February Trip to Illinois

This past weekend, our family trekked down to Illinois yet again. The original plans for the trip did not include Rob, since he was supposed to stay home and work on Large Paper Number Two (this topic on women in ministry, which I find to be far more interesting than the annointing oil in James 5.) Anyway, The Custom Shoppe is closed this week so Rob knew he could take some time off and go with us. I was rather relieved, since I did NOT want a repeat of the last trip and I don't see Rob enough as it is. Plus, Rob's mom decided to throw a small party for Ben's 3rd birthday and Rob really wanted to be there.

We left after Rob got home from class on Friday. I told him the next time we take a trip, I'M going to leave for the morning and HE can deal with all of the "When are we going to Grandma's?" and "It's taking FOREVER before we leave!" We stopped at McDonald's in Johnson Creek for lunch and then hit the road. And then stopped in Janesville to deliver baby items to a friends parents (enjoy it, Rach!), and then stopped in Beloit for coffee to keep Rob awake. I seriously didn't think we would ever leave Wisconsin! (Oh, for those wondering, we did bring a step stool for Ben this time, so no accidents!) The kids fell asleep by the time we hit the Illinois/Wisconsin border and kept sleeping until we had to make a stop for Mommy. :)

On Friday night we headed over to GG's (Rob's Grandma Litwiller) for supper. The boys hadn't been there for awhile so they were very excited to go to her house. We had a very nice meal and good time visiting, then we went back to Rob's parent's home for a nice surprise: his brother and family were there! We had a great time talking to them and seeing Jamie again, who is just adorable. I've never seen a little guy so fascinated by lights (and able to sign "light.") The kids had no trouble hitting the sack that night.

Saturday saw a rather sick Matthew. He had been running fevers on Thursday but was fine on Friday, so I figured he was over whatever he caught. Not so. He did okay in the morning, but lounged around most of the afternoon. Anna was a little cranky as well. Rob and I took her shopping while his parents took the boys to Make-A-Mess. Little Miss Anna was NOT a happy camper and we cut our trip short. We did get some books at the closing Berean, checked out the leftovers at the closing Circuit City (could have gotten a shopping cart for $10), and went to a great hole-in-the-wall international grocery store where they had samosas! Yummy! Oh, we had also taken the boys to Toys R Us for Ben's birthday balloon earlier in the morning.

That night we had a great time at Ben's party. It was held at Rob's other grandparents' home and was attended just by the great-grandparents, the grandparents, local aunts and uncles, and a great-aunt and uncle. The theme was Curious George, a favorite for both boys. They love the books, the TV show, and the movie. Can't go wrong with a monkey that acts like a little boy! Anyway, Ben got loads of fun gifts: toy cash register, toy microwave, play food and pots and pans, a raincoat, a motorcycle, puzzles, books, and Batman jammies. I probably missed something in there. We bought him a kitchen set that he will get on Saturday. I can't believe we actually found one reasonably priced!

The next day saw most of us staying home from church. Ben went with his grandparents and was in their class for the last time since they teach the 2's. Then we had lunch at GG's and it was time to head back. Anna slept until Jefferson, which is 20 minutes from home, Ben slept a good hour or so, but Matthew was awake the entire time. Rob was the only church attender that night and even he wouldn't have gone if we had found subs for our nursery duties.

It was a great trip overall, but I do wish Anna and Matthew had felt better. We're going down again in a few weeks for Anna's birthday party, which will be a bigger deal. I hope Matthew can handle it--the green-eyed monster reared it's ugly head during Ben's party. I think March is going to be a little hard on him until he can get over the jealousy. He did get a neat gift from GG, but it's still hard for a four-year-old to see his brother getting all this cool stuff. At least Ben and Matthew get along fairly well and play together with everything anyway. That does help.

So now we're back to almost normal around here. If there ever is a normal around here. We'll be celebrating Ben's birthday on Saturday by taking him to the Children's Museum in Madison and neat restaurant called Ella's Deli. Should be fun!