My good friend Elaine, on the other hand, says these things and then does them ... even though that means driving all the way from Memphis to Baton Rouge!
A few weeks ago, while Graham was away at a conference, Eden and I were blessed to have Elaine and her two fun kids, Emma and Jack, at our house for 4 days. Elaine decided they'd visit Baton Rouge during their spring break and drove down with a friend of her's and her two kids.
Eden and Emma could not have been more delighted with eachother ...
Now you all know I like to plan things, but with work and trying to be a single parent for a few days before their arrival, it was all I could do to have a somewhat straightened house when they arrived. Thankfully, Elaine was used to my not-so-neat ways from college, and Emma and Jack ended up loving the house and Baton Rouge. They read Eden's books and sat in her new chair ...
Of course, we had to spend some time at one of Eden's favorite places, the city park ...
And, since she's currently in love with climbing trees, Emma loved checking out all the huge oak trees on our walk around the neighborhood. She even decided to help out by taking some of the photos below so that Elaine and I could actually be in some ...
Emma and I also spent some time on a project just for her while the little ones were napping. I had some fabric that I couldn't pass up purchasing over a month ago and realized while Emma was here that it would really fit a 5-year-old better than trying to make it work for Miss Eden. So, we worked together to make a dress for Emma. She even wore it to tour campus on Saturday!
To finish off a great day and enjoy the lovely weather, we had a pool party on the porch. You would have thought I planned it all since the ice cream truck drove by just as we were getting the pool ready.
While I didn't get a picture of it, Emma and Jack also loved the "jungle" as they called it in our front yard - ha! They even took Eden's toy giraffe out to play in the jungle.
It seemed that Eden just couldn't get enough of Emma and Jack. She wanted to be right with them just seeming to enjoy watching them and being in their presence. I'm sure if she could talk, I would have heard, "Momma, did you see? Emma is here! And, there's Jack, too. Look, he's right over there!"
While the big kids were in town, Eden decided she needed to drink from their big kids' sippy cups, and on her first try she got it. I bought her a cheap one of her own while I played hookie at Target and Elaine watched the kids. Eden loved her big girl cup while Jack and Emma were here. Since then, not so much.
The admiration between the kids seemed to go both ways. At one point, I had to pretend that they were all "babies," so of course that meant "naptime" for everybody with their sippy cups ...
While the kids played and especially after they went to bed at night, Elaine and I got to act just like we were back in college -- hanging out in our rooms talking until way too late at night. The first night they were here we found ourselves saying, "Ok, we can go to bed and finish talking tomorrow." We're so used to short visits it was hard to realize we didn't have to squeeze everyting in to one conversation.
All in all, it was more wonderful than I could have imagined ... or ever planned :). While the weekend was exhausting, it was at the same time extremely rejuvinating and exactly what I needed.
As Emma said, "I thought this bacation was going to be boring, but Baton Rouge is fun!" We really did all have a great time, and I am so thankful for the blessing of having close friends who remind me of the rewards of making the effort. Elaine, please come back next year! Baton Rouge is the new spring break destination.
As Emma said, "I thought this bacation was going to be boring, but Baton Rouge is fun!" We really did all have a great time, and I am so thankful for the blessing of having close friends who remind me of the rewards of making the effort. Elaine, please come back next year! Baton Rouge is the new spring break destination.
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