5 Cousins and a Funeral

Well, the Nelson clan has gotten to hang out more in the past week than we have in a while! Granna, Pa, Shelly, Drew, Mikey, and all the cousins came for the Labor Day weekend to go hunting. We had a great time! Shelly and I took the 2 little kids - T.J. and Kaylin - to Mr.Daddy's (translation: Mr.Gatti's). They had a blast! It's actually really nice to take the little kids because they're pretty cheap dates. Since they're under 3 (for at least a few more weeks) their buffet is free, and then when you go back to the play room, they just like to sit on the rides. Without putting a cent in, they think they are really doing the game - they're pretty funny to watch together. They are really interacting and talking to each other and it is just so funny to watch the way they play together.

The next night we went out to Uncle Donnie's house (where Jeff, Drew, Mike, Pa, Riley, Megan, and Matthew) went out hunting. T.J. took his play gun out there and was SOOO funny - he would squint his eyes and put the gun right on his eye (like he was lining it up) and then (quite loudly) say, "Pow, pow!" Now, I have to tell you Uncle Donnie has every critter imaginable out at his house. So, I was a nervous wreck with T.J. walking around out there. He, however, was completely entertained and had a GREAT time even with Mommy trailing behind him continually saying, "Don't touch that", "No, T.J., that is not a nice puppy", "T.J. Nelson, do not pick up that poo-poo" (Yes, those words actually came out of my mouth) But, Donnie does have this AWESOME (as far as snakes go!!) albino python. That is honestly the closest I've ever gotten to a snake - especially one that big!! T.J. was completely enthralled in that and all the kids posed for that cute picture.

Anyway, it was a great weekend with family members crammed into every corner of the house and no problems - that's a pretty amazing thing when there are 12 people piled into one house. Then, on Monday evening we got a phone call that Jeff's great aunt (Aunt Minnie, Memaw's sister-in-law) had passed away. Minnie lived next door to Memaw and she was a very sweet lady and a big part of our family. So, of course, we had to go to Burnet to be with all of the family to attend her funeral. So, we took off Wednesday afternoon after I got out of school and headed to San Angelo, spent the night, and got up early Thursday morning to head to Burnet. I was VERY worried about taking T.J. to a funeral - it was not open casket, but we did go to the funeral home before the service for a viewing. Jeff and I took turns staying with T.J. in the lobby. Then, we all went to the church for a family lunch. T.J. ate a ton and was then beginning to get cranky - as a Mom, I can see those "I'm about to need a nap" signs coming on, so I was worried. After we ate, we took all of the kids outside to get some energy out before they had to sit quietly through a rather lengthy service. There was a hill outside that the other cousins were having fun running up and down, but my little cautious fella spent his time sliding down the dirt hill on his bottom (so we looked very nice for the service but, hey, you pick your battles!!) T.J. did really well (he ate 4 of those little Dum Dum suckers during the service but, again, battle picking). He clapped for the soloist every time she finished a song which was really cute. Then, he had to go to the potty, so we quietly excused ourselves. Now, T.J. is going through a modest phase about going to the potty (which only kicks in at public restrooms) where he wants to go in by himself and close the stall door. So, I'm a mom who likes to encourage independence and let him do this. He doesn't know yet how to lock the door, so I hold the top of the door and peek in to make sure we're actually taking care of business and not just playing around. However, I usually assume that once we're sitting on the potty, we're in the clear - WRONG!! I looked away as he was on the potty, and all of a sudden I hear, "I catching Nemo." This causes me to look in thinking what on earth is he talking about and I see my precious child holding his belt in the potty like a fishing pole - that's my son, folks - fishing with his belt in his church clothes at a family funeral!!



The picture above of Riley and T.J. was taken about 10 minutes into our trip home - we were all exhausted after a long day of funeraling. So, we drove home beltless with dirt all over the bottom of our pants and a Dum Dum sucker stick stuck to the bottom of our pant leg. Oh, the life of a Mom with a little boy!!