Get out of town!

Dan's favorite phrase to use when Eli is being silly is "Get out of town!". Now, Eli loves to use it with us when we are playing around. It's so cute when he says it-more to the effect of "getta town!". Anyways, last Sunday afternoon, that is exactly what we did.

Aunt Abby was our taxi driver. With a 2 week old and a potty trained toddler, it took us 7 hours to make the otherwise 5 hour drive to Nashville. We stopped 5 times, twice to feed Laz and three other times for emergency potty stops. I had not considered the fact that Elijah no longer wears diapers and that his potty needs might lengthen the drive time. It seemed as though right when we got back on the road, fed and settled, Elijah would suddenly shout "Need to go POTTY!!!!". Good thing he can hold it because most of the time, we were miles away from an exit.

The drive was tiring, but well worth it. Had I stayed in St. Louis last week, I would have been so busy and stressed about keeping the boys out of the way while work was being done in our house. I would have outdone myself and barely would have rested. Instead, I slept in every morning while my parents took care of Eli. I sat on the couch for hours, nursing and cuddling Laz while Elijah 'played' football in the living room, running around in circles. It was good for all of us to be there. Elijah got lots of love from grandpa and grandma while I got lots of help and rest.

Elijah really learned how to celebrate football season by shouting "Go Irish, Notre Dame!". He wore the little Notre Dame helmet my uncle used to wear when he was a little boy. In the morning, he would run downstairs eager to wear the helmet. He would have worn it during his nap if I let him and he would wear it in the car, too. One day, he actually did wear it during a nap in the car.

Lazzy just hung out with us and napped on the living room floor in the middle of it all. He is such a sweet baby.

Monday afternoon, while Abby was packing her car to go back to Chattanooga, she came inside the house yelling "there's a hot air balloon in our yard!". Of course, we all went running outside, and sure enough, there was a hot air balloon landing in the pasture next door and another in the air behind it. It was beautiful! Apparently, it was just a couple of guys out for a ride. They had been flying for over an hour then decided to land before it got too dark. I guess when you're hot air ballooning, you can land where ever you want, or need to rather, because the landing part is a little too difficult to plan. We hung around long enough to watch them pack up the balloons.

After the balloons where gone, we headed inside to wash off the chiggers. Yes-chiggers. That's livin' in the country!

After Abby left, things got quiet, but restful. Elijah and I spent three whole days out on the farm. Elijah continued to play football and then moved onto baseball. (notice he still wore a Notre Dame t-shirt and hat)

We had fun visiting the horses next door. Elijah was a little scared having never been that close to such a big animal.

Elijah helped grandma give Laz a bath.

Not only did I get more time to bond with Lazarus, but Eli did, too. He is honestly the sweetest big brother ever.

One night, uncle Jesse came over for dinner to meet his new little nephew. I put him to work-burping Laz.

On Friday night, our last night in town, we decided to go to "The Strip". It's basically a strip mall in Franklin that has a thrift store, a Big Lots, two dollar stores and a sushi buffet restaurant. We love getting sushi for dinner then doing a little shopping. The food is great and the shopping is cheap (and usually provides us with a good laugh or two).

It was hard to leave this morning for two reasons: Elijah and I have LOVED being spoiled all week and the much anticipated Notre Dame vs. Michigan football game was this afternoon. After tearful goodbyes to my mom, we began the long trek back to St. Louis along with our new taxi driver (my dad). This time, we only stopped three times-twice for food and potty breaks and once for gas. It was a much more successful trip. Elijah only had a 30 minutes nap and so was pretty sensitive and chatty near the end-nothing a dum dum can't fix.

Thankfully, this is what Lazzy did the entire way home:

We missed daddy so very much. Thankfully, he was able to get a lot of work done while we were gone. I am looking forward to spending time with him tomorrow before the week begins and we get busy again.