Monday, March 30, 2009

What a week!

OK, here it is: I told you to LOOK OUT for this post! It will be long and probably give you more details than you wanted, but here you go: my interesting, surprising, emotional, and wonderful week!

Here is what you should know before the week begins: Abbott went to the doctor the previous Monday for what I thought was pink eye. Turns out, he has an ear infection and we begin the same antibiotics he was given last time. The doctor is not too enthusiastic about giving him omnicef again since it was only 6 weeks since the last round, but given the hives that he experienced after the last amoxicillin round, we both don't want to take any chances. We go back to the doctor on Friday with an unexplained fever and still no clear eye, thinking that the omnicef isn't working, but it is and we get some ointment for the eye goop. Abbott develops a cough over the weekend. My hope is that I can accomplish enough in the work week before Friday AND that coverage will be ok with the teachers and that I can take Friday afternoon after my class off to visit with my Mom, Dad, Jami and Jack who will be arriving that afternoon and prepare for Abbott's birthday party. And away we go...

Monday: Big United Way tour at work.....not too much preparation done by me for this, but still a little stressful. This is the morning that Abbott wakes up with the worst cough he's had in days, Grammie has to come get him at school so I can still be here for the United Way tour, and I have to take off early to take him back to the doctor for the third time in a week because he is just not getting better. Doctor's report? Respiratory bug that will more than likely begin to improve by Tuesday and most definitely by the weekend. This is a bump in the road to getting Friday afternoon off, but it's still feasible.

Tuesday: Abbott starts to improve...YAY! I get a good amount of work done. Friday afternoon, here I come!

Wednesday: Already a busy day at work with the school having its highest attendance on this day of the week, one teacher already scheduled out, and one teacher calling in with a sick child. Two of my employees have family members pass away today. I spend most of the day in a classroom, leaving me to get none of my necessary work at my desk completed. Friday afternoon, not looking so good.

Thursday: Drop Abbott off at Grammie's house and I come in later to close because two of my closers are off tonight and they will need help covering classrooms. I get to spend most of my day at the desk, getting a ton of work done, but coverage for Friday afternoon is not looking good and it looks as though I may need to come in after my class to help cover in the afternoon. My boss comes in my office to check in with me and I mention that I will be coming in for Friday afternoon to cover because they will need an extra person. Knowing that Abbott's party is on the weekend (and maybe a little more) and that I have had kind of a rough week, she offers to help cover in the afternoon so that I can be off and get ready for Abbott's party. Sweet and wonderful boss, right? I end up closing up the school that night with a great crew and head straight to Party City to place the balloon order for the party on Saturday. I head directly to Tim and Janet's house to meet up with Ryan and Abbott and dinner before we head home. I think on the way, "Wow, wouldn't it be so fun if Mom, Dad, Jami and Jack are all waiting at Tim and Janet's house?" I secretly hope that I will see extra cars in their driveway as I top the hill but, alas, only our cars are there. Walk in the door, put down my purse and come a little ways into the kitchen to see Mom and Dad, Jami and Jack standing in the living room. I am sure that a look of confusion and happiness came over me. I walk further into the living room to give them hugs and find my Wannie and Poppa, who have RSVP'd as "NO" in coming to the party, sitting on their couch! I immediately drop what's in my hands and do a little happy dance (which I am sure my sister will post the video from the secret hidden camera on her blog), squeal and run to hug them! They flew in from Texas to surprise me for the party and EVERYONE but me knew. This includes obviously my husband, who arranged with my boss for me to get Friday afternoon AND Monday all day off, my parents, my sister, my in-laws and the rest of the family! It was a great surprise and a great way to wrap up a crazy week!

Friday: I still have to go to my training class (BOO) because if I miss it, it's so hard to make up. It's only the longest 3 hours of my life, but I make it through and spend Friday visiting with the fam and starting to make cakes for the party.

Now....onto the pictures...

Here is my sweet boy being sneaky with his Moma Jo. He was even in on the surprise, playing all afternoon with them while I had to work!

Ryan, Abbott and me with my Wannie and Poppa!

This was Friday afternoon...Jack was not feeling so hot. :( We were a little nervous about the party...

Abbott's fun balloons for his party! He LOVED them so much, it almost makes me want to always have balloons around!

Abbott's little cake and the big cake that I made for the party!

Abbott and Jack with their proud great-grandparents! Jack was not wanting to cooperate, but everyone else was having a good ole' time! You should see the whole series of these pictures that Jami took trying to get one good one. It's kind of funny.

The weather was nice enough for Abbott to attack his cake outside!

We all got in on the fun!

He wasted no time digging into the cake. It was so fun!!

Even with all the sugar-icing on his face, could he be any sweeter?

After the cake, we went inside to open presents, where my poor son had nothing to open. In fact, here is the proof.....

Oh yeah, we were under a tornado warning for this part of the party. Fun!

Here, Jack is "sharing" Abbott's new toys with him. :)

One of our friends, John (he works at the coffee shop with Ryan), painted this portrait of Abbott for us. Isn't it AMAZING?! And, yes, I CAN get you in contact with him to do one for you!

After presents, general merriment followed...


deep conversations took place....

a general good time was had by all!

We spent Sunday recovering from the party and staying inside. That tornado that came through brought cold and yucky weather for Sunday. Monday warmed up nicely and, thanks to my wonderful hubby, I had the day off to spend with everyone who was still in town. We went down the Lynchburg to the Jack Daniels distillery and had a fun day!

Here, Abbott and I enjoy the natural spring that the distillery is based on.

Abbott meets Jack.

This is what whiskey looks like while it is fermenting. It's a good thing you can't post scents on blogs because this smelled awful and was VERY STRONG.

Here, Abbott is sitting on the mellowing barrell. Mellowing is when the whiskey filters, drop by drop, through 10 feet of charcoal. I don't know how Jack figured out that charcoal would make whiskey better, but it's something they have done for years.

Abbott was really into the foliage on the distillery site.


We had such a fun time this weekend and I am sad that it is over and that I have to go back to the real world in the morning. I LOVED seeing Wannie and Poppa this weekend and I LOVED celebrating my baby's birthday with so many people that we love...and that love Abbott. If you couldn't be here for it, we missed you and hope that we get to see you soon! If you were here for it, thanks for coming and celebrating with us! I am so thankful to be a part of a family where love is so abundant and unconditional. It's rare, in this world, to have such a strong family unit and I love and appreciate mine so much. To have so many friends that we consider close enough to celebrate with our family is such a blessing, too! Looking forward to the next year together!

3 comments:

Jami said...

such an awesome weekend!

Heidi said...

Looks like everything turned out so well! Abbott didn't even look sick in any of those pictures. I'm glad everything worked out!

Miss you all!

Audra Lynn said...

I want a piece of that birthday cake. :D