Chronicles of a Hunting Season Widow

Friday evening Jordan left me to spend the weekend with his brothers hunting deer. I dropped him off in Williamsburg, and after a short detour at the Gap outlet headed on to Jason & Julia's for the weekend. I was so glad not to have to stay at home all alone while Jordan was gone!

Julia and I spent a lot of time baking up yummy things in the kitchen all weekend! We had so much fun! We made sugar cookies, a 4-layer pumpkin cake (which we took to Jason & Julia's Christmas party at church), an apple-pear pie with a French topping, and mixed up some chocolate chip cookie dough (which Julia baked later).

Saturday we went to Iowa City to meet up with my Uncle Tim and his family who were there for a weekend getaway! Of course, we ended up shopping as well (the Coral Ridge Mall is really nice!).

I tried this cute Santa hat on Kaden at Hobby Lobby. Isn't he adorable in it!?

Here we are at Chili's (Tyler, Tiffany, Christa, Aunt Carla, Uncle Tim, Kaden, Julia, Me, Jason, and Tim). We laughed pretty much through the entire meal! It was so fun to get to see them all!

Kaden was feeling like he needed a break from his stroller, so he tried riding on Jason's shoulders. He looked really cute up there, but the bad part was that he was holding onto Jason's hair with a vice-grip! Owweee!

We had Kaden try out 'driving' these trucks

He wasn't really sure what to think of Bob the Builder on the other side of this truck!

Saturday night there was a parade in downtown Cedar Rapids. Jason was in the parade dressed up as Moe (his bank's mascot). It was so cold out! Thankfully, the parade went right past the downtown branch of Jason's bank, so we were able to get inside and watch the parade go by from the second floor window. (That's why my picture below is a little less than optimum quality.) Julia told Jason to be sure to wave in our direction when he went by the bank, so when he went by waving in our direction we were so excited and thought he was so sweet to remember to wave to us! Then, after the parade was over, Jason mentioned how he had forgotten to look for the bank and didn't realize it until he was already past it and he was sorry he forgot to wave! Hahaha! We told him he shouldn't have said anything, because we thought he was so sweet and thoughtful because he waved in our direction!

Jason as Moe...waving in our direction! What a guy! (Too bad it wasn't on purpose!)

Sunday I went to church with Jason and Julia. Kaden and I had fun riding in the backseat together and listening to Jason & Julia practice their choir songs on the way to church. :) After the morning service, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant with the Barta's, so that was really fun. Jeffrey and Jenna are growing up so much! After the afternoon service, the choir practiced some Christmas music, so I got to take care of Kaden for about an hour. I gave him his bottle, and he was not quite finished with it when he fell asleep! The bottle fell out of his mouth! Awwwe.... ;) He only slept for about 20 minutes, but even after he woke up he was so unbelieveably cute the way he kept yawning and 'talking' to me as he watched the older kids running around the church. :)

Jordan ended up coming home a day early (woohoo!), but planned to go hunting with his brothers around his parent's place on Monday. So Sunday night, I drove over to Jordan's parent's and met up with him there! :) Julia and I didn't get to do everything we had planned, but we had so much fun! And I was glad Jordan's trip ended up being shorter rather than longer!!! On Monday, Jordan's mom, Anna, Anna, and I hung around the house together chatting, playing with our puppies, and playing games while the boys hunted.

Julia and I

And as for Jordan's weekend, it was very successful! He shot two does on Saturday (one at 115 yards, and one at 50 yards) as well as a coyote. Then on Sunday he shot another doe at 170 yards! Jordan's brothers did well too...Luke shot four does and Grant shot one. They didn't get anything on Monday, but I think they all enjoyed their weekend of hunting a lot! :)