This could be a long one.

I guess I was taking a little break. That and this last week has been just a little bit busy...total understatement! Chris was going crazy trying to get everything that a senior pastor needs to get done during a normal week, although he only had three days to do it! Thursday morning we headed out with the Smithermans to Haviland, Kansas for the annual Barclay Auxiliary Auction. What used to be a 2 hour drive from Rose Hill is now a 4 and a half hour drive from Chandler but it was fun to travel with friends! We safely delivered Kris and Amber to Kris' parents house about dinner time and it felt good to step into Mom and Dad's log home again after such a long drive. It wasn't fun, however, to find out that Emma had totally soaked diaper, her clothes and car seat! Yuck! It was great fun to get to see Jeremie, Stacy and Jace that night for dinner and then it was everybody to bed since we had a big day ahead of us!

Friday dawned bright and early, at least I think it did...I didn't get up to check it out. Hahaha! Chris and Dad were deer hunting that morning and Mom was off to work so it was just me trying to get all three little ones ready to head out the door for the Haviland Play Day Parade at 9am. Needless to say...we missed the parade. Sorry kiddos. BUT we did make it to play day at the school and there were so many fun things to do that it didn't take long to get their minds off the missing candy. Isaac got to run in four races, the 3rd grade foot race, Dad/son race (with Uncle Jeremie since Chris was at Barclay board meetings), Mom/son race (with Amber S. since she was really wanting to run in a race and I wasn't! Heehee!) and the grandparent/grandchild race (with Jeremie's mom since Poppa was farming again)!!! Isaac won blue ribbons in both the Dad and Mom race (thanks Jeremie and Amber!!!) and a green ribbon in the G/G race (thanks Carolyn!!!). Ian didn't want to run in any of the races and entertained himself the entire time at the play houses set up for the little ones. Emma just wanted to walk everywhere and was very mad when I made her come back so that I could watch Isaac race.

After play day was done, we headed to Barclay for lunch with just about everybody! Hahaha! It was so much fun and even Daddy was there to eat lunch with us. After lunch, Stacy stayed at Mom and Dad's so I could put Emma down for a nap and then take the boys up to ride in the tractor with Poppa. I thought the boys would just ride with my Dad in the grain tractor but after we picked them up we learned that they each got to ride in a combine and Isaac even got to drive the one he was in! They both saw a ton of pheasants and Ian even got to radio Poppa and tell him that he scared out a doe!

Chris and I picked up the boys after a couple hours and headed back into town for the Barclay soccer game and ended up eating dinner there at the game also. There were so many great friends to talk to and even several that we had not seen in a long time! The soccer game ended after double overtime with a tied score and then it was time for the Alumni game. That was just as entertaining! And of course, we had to check out the items that were starting to collect already for the auction inside the gym! Yea for the quilts!

It turned out to be a little chilly Saturday morning and I was the bad Mom who didn't have coats for my boys as they played outside at the Kid's Carnival. Fortunately, it warmed up pretty quick! The auction was a blast and I don't think that I sat down very much at all but it was great to see so many more friends and family! It is always wonderful to get to see Aunt Ruth and Uncle Gene! Chris and I weren't able to buy anything at the auction but we didn't go away empty handed thanks to Aunt Ruth and Uncle Gene! They bought the boys a tractor, John Deere of course!!! and a Cinderella doll for Emma!

Emma was quite the character all morning long. We made four or five rounds of the gym carrying a little friend's dolly. She didn't want anyone to pick her up as we went along and seemed to be on a mission. She did take time to wave once to a cute little old couple on one of our rounds, it was so sweet! Emma fell asleep while Stef was taking her for a walk in her stroller after lunch and slept almost the whole time I was helping deliver the quilts from the selling stage to be folded up and delivered to the buyer, even with the auctioners jabbering the whole time! Too soon it was time for us to head back to Mom and Dad's and pack up for home. It was a great trip but I am afraid that it took a toll on our immune systems. Emma developed a cold on Saturday and this morning Chris woke up with a headache and congestion. Both the boys today have made comments that they felt like they were going to throw up but the never did. Who knows... I have been fighting a sore throat and feel completely exhausted but would do the whole week over again in a heartbeat! Thank you Jesus for such a wonderful time with family and friends!