Upping The Ante, or COME VISIT US!!!

It was so great to have my mom here, but it was definitely over too quickly. Eric had his Young Professionals Academy of Lawyers Who Want to Do Other Things Good Too (or whatever it is really called) in Omaha so Mom offered to come out so I could go along. I jumped at the chance since he has gone every month since...well...it seems like forever, but I was sick of being left alone for 3 days every month with the kids. Only problem is that when your mom comes out for one week and you are gone for 3 of those days, the rest of the time you have with her goes by too quickly.

I didn't take any pictures in Omaha (although Eric took one of a guy he thinks looks like Ben from Parks and Rec, but I didn't think it was relevant to our trip so - executive decision - it's not going on the blog).

I did get a few pics from the time with my mom.
First off right as we were leaving, the moment we were headed out the door, I reached into the pantry just to grab a bag of chips to take to the school and knocked down our giant, brand new, container of gum balls. It was so horrible to watch all the sugary goodness run all over the floor and down my stairs, while the dog scurried everywhere trying to get them before I could sweep them up.

Ella threw up all over her room the first night Mom stayed with us. "Welcome to our home. Think James and Jes had the best trip ever? We'll see about that!!!" We were up until way past midnight trying to clean up the Exorcist looking mess, using a steam cleaner and a spot remover which were about as noisy as a lawn mower. Somehow Mom slept through it all, though.

The next morning Ella felt fine, but I could not in good conscience let her go to school a few hours after she had thrown up, so we did what every good mother does and took her and Livi down to Fort Collins to go shopping (mother-of-the-year here I come!!!)!

We also took a 1.5 hour long walk along the North Platte River which was beautiful, and the perfect temperature, but about 20 minutes too long. Our legs hurt, but we rejoiced and ate a doughnut to celebrate.

The night before Mom left she gave the lesson for Home Evening that she had brought with her. It was a wonderful lesson about love at home which the kids loved, but promptly forgot when we played Disney Trivial Pursuit and they screamed and argued the whole way through (on the bright side the girls are still undefeated).