Take me home country roads

Our week in Tennessee was filled with playdates with friends and cousins, get togethers with family, playing outside, reading books that I snuck from my sister's "library", and splashing in puddles. Both kids and dogs practically bolted from the car as soon as we parked in the driveway! Our first night there, we had an accident involving a tractor toy and a giant pilates ball that left Riley with an ugly black eye. This kid has seriously had 3 or 4 black eyes in his barely two years on this earth.

Nena got into something that night, too. The next morning her whole face was swollen and she looked like a bulldog. She kept sneezing and scratching the night before so I thought it was just her usual allergies, but the next day it seemed more like something stung her. Gotta love the country!

For the record, my child put himself in there!

The kiddie pool was a big hit on the hot days.

Zuzu was Nena's size this trip (when we came for New Year's she was Bailey's). She's a really sweet, goofy dog and kept pinning Bailey on the ground with a paw on each ear. I think the dogs miss their "pack" now that we're home.

My parents celebrated their 30th anniversary while we were there, so I made them a French Yogurt Cake with Lemon from "A Homemade Life" by Molly Wizenberg. I'll be writing a review on this book later, I absolutely love it and have tried a few of her recipes already! She's also the author of the blog, Orangette (check it out!).

The cake was super lemony and delicious. I wish my obsessed-with-all-things-lemon husband could have tried it, maybe it'll be his graduation cake?

Kelly, Drew and I went to see "Bridesmaids", finally. It was so. freaking. funny. All three of us were laughing super obnoxiously the whole time. They are probably my favorite people to go to movies with.

James is obsessed with making blanket forts, so we all crawled in their with him. Pretty cozy if I do say so.

I took the kids on Wednesday night to meet up with our friends, Nicole and her daughter, Atiana at Monkey Joes. The last time James came to Monkey Joe's he wouldn't go near the bounce houses. All he wanted was to play the games and ride the rides. Riley, being my little daredevil, jumped right into the inflatables.

Of course when he saw how much brother was having climbing the rides, he decided to go with that instead. It was all fun until I put the quarter in the machine...

Panic soon subsided and they spent every last quarter I had on these stupid rides. At least they looked cute, right?

Juggling both boys was a struggle. James ran off to the rides and Riely would try to climb something on the other side of the room. A nice man who was there with his son came running over to spot Riley so he wouldn't fall off the motorcycle ride while I dragged James back into my line of vision. It wasn't until we were leaving that I even considered that the man probably saw my child's black eye and thought I must be a horrible, neglectful, abusive mother and that was why he felt the need to protect my child. I'll just stick with "nice samaritan" for now.

I managed to drag both kids into a fairly tame inflatable and distracted them from their protests with the punching bag thingies. Turns out, my kids like to punch things. A lot.

When that got old, it was back to the games. (Riley, Atiana, and Nicole)

Riley gave the bouncing one last go when we ran out of quarters.We took our hungry kids to Fazoli's for dinner after cashing in our tickets for dinosaurs that grow in water. Nicole and I chatted while the kids hid under the table playing "Peter Pan". Nicole and I were pregnant with our now 3-almost-4 year olds at the same time while we were both living at Fort Campbell. She's one of those friends that I love keeping up with and feel really close to, even though we've only met a couple times in person. She's a beautiful, smart, fantastic mom and I admire her for working so hard to take care of her little girl.

I loved this picture of them. They were two of a kind.

Poor Uncle Drew was wiped out after sharing the most-uncomfortable-pull-out-couch-ever with a 3 year old who likes to spin in his sleep. He ended up making a pallette on the floor to sleep in the hallway and took naps in Kelly's barbie sheeted bed (that's covered in all her stuff) during the day.

**Note to Daddy, he only slept in this bed after Kelly was out of it. HaMule meltdown

Thursday night I went out with my friends, Bobby and Bosley. I've known them both forever and love them dearly. Bobby and I are notorious for our dress-up dates and singing in the car. I met them at their newest apartment and we went out to a hokey little bar close by that they frequent. We spent the evening catching up on the past 3 years, reminiscing, and laying out the future over bourbon that tasted like cinnamon gum and a fruity drink that tasted like kool aid. on the way home we belted Johnny and June like old times with the windows down.

I miss these guys!

Friday morning was breakfast with Granny before a sniffly-sick Gee Gee ran off with her friend to take her third Destin vacation of the year. We had pancakes at Cracker Barrel and each boy got a little airplane toy (that they've already broken. Twice. Each.) from Granny.

Over the weekend I got to visit my friend, Ashley and her barely week-old little boy, Alden. She's just moved back to Tennessee from Florida recently, so I haven't seen her in nearly 5 years, since we started college. I can tell she's happier now that she's back home, surrounded by a fantastic support system of family and friends, and now that she has her baby boy in her arms and out of her belly. He's a precious little thing, and barely squeaks rather than cries. He is one lucky little boy to have a mom that loves him so much!

Saturday night I got to see my friends, Amanda and her husband, Jacob and their new home. They just bought it last winter and have been gutting and renovating all over the place. It's really lovely and they've done such a great job of fixing it up.

We talked for a while, laughing at each other's stories, then went to eat at Olive Garden for our tradition of peach sangria and loads of pasta.

This is their baby, Bella. She's an adorable, sweet mutt with ears like a german shepherd, legs like a corgi, and the body of a labrador. She also has a taste for zumba dvds.

We celebrated Father's Day weekend with my dad. All the visiting during the week had wore us out, so it was nice to just have a low-key weekend at the house. One of my parents neighbors horses ended up in the yard on Saturday. The dogs were barking like crazy and the kids were fascinated. Even the stormy weather and barking dogs couldn't convince those horses (who looked a little on the skinny side) to leave this yard full of grass and a nice kiddie pool full of water to drink. We didn't get back in the pool after they left it full of horse spit.

Our last day, Monday, we met up with our friend, Cheryl and her little boy, Ayden, at the playground. These wild boys climbed and slid and ran all over the place.

It was smuldering that day, so us mamas hung out under the playset in the shade.

Cheryl took both of the big boys down the slide.

Riley kept getting a little run over by the older boys, but he's standing up for himself more.

Our stay ended with baking with Grandma (and licking the beater with Grandaddy).

We left early Tuesday morning. The drive was a smooth, seven hours. Our stops were few and brief and the kids and dogs were great travellers. We got home early in the afternoon. James got mad at me for packing the night before and told me that I could go home with Riley and we could come visit him later at Grandma's. During the drive, he told me he wasn't going to go inside the house. By the time seven hours of driving were up, he was over that. It was hot, our butts were numb, we were tired, so he just settled for, "That was fun at Grandma's house. We're need to take Daddy next time."

It's bittersweet leaving, but I'm glad to be back in my own bed, in my own house, in my own neighborhood. Now I'm just ready for these next few months to fly by and have my family back together again.