A Todd Weekend

After the loss of Todd's grandfather at the end of last week, my hope was to make the weekend all about my husband and his heart.  To have a quiet, relaxing and rejuvenating time remembering memories and making some of our own as a family.  So, we did some of Todd's favorite things.  Like eat steaks and watch James Bond movies.  He got to sleep in this morning, and I made some homemade chocolate chip cookies.  

Yesterday afternoon we took a drive to Cabela's - the super-store of any serious outdoorsman.  

In our family, you are never too young to make your first appearance there.  Jacob was fascinated by all there was to see and look at.  He did really well in the stroller, and can I just add that I cannot believe my little guy will be six months old this week?!

Cabela's is my favorite.  It's like a zoo, except it's free.  And air-conditioned.  And the animals don't stink - well, because they've been hunted and stuffed.

There is plenty to look at and be in awe of - especially if you're under the age of five.  Tommy was in and out of tents and deer blinds and giant tree stumps.  He makes these huge declarations of "When I grow up to be a big man, I'm gonna get a bow and arrow like that."  And everything he saw was, "Dude!  Check this out!"  My little boy is becoming more and more of a big boy every single day.

We rarely do dinner on Sunday nights.  Usually because we do a large lunch after church with friends and eat a light dinner most every week.  But last night was a special occasion.  I made Greek Lemon Chicken.  It's a dish that consists of creamy lemon sauce with feta cheese over pasta, seasoned chicken breast covered in bread crumbs and herbs pan fried in olive oil.  We had green beans and fresh bread to finish it off.  It was rich and delicious.

I set the table and after prayer we sat and talked about Grandpa Nerby.  Since Todd isn't able to attend the funeral this week, we set aside some time to remember him and listen to Todd share some memories of his childhood with Grandpa.  He remembered how there was always ice-cream in the freezer for the grandkids in the summer, how they never caught huge fish but always a lot of them.  He told us how Grandpa was wounded in World War II and earned his purple heart. 

We talked with Tommy a little bit about death and what happens when we die.  We thought he was following along nicely until he asked, "Does God watch TV?"  And then he asked us to tell him stories about Ironman last instead of about Jesus.

Parenting - never, ever a dull moment.  Really.

Marriage, family, doing life together is really a big, giant series of meals and chocolate chip cookies.  Short road trips and silly questions asked by your children that you're never quite sure how to answer.  It's never-ending stacks of bills and Mr. Potato Heads that are put together questionably by an imaginative four year old.  It's getting spit up on and disappointing each other and always waiting for something.  It's full of life and death, celebrations and grieving.

Dishes stacked on the counter and unmade beds and surprise rain showers.  The kind you didn't expect - the ones without the thunder and lightening and where the sun still shines in the sky.