city. All I can say is, "What a neat town!!" Breakfast was awesome the next morning and our company was delightful. After we packed up our room we went the the Eisenhower Museum. We should have started there because we felt so rushed after being there for two hours. Wow. I'd like to say a lot more about this place, but I think I might save that for another post.

We grabbed a bite at La Fiesta and then headed home. The trip home seemed a lot longer than the trip there! :) It was so nice to hang out with Toby with no agenda. We have always loved going to museums and long walks to explore new places. It was nice not to rush...and even nicer to hang out with my awesome hubby!

We both needed that weekend so much. Thanks God.

May the force be with you...........

Jedi Jacob in action...

Freaked. Me. Out.

Oh my stars!!! I put Rianna down for her afternoon nap today and as I pulled back the covers, she jumped and screamed, "SPIDER!" I pulled back the sheets and watched a LARGE spider crawling frantically down her sheets. I called Toby to help me identify it. Yep. A Brown Recluse. DANG!!! IT WAS IN MY BABY'S BED!!!!!!!

Thank you Jesus for protecting her!! Thank you that she saw it...I was not paying attention to her sheets!

Needless to say, I am now. I cleaned up her room (whooey! It was in quite a state!) since her books and play food were everywhere. I also swept it. ...and I checked her sheets before she crawled in bed. There are spider traps in there and I will change them tomorrow. I also checked Jacob's sheets and will be cleaning his room tomorrow as well as replacing his spider traps.

Oh gosh, it really freaked me out. Thank you Jesus for protecting my precious children!

Betty Butter

HA! I love this! My daddy taught this to Jacob a long time ago. Jacob loves walking around the house saying it...I guess Rianna was listening!! Too cute!

Have you ever noticed?

I know...three posts in one day. :P

So, I notice something interesting. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am praying consistently every morning. Not anything like I want it to be, but I think it's a good start. I used to pray a lot more but for some reason I stopped. Anyway, I have consistently been praying every morning as soon as I get up. It's been awesome and I love it.

...something that I am noticing though is that the more I pray, the more people ask me to pray for them. I have not advertised that I am praying more now, it has just happened. Two people approached me today and asked me to pray for a major thing that is happening in their life. Several people have approached me over the past few days.

Um. Ok. I'll pray. I just think it's interesting...

Oh Jacob....

Jacob came upstairs into the living room after spending a few minutes in the basment. He was carrying a box of nails, a hammer, some drill bits and a small piece of wood. "Mom, one look at you car and I can build an engine out of a piece of this wood! Can I borrow some of Dad's tools?"

Me: "Um, not right now."

Geez. What else could I say??

Wow. That kid keeps me busy.

Catchin' up...

Today promised to be a crazy day. I started to list the things we needed to do today in paragraph form a moment ago but it started to get confusing so I am deciding to put it in a bulleted list. (Big breath)...her it goes:

• Toby worked late
• Toby has to teach Sunday School this morning at 9:30
• Jacob has TKD from 2:30-4PM
• Rianna will need a nap
• Toby will need a nap
• we have to drop off Mom's car at the airport because she is coming home from Vegas tonight
• Toby needs to go out to the garden in Derby to check on it
• he also needs to mow Mom and Dad's yard
• I have to open tonight for dance
• I am teaching the beginning Lindy Hop class
• I am doing music tonight
• Mom and Dad are out of town so I also get to bring my kids to dance. We won't get home until 10:30-ish
• Toby leaves for work at 5:30

I was dreading today, but there was nothing to do about it except put my best foot forward and not complain about it. I put my kids down on time last night hoping they would get a full night sleep, so we could hit the ground running today. Needless to say, when I checked on my kids at 10:30 or 11, they were both still up (I have no idea why).

Sigh.

I stayed up late last night building my music list for tonight and then scoured the Internet looking for a good idea to teach Sunday School for my hubby. I knew he wouldn't get home until VERY late, so I was hoping I could teach for him (Jeremy and Dave were not available...they are the usual back-ups). After a lot of frustration, I finally texted Toby and asked him what he wanted me to do. He said not to worry about it and that he would just teach. I really wanted to bless him. I am so impressed with how God has gifted him in teaching; it is so effortless and natural for him. I can do it, but I really have to work on it. So, he woke up this morning tired but willing. I sure do love Toby.

So, I woke up at 7:30 and started to pray like I normally do. I then realized I misjudged my wake up time and should have set my alarm for 7:15. Ugh. I guess I get to pray in the shower! Not ideal, but it's what I can do. I ran to the bathroom and started to get myself ready to get in the shower.

Pitter-patter-pitter-patter.

I peeked down the hall to see my Anna Boo carrying her bunny. She was whimpering. Uh-oh. "What's wrong, Baby?" "Mommy, I think I'm sick. I just threw up a little." She did throw up a little. Not much at all actually. No temperature. I just kept an eye on her. I thought I would give her the test to see if it was a bug or if it was her just coughing too hard. I gave her some milk (her regular routine in the morning) and she puked. Poor thing. I have tried giving her little bits of food because she says she's hungry but she just kept puking. She is finally keeping something down now. I just gave her a piece of toast and her tummy still hurts but she's keeping it down.

I guess my day isn't as crazy as I thought it was going to be. After lots of phone calls, all my duties for this evening are taken care of. I feel blessed to work with wonderful people on the board. I am also looking forward to a quiet evening at home with my kiddos. Thanks God.

On a different note, I took some pictures of our back yard. We have three fruit trees (cherry, peach and apple) and all three of them have fruit on them!! The cherries are the most impressive! :) We also have a compost pile in the back corner of the yard. Ha ha!! Looks like we are growing some extra things back there that we didn't plan! There are tomato plants and pumpkins growing out of our compost! I think we are going to try to keep them...Ha! Why not? :)

Well, I am watching Rianna eating a second piece of toast. Let's hope it stays down!

apple tree

peaches


cherries!