Noodlin' and Doodlin' (in my drawers!)

The Roberts family is sitting all clumped up toether, pillow pets, car seats and giant yo gabba gabba plush toys take over the First Baptist bus seats early this morning. Once again, we are doing one of our from Ok to Ar by way of Tx trips. We have spent the last three weeks running around like crazy! Three weeks ago, we had two foster boys--4 years and almost 2. We really fell in love with them! We were just a stop between a grandfather sending them back into care and a therapeutic foster home. As you can imagine, with 4 kids in the house there was no time for blogging. All four of them got along so well though. It was a simply wonderful week. That weekend, we realized that if we ever wanted to get the boys back on a semi-permanent basis and more presently, just to survive long road trips with two fuss buckets in the backseat, we needed a bigger vehicle. We traded in the Matrix (which we SO loved!) for a Honda Odyessy--same year, same miles. We really like the room and the entertainment package in the back. It's a really smart and well designed car. It was a lovely trip to Ok on the week of the 4th, thanks to our "new to us" car. Brent and I have joked for years that we'd like one of those privacy windows that roll up in limos to separate the back from the front, and the Odyssey is the closest thing we've found to it. When we got to ok, time flew. We relaxed when we could. I got a stomach bug and was down for most of the 4th. We were all scheduled to go noodling with my uncle that morning in a dirty, old ok river. I knew that if I called it off citing tummy troubles they'd think I was chicken and I can't have that. So, I toughed it out, knowing full well that if I did poop my pants in the river, it was already so yucky, no one would be the wiser. Most of the catfish had finished nesting and were headed out to the lakes but with my uncle Joe's help, we hemmed up a 5 lb flathead and he let me pull it out. Brent held the camera bag. :) at one point later in the day, brent admitted looking at me with my feet and body shoved up under a rock and pond scum floating around my face, he thought to himself, "I love that hillbilly woman." I'm a lucky girl to have someone who can look at me with hearts in their eyes at a time when I have the runs and am doing something as goofy as noodling. After our catch, we went to t-town and ate breakfast to celebrate. I ate dry toast and shivered with the chills till I begged my dad to take me home. Once there, I crashed all day. Got up, with the sweaty chills, put on a brave face and made t-shirts with the kids. I was no help to my poor mom that day! To be continued at a later time, we're fixing to make a rest stop.