We're From the Country...

...and we like it that way (the song's title by Tracy Byrd seemed to fit the title of my post today).

This weekend we went to Longview for a quick visit and had so much fun, minus one small incident. We also celebrated Brendon's (Shawn's brother) birthday. I can't believe this time next year he'll be a freshman in college. I've been with Shawn since Brendon has been in diapers!!!

On Friday night, we shelled some purple hull peas and also snapped some green peas. I really enjoyed it--some major therapy, let me tell ya. After we finished and the kids went to bed, we stayed up and played Spades and Poker. We laughed and laughed, but one thing I realized is that I'm getting way too old to be staying up past midnight, sad, but true.

On Saturday, Shawn and I woke up bright and early for a date morning. We had breakfast at Mickey D's (Breakfast of Champions), and then headed to Satterwhite Log Homes to visit with Kevin, the salesman, about our future plans. If only I was more decisive sometimes, maybe our second house would come along sooner. After our two-hour date, we hurried home (before it got too hot) to get ready to go to Martin's Berry Patch in Hallsville.

Shortly after this, a red wasp came along and stung Jaxon right on the face, close to his eye. I was panicking because you really don't know if your child is allergic to stings until it actually happens. My MIL and I ran to Mr. Jack's house in a flash. The picture below was about as bad as it got, but after some Chloraseptic (to ease/deaden the pain), and an iota of Tobacco (to draw out the poison), we were good to go. If you're confused at this point, just read the title of this post again. Even I learned a thing or two this weekend. Jaxon was a trooper, though, and I was pretty darn proud of the little guy. Thank you, Mr. Jack, for your immediate assistance.

As long as he had his berry-pickin' bucket--he was happy.
I really wish I could say that we picked all of these, but after the BIG STING, we decided to buy six pounds of blueberries, rather than to brave anymore of nature's beasts while picking.

Here's what the kids picked, though. Mr. Jack through these babies in for free--I think he felt bad about the sting. I put these on some Vanilla Blue Bell Ice Cream and it was a taste of heaven for sure.

After our eventful afternoon and naps, we went out to celebrate Brendon's birthday. Happy Birthday, Brendon!
Shawn, his mother, and Brendon