A Rainy Day in Arkansas

     We woke up, Saturday morning, to more rain. Heather cooked breakfast casserole for the adults. It's Joshua's favorite breakfast that Heather cooks. She always makes it for him when we visit. She cooked pancakes for the boys. Siah and Lucas said they wanted chocolate chip; Logan and Gray said they wanted plain. Lucas threw a fit about the chocolate chip pancakes. I don't know why. She used the same kind of chocolate I do except her's were chunks and mine are chips. But he wouldn't eat them. Joshua and I both tried to get him to eat them, but this was one of Lucas's stubborn moments. I ate the chocolate chip pancakes, and Lucas ate an extra plain she had made. After breakfast, the boys sat in the living room floor and played games. They were so quiet and calm. The big brothers played one game, while the little brothers played a different game and then they switched. It was a peaceful morning.

     Heather and I got dressed and went up to the church to help decorate for Kristen Barnard's wedding shower the next day. Kristen's dad is our former pastor. I was excited that I was able to help. Kristen had been a part of the student ministry during her dad's time at our church. Joshua and Joel took the boys to the church to play in the gym and hang out in the student ministry area because it was still raining. The boys could run around and get some energy out. When we finished decorating, we met the boys at their indoor playground and let them play for a few. Then Joel and Heather gave me a tour of the offices, while Joshua played pool with Siah and Lo. Gray and Luc were playing chess.

     We attempted Chick-fil-a for lunch, but it was insanely crowded. There was nowhere for us to sit, so we went to Jose's for lunch instead. We ate at Jose's the last time we visited, and we LOVED it! The boys have said periodically that they wished we had a Jose's here. When we got there, we were almost immediately seated and had a nice, peaceful lunch.

     After lunch, we went home and had chill time for a bit. Then Heather and I took the boys to see Rio 2, while Joshua, Joel, and one of Joel's friends saw the new X-Men movie. We drove to Benton to go to the movies. It wasn't a very long trip. One thing I love about Arkansas is the scenery, the mountains and the forests. It's beautiful. I love driving there because of the beauty. The boys loved X-men. They thought it was great! I liked Rio 2 okay. It's not my favorite kid's movie, but it's definitely not the worst one I've ever seen either. Lucas asked several times during the movie, when we were going home, but we only made one trip to the bathroom during the movie, so I count that a success.

     It was around 7:30 when we made it back to Hot Springs, and we still needed to eat dinner. We stopped at Papa Murphy's on the way home and picked up two family size pizzas to feed everybody. We had never been to Papa Murphy's before even though we have one five minutes from us. The boys were excited to watch them make the pizza and package it up. The boys were well behaved, and the employees commented several times that they were the best kids they had ever seen. Even with their silly antics.

     At home, we put the pizzas in the oven to bake, while we bathed the boys and got them into pjs. After dinner, we got them into bed. It was another late night, but not as late as the first because we had church in the morning. The boys settled down pretty quickly. Logan slept on the floor in Josiah's room with us. Lucas went into Gray's room and went right to sleep.