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November 10, 2003
November 10, 2003
We all had a wonderful weekend celebrating my dad’s 55th birthday. Mark had to work on Saturday (Nov 1st) and as usual he didn’t know when he would be done. So I spent the morning and afternoon getting the kids bathed and dressed and packing our clothes for the over night trip. Mark got home around 5 and we headed for the mall in Springfield. I had ordered a birthday cookie for my dad from the American Cookie Company and we had to pick that up. Mark also wanted to run in and buy a new pair of jeans. I dropped Gabriel and Mark off at the mall so they could run in because Matthew and Christian had fallen asleep and I didn’t want to wake them. I drove around the mall parking lot a few times and then decided to park where I could see them coming out of the mall. We only sat for about 10 minutes when I saw Mark walking out with the big cookie. We headed to Branson from there. When we got to the hotel we were greeted by Nanny and Papa (my mom and dad) and my sister in law Heather and her sons Ben and Chris. We noticed first off that Ben had lost a front tooth and was looking mighty adorable. We hugged everybody and then I showed my dad his cookie, which read “Happy Birthday Papa” and had 5 balloons in the middle. He liked it! A few minutes later my brother showed up. He had just gotten off of work and was officially on vacation for a week. All of the kids took off to play and have fun in my parent’s apartment, which is right behind the hotel office door. I walked back there and went into the kitchen to help my mom get food ready for us all to eat. We took all of the food and drinks out to the front lobby area so that my parents could watch and help customers as they came in and also enjoy their company. Christian kept climbing up on to a chair by the food table to reach for the black olives. I had shown him how to stick them on his finger and he just loved that.
When we were done eating I went to the car and got my dad’s gift from us. He opened it after reading cards that Autumn and Gabriel had made him and one that I had bought him. He had asked me for a CD of Allison Krauss and Union Station. Instead I bought him a 2 disc DVD set of a their concert and behind the scenes and a Kansas City Chief’s ball cap. Go Chiefs! After that Heather and I ran to Walmart to buy a few things and when we got back, we all decided to head to our rooms. Autumn got to stay the night with her Nanny. So Mark and I had just the boys with us that night. Our room was on the second floor of the hotel and is called a king family suite. It was really spacious and had a king size bed as well as two queen size fold out couches. Gabriel slept on the first fold out couch by himself, Matthew slept in a crib that we had brought in and Christian slept on Mark’s arm or right between us most of the night.
The next morning (Sunday, my dad’s birthday) we woke up at 6:30 and started getting ready. My mom had asked Mark and I to sing a song at their church that morning so we wanted to practice a few times before leaving for church. I woke Gabriel up and after he was dressed, he walked downstairs to the breakfast room with me. I gathered up our juice, cereal and donuts and went back to our room. Around nine that morning we went to my parent’s apartment and practiced our song a few times with the CD player. We then headed over to the Jim Stafford Theater where they hold their Sunday morning services. A lady took Mark and I behind the stage and we met with some of the singers and pastors. Then after our sound check we went back out to the auditorium to sit with our family. My brother Andrew and sister in law Heather were there with Ben and Chris as well as my grandfather, two of my aunts, one uncle and a cousin. We really enjoyed the service there and it was very special to sing with Mark. Heather took pictures for us, which I will put up on our web site as soon as I get them developed.
From there we all went to the Golden Corral for lunch with the whole family. They seated all 18 of us at one large table so we got to enjoy each other’s company there. I sat across from Autumn who picked some interesting things for her lunch. She had a baked potato and some french fries. While we were there my dad opened his other gifts and then we all enjoyed some desert. My nephew Ben had gone up to the desert bar and filled a bowl up with green ice cream. When he came back to the table my brother Andrew asked him what it tasted like. Ben replied “it tastes like green...but colder”. Too cute! It meant the world to my dad to have his whole family together on his birthday. It was very special indeed.
After lunch we went back to the hotel. The kids and Nanny put on their bathing suits and went down to the pool for a swim. My mom ended up watching them for about 2 hours while Mark took Matthew and Christian back to our room for a nap. Andrew, Heather and I went up to visit with my dad who was watching the football game. We ended up watching some of his new concert DVD and then I went back to the hotel room to check on everyone. Mark was still resting with the boys and Nanny and the kids were just getting out of the pool. I went back to visit with my dad a little longer and then Nanny showed up with Autumn, Gabriel, Ben and Chris. They were all pretty worn out from their 2 hours of swimming. I went back to the hotel so Mark and I could pack up our things and we went to say goodbye to everyone. After we left Branson we decided to have dinner at a restaurant called Lambert’s. We hadn’t been there since Autumn and Gabriel were babies and we had been telling them that we would go soon. This place is not only known for it’s wonderful, all you can eat food, but also for the thrown rolls. A man with a cart full of fresh rolls will walk around the restaurant and toss you a roll. It’s very fun! Gabriel was so anxious to have one tossed at him. So when the guy came around, Gabe threw up his hands and the guy chucked it halfway across the restaurant. The roll flew right past Gabriel and zoomed by the back of my head and hit the floor. The guy got a little closer and tossed another one to Gabe...and he caught it. We enjoyed our meal and then headed home. :0)
On Tuesday (Nov. 4th) Mark and I got the kids ready for school and then we went to Springfield. A friend of ours (Christa’s husband Don) was to have open heart surgery that morning and we wanted to be there for them. We had Christian with us and he enjoyed being out and seeing new things. While we were in the waiting room I took him to the snack machine so that he could get some goldfish crackers and cookies. The surgery went perfectly and we are so happy to know that Don is home and recovering in comfort. While we were at the hospital we got a call from the school that Autumn was at the nurse’s station with a 102.1 fever, chills and a sore throat. I made an appointment with her doctor for 2pm and then we headed to the school. We decided to pick up Gabriel and Matthew too since we wouldn’t be back in time when they got out of school. On our way back to Springfield Autumn was shaking and was clearly not feel well, so we decided to just take her to the emergency room. I went into the room with her while Mark waited with the boys. When the doctor came to see her he asked her how she was feeling and what was bothering her. It hit me that my baby girl is so grown up now. The doctor never turned to me to ask me questions, he asked Autumn and let her answer them all. *SIGH!* The first thing he did was tell her to stand up on the bed, hold his hands and jump up and down. We all laughed and he said to be sure and tell dad that she got to jump on the bed. He ordered a urine screen and a strep check. While we waited for the results a volunteer came and in asked me if I needed anything to drink. Autumn was lying on the bed and asked for a warm blanket. The lady returned a few minutes later with a blanket and a small handmade pillow for Autumn to keep. Her test results came back an hour later and showed that she had strep throat. We had her prescription filled, bought a DVD of Finding Nemo and then took her home to rest. She missed school the rest of the week. Her fever finally broke on Friday afternoon and she was starting to act more like my happy Autumn. :0)
On Thursday I realized that I was having some of the symptoms of strep throat. Mark said that he wasn’t feeling to well either. So we headed back to the doctor who checked all of us and put us on an antibiotic. He did not check us for strep but said that since Autumn had it, it was very likely that we would get it too. Gabriel and Matthew also missed school on Friday. By Saturday morning Christian was feeling much better. He had had a cold/cough for over a month that didn’t want to go away. The antibiotic helped clear that up and he’s been free of the runny nose and cough ever since. Everyone was feeling much better!
Saturday morning I got an email from my mom saying that their hotel was full for the Veteran’s Day weekend. She said that she could really use my help if I could possibly come down there. I called Mark and he suggested that we all just go to Branson and stay the night…so we did just that. We got to the hotel around 6:30pm and visited with my parents for awhile. They baby-sat Matthew and Christian while Mark and I took Autumn and Gabriel to see Freaky Friday. I had seen it twice in the summer when we lived in Branson and Autumn and Gabe had seen once. Since Mark had never seen it, we were all anxious for him to check it out. We paid for our tickets, got our buttered popcorn and drinks and headed in to find our seats. We all enjoyed the movie and laughed so much. It’s already one of our favorites and we cannot wait to buy it. Later that night, back at our hotel room, Mark was complaining of a stomachache. He ended up getting sick, which we attribute to the buttered popcorn. He had gotten sick from it several years ago and for some reason, it just doesn’t agree with his body. Poor guy! I got up and was heading down the breakfast room with Gabriel around 7:30am. We gathered up our breakfast and I took it back to the room for them. Mark and Christian were still sleeping so I fed Matthew and then they all watched cartoons while I went to work cleaning rooms. When I was done, we all decided to go out for lunch since Mark was feeling better. He chose the Rib Crib since he’d never eaten there before. We all enjoyed having lunch with my parents and our food was wonderful. After we ate my mom and dad went back to the hotel. My mom said that she wanted a nap before church and dad wanted to check out the rest of the Chief’s game. Mark and I decided to drive around Branson and do a little shopping. We bought a new pair of jeans for Matthew and Gabriel...oh, and a half pound of fudge too. Yum! We ended our night by going with my mom to her church. We enjoyed the service so much and our children loved the class that they went to. We put Christian and Matthew in the nursery and they had a blast. Neither of them cried which made it so nice for Mark and I to enjoy the service. When it was over we said goodbye to my mom and drove through the huge Christmas light display that they have set up in Branson every year. It was the first year that Christian could really enjoy it. He kept pointing to the pretty lights and saying “Ohhhhh”!!
This weekend Mark and I are singing at a wedding for a friend of ours. Mark’s mom told us that she would gladly watch the kids for us so we can concentrate on singing and visiting with everyone. We are so excited!
I do have some film that I hope to get developed this week. Keep checking our web site for new pictures.
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/d/davisfamily/
Take care and have a wonderful week~
Jennifer :0)
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