Family .... What It's All About!

Yesterday Megan dropped off Cooper and Lynnlee for the day, overnight, and this morning.  She and Matt were going to his cousin's wedding in Brownsburg, then the reception in Danville.  His folks were going also.  Even though Megan said they could come back and get the kids late in the evening, it seemed like a good idea just to let them stay overnight, settle them in, and give Megan and Matt a child-free evening to just enjoy themselves.

Cooper is always a breeze to take care of.  He listens well.  He understands what he can and what he can't do.  He will eat just about anything I fix.  And he goes to bed, goes to sleep, doesn't fuss, and doesn't get up until the next morning.  I have always been impressed by how well he goes to bed.

He and I went to Tessa's softball game yesterday afternoon and he was so good there too. Even though he would have rather found Landon and stayed with him, he asked once, understood (or at least pretended that he did) why I wouldn't let him just wander around looking for Landon, and sat and watched the rest of Tessa's game with me.

After dinner we noticed that the rains of the past couple of days had caused the creek at our house to become visible!  Only a few times soon after we moved did we ever notice water in the creek. Last night, however, the water was IN the creek, some of it was outside the banks into the grass, and it was moving quickly through the culverts under the drive.  We walked out to check it then after Gary walked further down the drive, he noticed a limb was down.  Cooper and Lynnlee had a ride in the pick-up with NO seatbelts or carseats as we went along with Papaw and the chainsaw to cut up the fallen limbs.  What fun! (Not so much for Papaw, though)

This morning Landon called and asked us to meet them at Red Lobster at 11 for lunch, to celebrate his daddy's birthday and his own adoption day.  We loaded up Lynnlee and Cooper, all of their gear, and took off.  Hilary, Blaine, and the kids were already there when we arrived, and Megan and Matt pulled in the parking lot soon after we did. 

The table for 11 was attended by two servers who were great with us and with the kids.  The guy was also excited for Blaine's birthday and even more excited for Landon's Adoption Day and offered free ice cream for dessert for those two.

As we sat there, waiting for our food to arrive, and even after it did and everyone was eating, I had to thank the good Lord for blessing me with such a fantastic family.  Sure, the kids were a little loud at times.  Yes, Tessa did begin to cry and move from her mom to her dad several times.  Cooper did stand up and move to the other side of his dad at one point. Owen had an outburst or two.  But overall everyone was fairly well-behaved and no one, that I noticed, was casting evil eyes toward us at any point. 

Gary and I are so lucky that our two girls like each other, enjoy being together, and want to celebrate special occasions such as these together.

We are lucky that our sons-in-law also enjoy our company and don't hesitate to include everyone in get-togethers.

We are fortunate that we live closer now so that we all can get together for more special occasions without it being hard to plan for timing.  All of us were able to run a few errands, return home for the afternoon, and enjoy some Sunday afternoon time before school and work began again on Monday.

We are also blessed with all five of the grandchildren.  Each one of them is so special, each in his/her own way.  Each adds a new dimension to our lives. 

And that is what it is all about!