angels-in-law

today was supposed to be josh's first saturday void of work in a LONG time. he used to work over at a friend's house doing landscaping and yard work for a few hours every saturday. then our friend had to sell her house and the same job didn't quite work out with the new owners. so, last saturday was his final day of working there and all week i've been looking forward to having an ENTIRE day with my husband home. we didn't have any great and amazing plans, just things like going to costco and getting tristan's haircut. josh has had a lot of work lately, (thank God!) and after a seemingly longer work week than normal, he called me yesterday to tell me that he had been offered a job for today. the thing is, when you've gone for months just scraping by, praying every day for work, there is absolutely no way you can say no to a job, even when you really want to.

the day started super early since josh had to leave the house at 5:45 and both boys were awake by 5:30. the long hours ahead loomed in front of me as i struggled to think of things to do to keep us all busy. at 7:30am the grocery store is a pretty empty place, which is a good thing, especially if you have an almost three year old who decides to throw a temper tantrum for no good reason at the same time your baby decides he's had enough of sitting in his car seat. i managed to get the kids and groceries home, get the baby down for a nap (you know its gonna be a long day when his first nap begins at 8:15am) and get the bathroom cleaned before the phone rang. on the line was the voice of an angel, also known as my mom in law. she wanted to know if we'd like to come over and hang out, to which i answered a resounding "YES!" seeing that it was only 10am, and the stir-crazy bug was already biting all of us. any other day of the week i'm content to be a homebody, but for some reason on saturdays, i just feel like i've GOT to get out of the house.

so we head over there and tristan is immediately having a blast playing with grandpa and samuel is cooing and drooling all over gran and then she asks me if i'd like to head into town ,( just me all by my lonesome) to get a few things done. and then, as if that deal wasn't sweet enough, she handed me her starbucks gift card and told me to get myself a special drink. didn't have to think long about that one! i had fed the baby and was out the door before he had been properly burped. i ordered a deciously christmasy tasting peppermint mocha, got a couple things off of the dollar menu at mcdonald's and then parked my car in the library parking lot in some shade and savored each and every bite and sip. (i must add that i didn't find the combination of peppermint mocha and cheeseburger quite that tasty. individually they're fine, but together....not so much) it was heavenly not to have to gulp my food down in between wiping spit-up off the floor and re-filling sippy cups. oh, the little things i took for granted before having kids...

i picked up the book that i had reserved for myself at the library and leisurely perused the dvd's without the little hands tugging on my leg nor the not-so-quiet little voice saying "mommy i gotta go pee pee in da POTTY!" and then i drove back to my in-law's house while this song came on the radio. and even though i've heard it over and over, i let the words wash over me and it brought tears to my eyes. again.

my boys were both happy, not having missed me one little bit and, after checking the chickens' coop for eggs and running around the backyard saying "buzz yiteyear to rescoooo" tristan started calling for grandpa to come play football with him. the baby was ready to go home and have another nap, so it was time to go. my angelic mother in law then suggested that they keep tristan for awhile and bring him home later on. by this point, she had a visible halo glowing over her head that i was admiring very much. i kissed tristan goodbye and sped off for home with only one child in my care. one child! how could i have EVER thought that one child was hard work?

samuel is now napping. i have the windows open, allowing the cool breeze to flow through the house and i have decided to ignore the call of the dirty dishes and unfolded laundry. i am about to curl up in bed, crack open my new book and read until my eyes get heavy. and then i am going to take a nap.

thankful for my in-laws today, who made a potentially disappointing saturday into something marvelous.... :)