Visit to Illinois

This past weekend we took a trip to Illinois. Our purpose in going, besides visiting relatives, was to attend a baby shower and celebrate two birthdays.

I really don't know what I was thinking scheduling my tooth extraction right before a trip, because I spent much of my time being sore, hungry, and headachey. Friday was the worst day, for sure, but the rest weren't much better. I was so hungry but any time I tried working my jaws to chew, the soreness stopped me. I napped alot on Friday and some on Saturday. Rob thinks alot of that (and the headache) was due to my being excessively hungry. Thankfully, my mother-in-law made a great casserole Friday night and blended some for me. I ate on the leftovers several times, so I did get some protein.

But in spite of that, we did have a nice time. Rob and I took the boys to Toys R Us on Friday during Anna's nap and got a few things. Matthew had his reward coming for earning all of his octopus legs, so he chose Lego Star Wars for the Wii. Turned out all games $20 and under were Buy One, Get One Half off, so we also picked up Lego Indiana Jones. I had a coupon, so we ended up getting the extra game for $5. Ben and Anna still had some birthday money left, so they each got some Legos. Anna just loves the little Legos and doesn't put them in her mouth anymore, so we got her some pink ones.

Another highlight was hitting the parks. Rob and I took the kids to one on Friday (blinding headache and all) and Rob took the boys on Saturday during the baby shower. I'm not sure what happened, but he thought his dad and brother would be joining him. It ended up just being him. They had a ball.

Anna and I attended the baby shower for Rob's brother's wife, Kim. I dolled Anna up in a pretty dress for the express purpose of having the ladies ooo and aahh over her. She even sat still and let me put pigtails in her hair. She played nicely with the other little girls there, one of which was her cousin. I got a chance to see both of my baby nephews and play with them for a bit. Always a treat to see the babies! I gave my usual gift of diapers. It's the most practical thing I can think of and is always appreciated :)

I think a highlight for Rob and the kids was going to a Chinese buffet for lunch on Saturday. We were celebrating Rob's dad's birthday and our other sister-in-law's birthday. I had fun smelling the yummy food...not so much fun only eating cottage cheese. I really thought I'd find more to eat there. I told Rob to eat my fill...and I think he did :)

Church on Sunday was nice...at least for the adults and Anna. The boys were scared by the junior church service. I usually bring Matthew with us into the service, but he thought he'd be okay with Ben in there. Ben got scared, too. Afterwards we had lunch at GG's...and I was able to eat it! I unashamedly packed in a big dinner.

The trip home was very quiet, as all three of the kids fell asleep until we hit Wisconsin. We ate supper at the Cracker Barrel (again, I could eat!) and had a good rest of the trip home. My mouth is back to normal now and I had the sutures removed today.

The kids are looking forward to having my parents come out here on Friday. Anna calls my dad "Grandpa Silly." She got confused about who we would see this weekend, and now she's confused again. She said today, "Grandpa Silly is coming and he'll play with me downstairs." Rob's dad is the one who plays downstairs, so we'll see how she reacts on Friday :)