All things country

We have had a delightful week. Wednesday morning, the kids and I hopped into the van and drove our little selves out to my sister's house in Nebraska. Aside from the continuous hollering from the small male child in the car (who got on my last nerve just 2 hours from home and was relocated to the back of the van) as to when we would get there, the trip in the car was smooth and happy. We stopped about every 2 hours for a potty break or snack break and arrived at Lisa's house (or Ashley's house because in Michael's mind that is the only person who lives here) just in time to attend VBS with our sweet cousins. We have caught lightning bugs, picked peas from the garden, jumped on the tramp, driven the tractor, gone to VBS, shot off bottle rockets and smoke bombs, shopped, talked, giggled, missed Daddy, caught toads, eaten yummy food, gone swimming, and best of all we've had the ultimate sleep-over; Brittany, Maddie and Marky are all sleeping together downstairs, Lauren and Meredith are upstairs, and Michael is on the floor in Ashley's room. We are all literally the happiest of campers. Life on my sister's farm is fun and full of new adventures for the kids. The only thing missing has been that Daddy hasn't been with us. I've tried to keep him somewhat connected through texts and pictures of the things that we have been doing, but I know that he misses being with us. He is flying here today and there will be happy kiddos (and an even HAPPIER mama) when we pick him up at the airport. There are more adventures to come over the next couple of days. Daddy is joining us today for fun as we stay at a cool Holiday Inn tonight and then go to "Pioneer Village" for some more country memories. I love all of the things we are getting to do together as a family this summer. My family is the best part of my life, and even though my last nerve was shredded 2 days ago (help is in the air!!), being these kids mama is the best job in the whole world. I can't think of any better place to do my job then here at my sister's house connecting my family's hearts with her family's hearts. If we could have dreamed up these days 20 years ago, the knitting of our 8 kids' lives together, our imaginations would have fallen short of the beautiful reality of the last week. Truly the icing on our life-cakes.