Visit with Friends

Friday we left St. John and headed to Sterling to stay with Chris & Teri. Their kids were really excited to see us when we arrived. Hans was so cute with Barrett. He'd lay there and talk to him for a long time! He really loves babies! Erin was really excited to see Brody. Remember this post?
Saturday morning Mike and Chris left early to go hunting. Goose hunting with Garet was first on their agenda for the day. Teri and I stayed behind with the kids. We were surprised to look out the window after breakfast and see big snowflakes falling from the sky! The kids ran outside to watch the snow. I think Erin knew that it wasn't going to stick (notice her bare feet and short sleeve shirt!!)

By mid-morning the kids were starting to get a little stir crazy. Teri and I loaded up their minivan and drove into town. We took the kids to the Broadway Market (an amazing coffee shop for a small town). I love this quiet little coffee shop! The kids got hot chocolate and Teri and I had coffee (I think it'd been awhile since I'd had so much caffeine and it made me a little jittery...sorry Barrett!)

Staci, Barrett (in the sling...you can see his hand if you look closely), and Teri at Broadway Market.

When we got back Debbie (their neighbor and my former midwife) came over to see the boys. Brody, of course, turned shy and wouldn't say anything...but Barrett was all smiles.

Around lunch time Mike & Chris showed up. They'd had a very successful goose hunt and were happy hunters. They ate lunch and then headed back out to go pheasant hunting.

Saturday afternoon Brandi (our former preachers wife) and her kids stopped by for a visit. It was fun to catch up with her! After she left Brody went down for a nap, Chris & Teri's kids went downstairs to play, and Teri and I decided to take Barrett on a walk (you can do that when you live out in the middle of nowhere...leave the kids at home for a little bit to go on a walk down the desolate, dirt road). It felt great walking away from the house, but when we turned around to walk back the wind had a bite to it!

Just before dinner time the guys arrived and announced that they'd had another successful hunt. Mike told me that it was a perfect hunting day. They saw lots of birds, the weather was nice, and he got to hunt with one of his best friends!

Here's a picture of them cleaning the pheasants. Notice Alan looking on. He's an eager future hunter if I ever saw one! I think he was in every picture that I took of the birds!

While Teri prepared dinner and the guys cleaned the birds, Erin and Collin showed Brody how to jump on a trampoline. He thought it was so much fun! I hear lots and lots of laughing from their direction.

And then all of the sudden I heard loud crying!!!!

Brody bounced and somehow busted his top lip. It was bleeding pretty good! He stopped crying when I cleaned him up and then he immediately asked to go back outside and jump on the trampoline!

Brody played and played and played with all the kids. Several times different kids would comment to me, "Brody wears me out!" I would just laugh and tell them it was payback for all the times we'd babysit or just come over and play with them! Brody especially loved the Spiderman dart gun (however he had to have someone cock the gun everytime he wanted to shoot it...he's just not strong enough yet).

Just before bedtime the Wilsons stopped by for a visit. Here's a picture of Erin, Brody, & Sydney.

Sunday morning we went to our old church. It amazed me how much children can grow in just a few months! I didn't even recognize a few of them because they'd grown so much! It was harder to leave on Sunday than either of us had anticipated. We finally had to take one last deep breath of country air, climb in the car, and drive away. We miss the country and our friends there but were soon reminded of one of the many reasons that we moved to Texas. Teri told us that Brody said to her, "I'm not going back to your house today. I have to go back to Texas to see Daddy Steve and Namaw!"