TGFM

That stands for "Thank God For Melissa."  As I explained earlier, Andy & I decided to save our sanity by having Jack miss out on the cross-country Oregon excursion.  Mimi graciously offered to come to our house to look after not only Jack but The Fat as well.  All was going wonderfully.  I talked to them when we landed, and on Saturday morning Mimi sent me two videos of the Jackman to show that this kid was totally living it up!  He was having a blast and obviously not missing us at all.

I love this one b/c you can hear Mimi squeal with delight as much as Jack.  It's too cute :)

In this one Jack says two of my favorite Jackisms - Oh No! and Wuv wu (love you :)


But then I decided to give them a call late Saturday morning to see how everything was going.  When Mimi went to answer her phone, she twisted her foot on an uneven part of the pavement and BROKE her foot! Poor Mimi dropped the stuff she was carrying and all Jack kept saying was "Mimi Oh No!"  Bless her heart, she managed to hobble to the phone and when she called me said that she thought she sprained her foot.  She couldn't put any weight on it and was still having to chase after a toddler.  My heart sunk when she told me this b/c my immediate thought was, "We broke Mimi.  What do we do?"  Compound that with the fact that we were thousands of miles away - panic mode quickly set in.  But then, a solution popped into my head.  It was like the clouds parted and the angels began to sing.  Melissa.  I can call Melissa!  She can watch Jack while Mimi goes to the emergency room!  And this is what I love about my friend.  All I had to say was, "I feel awful asking you to do this but can you watch Jack?  Mimi may have broken her foot."  She immediately said "absolutely" (although I know on the inside she was freaking out b/c in the space of 10 seconds I had given Anderson a 2 year old twin.)  Cheryl was a trooper and with the help of our awesome neighbors got Jack and his gear loaded into the car and drove over to Melissa's house.  But when the ER visit revealed two broken bones, Jack immediately became the weekend guest at the Glover house.

Poor Mimi (with the help of Adam) recuperated at our house while STILL taking care of Bean.  She kept telling us over the phone how awful and guilty she felt which was silly.  No one plans on breaking their foot!  The only thing Andy & I hated was that this cut into her time with Jack and we know they were both looking forward to it.  Plus, she still took care of our daughter Bean with a broken foot!  If that isn't a rock star grandma I don't know what is.

Melissa kept me posted on the weekends events and let me just say - I think she could totally handle twins.  She was a rock star in her own right.  In fact, Jack did more stuff in the 48 hours with the Glovers than I did with him in a whole week!  Coming home to Mommy was a bit of a letdown I think. :)

***Everyone at the wedding heard the unfortunate series of events that was happening at home and two comments kept recurring.  1.  "Your poor mother-in-law! Is she ok?"  2.  "Thank God for your friend Melissa.  You are lucky to have her."  Don't I know it.

Here's just a sampling of the pictures I received while in Oregon :)  Once again, Jack coming home to me and Andy was probably a disappointment.

New friends.  (Don't worry, I won't let Bean see this.  She would be so jealous.)

Bike riding through the neighborhood

Train fun  (I think Jack was in the midst of saying "Choo Choo")

Bath time fun

Plenty of awesome meals

Crashing a cookout at Anderson's GG and Jpa's house

TV snacks.  Like any true male, tv watching doesn't necessitate pants.  I'm glad this is something he does in other peoples houses too.

Jabba the Hut chin.  Life with Sissa and Anderson can make one sleepy!

How stinkin' cute is this?!

Clearly my child suffered in my absence.

Mall play area - trying to work a free train ride

New playground

McDonald's indoor play area (you don't believe me when I said this was all in 48 hours do you?)

More trains

Sandbox fun

Dining out.  The dinner conversation probably consisted of diggers, choo choos, and bobcats :)

My favorite picture.  This one is going in their senior ad.  Thank goodness for both Mimi and Melissa.  Mimi made sure our sweet girl Bean was taken care of (all while incapacitated!) and Melissa turned a crisis into one crazy fun weekend for the Jackman - all while taking care of TWO toddlers!  I think this is a sign she needs another child :)