Waiting for the Text...

We had a fantastic weekend celebrating the marriage of one of my dearest friends Stephanie and her husband Paul. They were brave and pulled off a beautiful, magazine-worthy outdoor wedding in the splendor of the Texas Hill Country, overlooking Lake Travis! To say that the views were amazing wouldn't be fair... it is some of God's best artistry! Both the rehearsal dinner and wedding were wonderful and it was so good to be a special part of such a worthwhile celebration.

We were fortunate to live near the wedding venue and didn't have to travel! The wedding came to us...ha! Okay so not exactly, but I'll let myself think that! :) Since we were "in town" we got to play host to some of our favorite out of town guests! Meli P and Scott are two of our oldest couple friends. We've known each other long before we ever got engaged and have since spent lots of time being young marrieds together, staying with each other a few times a year, each year we've been married. This time, however, was the first that our kids got to play a part. Carter is just 3 months younger than Caden and ALL boy. He is the perfect playmate for Caden! We were super excited to have them come stay the weekend with us, but even more excited to watch the boys play with each other. 

They got along fantastically well for never having played with each other. They were both intrigued by the other one, although I am thinking that Caden was more intrigued by the audience that he had than by anything else... he never does miss an opportunity to be a ham! Carter is the sweetest, happiest little boy. He sits and plays so quietly and patiently. He definitely has some skills that Caden could learn from, for sure! Caden was loving having a buddy (a boy buddy) to hang out with all weekend!

We had two wedding festivities to attend both Friday and Saturday nights which required a babysitter! BUT not just any babysitter!  A babysitter that could handle two boys, for two nights, for 6+ hours... ready, set, go!

Justin and I are fortunate enough to have stumbled upon Patti... our sweet, adorable, skinny as a rail, blond haired, blue-eyed, outgoing babysitter Patti! We met Patti while volunteering in the nursery. She is a teen helper in Caden's nursery on Sundays and he LOVES him some Miss Patti! She definitely has taken a liking to Caden too... I think it is safe to say he might be one of her favorites. Patti is still pretty young, only 13 but I knew that she had something special and knowing that I would need a babysitter for this wedding weekend I started planning weeks ahead to make sure that I could snag her! 

I called her Momma about one month out and talked to her at length about Caden and Carter and the weekend. I wanted to be sure she was okay with Patti babysitting for us. Just because Patti knows us from church doesn't mean her Momma will give her the free pass! It is a scary world sometimes! SO after a 30 minute conversation where we found SEVERAL uncanny similarities... Baylor grad, tennis player, etc., etc. we decided that she would come by on Sunday and meet Justin and I and we'd go from there. Smart Mommy! Justin and I passed the test and she agreed to let Patti babysit under the one condition that she came and spent a few hours with us before the weekend to get a lay of the land... again, smart Mommy! So last Monday Patti, still decked out in her uniform from school came by and spent a few hours with Caden and me. She showed up with a list of concerns and questions that she wanted to talk through. She was super prepared and hilariously conscious of potential problems for her age. She had thought of all the same challenges that Justin and I had when we were thinking through the process of babysitting the two boys. SO funny!

So Friday night came and we were all sitting around a table at the rehearsal dinner waiting for a text from Patti. She told us she would text us when everyone was asleep! Well, her poor Momma had put the fear of God in her to not pick up her cell phone and text while babysitting and so she didn't text us... so we waited and waited and then finally about 8:30 I gave up and texted her!

Katie Text: How is everything going?

Patti Text: It went pretty well. It took a littler longer than expected to put Caden down. But all in all we had a good time:) Played outside with the swing and sand for a little and danced around to veggie tales. Then had a large dinner!:) There was a little scare with the dogs but it was okay and I got it taken care of. Everybody is in bed now and I'm just picking up a bit :) Enjoying the dinner?

Katie Text: Good to hear. What happened with the dogs?

Patti Text: Caden was starting to get tired and wanted the dogs. Carter was watching intently veggie tales. Didn't want to get the dogs out but Caden shrieked so I let him give the brown one a treat, the white one seems a little more rowdy. He was a little more energetic than Caden was expecting and Caden toppled on his booty. Just scared him a little bit. But he's ok! :) No more dogs!

Katie Text: That's too funny! Thanks again for everything!

Patti Text: Oh no problem. We're having a good time :) No tears when either parents left, a few when I put them down but they ceased pretty quickly. Enjoy ur nite! :)

First let me just say that I am SO GLAD that she didn't use "teen text code." I am not sure I'm hip to the lingo these days... phew! And second let me say that she did not have to tell us all of that. I mean the thing with the dogs... crazy! NOT A GOOD MOVE on her part but to her credit most American family dogs aren't SPAZZY like ours! She did what she could to make Caden happy. BUT she could have totally skipped that part... we would have never known. She was honest and upfront and I loved that! I will admit I did have to have a "give her grace" talk with myself. She is 13, she is doing her best, you didn't tell her no dogs, and now she knows. No harm, no foul. Extend grace, Katie. And I did... and she received it and all was good! :)

The next challenge came when taking her home... "so where should I go?"

SILENCE...

Um...

Patti?

Do you know where you live??

SORT OF!!

Uh oh!! Needless to say the next night I had directions ready to go. No need to take the SUPER long route again just to find her a familiar ground to start from! Haha! Sweet Patti!

The next day we got to hang out with some other great friends of ours who happen to live in California and one who lives here and that we see more often but still not often enough! We ate at one of our fav Austin mexican food spots and had a great time! Of course this is only after getting into a fender bender on our way there!!

YEP! A fender bender!! 

Where? In our driveway!

YEP! We hit a parked car... 

Our friend Meli P's parked car!

OOPS!

So, speaking of grace... God blessed us with friends who extended that same grace that we extended to Patti, to us after we hit their car. They were super gracious and didn't even flinch... their facial expressions didn't falter either... they truly had grace SCREAMING from their bodies! And for this we were thankful!

Luckily, the car ride to the restaurant was 25 minutes so I was able to get on the phone with the insurance company and get everything resolved... a local body shop and rental car later, they were set to fix the damages to their car once they returned home. Meli P- Scott- we are SO sorry! Thank YOU for extending grace to us!! 

So minus the fender bender which didn't even require a margarita (that is how nice they were about it all!) we had a great day! We relaxed and prepared ourselves for the fun wedding night ahead!

Once again we sat around a table, dining on some YUMMY pasta when around 8:30 I decided to give up and text Patti again.

Katie Text: How's it going?

Patti Text: Amazingly well :) they went down at 7:40 without a second glance, no tears, no dogs, no falls, bumps or bruises. Just happy smiles and some more dancing:) It couldn't have gone any better. Cleaned up the house so it looks spic and span!

Katie Text: Wonderful! Thanks for cleaning but not needed! You're great!

Patti Text: No problme, fantastic nite, they both aren't making a peep! Enjoy the reception!

Katie Text: Thank you!

So we smiled, laughed, felt peace in our hearts and went on enjoying our night...

Until dessert... which was FABULOUS by the way.

And I see the text light blinking on my phone... uh-oh, I think!

Patti Text: Mrs. Cox, this is somewhat of an odd request, but I'm craving ice cream. Do you mind if I take a little scoop out of ur raspberry sorbet and eat just a few bites?

Katie Text: Oh yes, YES!! Please! Eat whatever you find!! Go for it! We'll text you when we leave!

(TRANSLATION of Katie's Text: Mrs. Cox? REALLY?! I know you are just being nice, but come on, girlfriend! And sure just scrape off the freezer burn and dig in! Poor Patti!)

On our way home...

Katie Text: On our way! Be home in 30ish minutes.

Patti Text: Sounds great! I'll still be here! :)

And that my friends was the making of a beautiful weekend...

A great reason for a celebration!

A GREAT celebration!

GOOD FOOD!

Even BETTER friends!

An honest babysitter with a sense of humor and a taste for sweets! (And a heart for the Lord that would just make you jump for joy!! AND when she said cleaned the house: that meant unloading and loading dishwasher, cleaning highchairs and counters, tidying up play room, living room, straightening shoes at bottom of stairs... folding blankets... you name it, she did it!!)

AND two very happy, sweet boys whose names start with the letter C! :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend, full of many blessings and of course a BUNCH of fun!!

(sorry no pics in this post. didn't take any!! I'll snag some from friends and post soon!)