Still Friends???

Hello All, It's Jessica once again :) Our family went to Denver this year for Christmas! Jake's parents live out there and we have been dying to see the mountains. Not to mention, Jake and I have friends out there that we haven't seen in years. It was a great trip!!! I'm probably gonna have to write about this trip in a series because, for those of you that don't know me, our trips are usually EVENTFUL...to say the least. The flight out there was amazing! The kids did awesome!! And it was wonderful to see my in-laws! Doesn't matter how often or how little I get to see them, it's always great!!! Well I ended up connecting with a friend I hadn't seen in 2 years! She lives about 30 min. from where we were staying and I couldn't wait to go see her!! We finally coordinated that I would take my mother-in-laws BRAND new car, and go see her with my 2 boys. Shannon and I have been trying to get our kids together ever since they were born. So I made it to her apartment driving 10 and 2 the whole time :) It was INCREDIBLE to see her!! She was my closest friend in Durango and I would not have survived without her!! So we hugged and hugged and hugged some more and eventually head inside to introduce the boys and begin catching up! I knew it wasn't going to be the way it used to. In Durango I would call her and we would go sit on the patio at Starbucks soaking up the sun as we dished about our week. This was a little different. The two older boys did great! My youngest on the other hand was exhausted from the time change and down right cranky :/ So I got to hear about her life all the while saying “Zayne don't touch, don't put that in your mouth, no you cannot play with her phone, don't touch the tree.” And if I wasn't getting him out of trouble he was in my lap whining. I remember thinking we would never forget this visit. I told her I had to leave before it got dark. I had to drive down a 5 lane highway in Denver Traffic. Yeah, this little farm girl needed to make sure she didn't crash that car. So it was about that time, the sun was fading and so was Zayne. I remember the feeling of having to say goodbye. I felt like we just started to catch up. I was thinking about seeing her before we even left MI and now it was over. I didn't know when I would see her again and was bummed we didn't live closer. It's rough having close friends live in different states :( I walked into the bedroom where our boys were playing and just stood there. Despite the fact that you couldn't see the floor for all the toys I spot my son on in the middle of the room with a paintbrush in his hand. I couldn't breath. I rushed over to him only to find the situation much worse. He had a coloring book saturated in paint. Including the carpet on every edge of the book. “SHANNON!!!” She came in and had the same reaction as me. Not only was the floor doused in paint...so was my son. He stood there not really knowing why I was so horrified. “Get into the bathroom!” I had to keep myself from overreacting. I looked over and saw that her son also had pain on him and was jumping on the bed. I watched Ayden walk out of the bedroom and looked down to see little red footprints following him. “AHHHHH”.... I scooped him up and ripped off his socks. I got him washed up and Shannon and I started to survey the damage. IT WAS AWFUL. You know the term “Candy Coat”....well is there a phrase for “worse than I can describe”? We both just stood there wondering where to start. All around the room there were little dabs of paint. Which happened to be acrylic. I was sick to my stomach. I saw the sun going down and didn't know what to do. Now let me just try to paint (no pun intended) the picture here. This isn't some adults room with a bed and night stand. I want you to picture a kids room with every possible toy he owned on the floor. Little match box cars, big trucks, road rugs, books, Lego's, Action Figures and even those random $1 McDonald's toys our kids refuse to get rid of all in the middle of blankets and pillows that had been thrown off the bed. Every toy in that room was on the floor and some small corner of each toy was touching paint. So just try to imagine our horror. I don't know how long we stood there or how many times we kept saying “oh my gosh”. We grabbed some 409 and cleaned up the tile...which was the only thing we cleaned up because my 2 yr. Old decided that he was done for the day and began throwing a fit. A fit so bad he wouldn't put his boots on. Yeah this is what I wanted my long lost friend to see...my boys at their worst. Then Ayden started crying because play-time was over and it was time to go home. Not to mention I threw away his masterpiece that created the whole problem in the first place. Yup...Mom of the year. Shannon helped me with my 2 crying children and I squeezed her as hard as I could knowing it would have to last me a while. Crazy right? I did call her later that week to find out to my horror that the paint NEVER came out. Warm fuzzies every time I think of our visit.....nope more like a mountain of guilt ;) But thankfully she still loves me and she owes me a visit for her son to ruin something in my house!!! Whatever it takes to get her up here ;) Tune in for the rest of my eventful vacation later!!