HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

We drove to Texarkana on Friday, so we could attend the Koebel-Stewart wedding on the 1st in Bossier City. Amid threatening tornadoes and horrendous storms, we set out hoping to head it off before it hit, too badly. We had nothing to worry about....I've seen and drove through much worse!
Little did I know, the most challenging part of my weekend, was yet to come. I go to check in and the desk clerk informed me that some woman just came in looking for me-by name?! I hadn't told anyone we were coming as our family health has been a little unstable and I didn't know if we'd even be going until the last minute. When we left, everyone was doing fine, except I wasn't feeling well, but I figured I'd gut it out. Anyway, the strangest thing was "she" apparently said that she needed to catch up to me since I had her kids?! Weird.
We then go into the elevator...Stephen let V walk in...she promptly went over and pressed the emergency call button! Ugh! I had to run back to the front desk clerk and have her cancel it as I couldn't cancel it in the elevator. I got "the look."

Our room was cheaper than anything in Shreve/Bossier and much nicer. Clean, two queen beds and a pull out couch, with a kitchenette and big bathroom...we were in heaven! Kat and Paul weren't there as work filled their schedules, but the rest of us got a nice dinner @ Applebees and two hotel rooms--yes, I said two, because we had to switch at 9pm when Kimberly 'accidentally' locked the bathroom door and no one knew how to unlock it. After all the excitement, I decided that letting them stay up to ring in the new year wouldn't be all that bad, so we settled in our beds and turned on an old Twilight Zone....mom would have been so proud! When that was over, I noticed Kim & V were sound asleep, on me-and they were feverish (great!). The kids soon realized that going from 2010 11:59 to 2011 12:00 wasn't the big deal that they thought it would be and everyone said goodnight and fell fast asleep, except for the youngest two who woke up to their second wind right as the others dozed off....ahhhh, the life of mom.
The next day went smoother and we were off by 10...in plenty of time to reconnect with old friends for lunch and hit the church in time for the wedding. Grace was beautiful and revisiting with the bride's family and also the Grete's was the icing to our cake! I was so glad we'd made the effort and the kids, while a little bored as they didn't remember everyone (we did move three and a half years ago) had a good time.
Now, for the next wedding on the 8th, we're hiring a sitter, so I can actually enjoy the wedding!