Goodbye, Papaw Taylor

I lost another Grandparent last week.  This was my Papaw Taylor, my Mom's Dad. We didn't see him very often because it was always a 5 hour trip to go and visit him, but we took as many trips as we could in the summer to go and visit him.  He lived in a Cabin on a little farm and all 7 of us kids had the best time in the world when we went to visit him.  He was the lovey, huggy type and always had a hug for us.  I truly loved my Papaw, and will miss him greatly. 

His funeral was in Morristown, Tennesse this past Sunday.  Let me go into great detail how my weekend first started.

Friday night- I received a phone call, "Hi, Amy, this is Christy you care if we crash at your house Saturday night and then leave for the funeral on Sunday?"  I say, "Of course, that is fine, we would love to have you."  So I hang up the phone and furiously start doing some housework.  Now, I had cleaned all day and my house looked pretty good, but not company good if you know what I mean. 
I got my house clean and we all hit the bed at 9:30 because the next morning we were going to have cleanup day at my friend, Michelle's house from the tornado damage.

Saturday night- Rise and shine, time to go to work.  I was trying to figure out exactly how much work I would be able to get done with 3 small kids and broken glass and trees everywhere, when a dear friend called and asked for my boys to come over and play.  How awsome was that? Perfect timing for sure.  Now that left Amelia.  I asked her if she wanted to go to Mamaw Tara's house.  Her reply, "nope."  I really didn't think she would stay without her brothers, but I dropped her off and she walked right in toting her purse.  We headed to work.  We didn't end up getting there until around 11, but we worked hard until around 5 pm and that was only because my phone was ringing.  "When in the world was I going to go and pick up my kids?"
So, we left and picked up our kiddos and headed to the house to give them baths because somehow they were even more dirtier than me and Maynard were.  My sister and brother-n-law, their 3 kids and my younger brother all arrived.  After baths and a change of clothes we were ready to go find some supper.  My brother-n-law said anything I was fixing would be just fine.  Ha!!!! So after he was quickly shot down it took us an hour to all agree on where we were going to eat.  We ended up at Ruby Tuesday's.  There was a little wait and we were starved.  The hostess asked us again how many kids we had, which was 6.  My brother-n-law (he is hilarious ya'll) said, "6 right now, but might be 7 by the time we sit down to eat.  It struck me funny and I still laugh about it when I think about it.
We went home and I went straight to making beds for everyone and ironing church and funeral clothes.  Then I had to prepare for my Sunday School lesson.  It was 1 a.m. by the time I layed my weary body down in the bed.  And the good news???????? We lost an hour that night.  Out of all the most inconvenient times to lose an hour of sleep was this particular weekend!!! ARRGGGHH!

Sunday-My alarm goes off at 7 and I let off a string of profanity.  (ha, just kidding)
Me and Maynard quickly dress and start laying out the big breakfast I have prepared.  Yep, I went all out with not only chocolate donuts, but also had white sugar ones too.  I am the all-time, most favorite, best hostess ever!
We went to Sunday School and took my neice and nephew with us while it was time for the 2nd shift to get up and shower and get ready.  I'm not sure if my water heater held up or not, I was too afraid to ask.  After Sunday school we met back up with them and stopped to eat lunch at Sonny's BBQ.  Our server was laughing because we had semi-undressed our kids while they ate so they wouldn't get dirty.  They had napkins in the front of their clothes and all bbq sauce and ketchup bottles were conviscated. She said, "why did you bring your kids to eat bbq when you are dressed for a funeral?"  Good question, I know, but ya'll we didn't have an hour to spare to all agree on another restaraunt again so this was agreed the night before.
We left and headed to the funeral home.  We arrived around 3 and the funeral service started at 7, so it was a long time for us and all our kids to sit and behave that long.  They got in trouble several times, but it truly was hard on them to behave.  The bad thing was my Papaw's casket was very unsteady.  Me and my sister-n-law had a small bet going of who's kid was going to tip him over first.  My dollars was on Titus, but thankfully he never got dumped out.  However, I was told that Titus was spotted running up to the casket and tapping my Papaw right on the forehead.  Now, I didn't actually see it happen so I'm going to pretend that he was framed.  We got there about 15 mins before my Mom did.  So when Titus seen her come in he ran to her and screamed, "Mamaw, Papaw Taylor is dead, he really is." This made my Mom laugh and kind of eased the tension a little.
I was very pleased that my whole family got to be at the funeral and support my Mom.  It was a 5 hour drive for most of them and I know it was a sacrafice, but I know my Mom appreciated it.  It's not easy to get not only 7 adults plus spouses and their children all in one place at the same time.  Well, we did have a few of the smaller ones that didn't get to make it.  And if I had it to do over, I probably would have left a few of my kiddos behind.  It's kind of hard to grieve, when your 2 yr old is feeding goldfish to her 4 year old cousin in the pew in front of her and her 4 year old brother is screaming he is bad, bad hungry and Mill-Mill won't share.
We made it though the funeral and the big group of us headed to eat at cracker barrel.  If I was the server that night at cracker barrel, I probably would have just quit right there.  I'm telling you, our kids have eat out so much that they know how to order a server around.  13 kiddos and 11 adults!!! Wow!!!
We made it home and crashed into bed.  I didn't set my alarm and I let Josiah sleep right on through his school day.  I knew he was wore out and I wasn't going to make him go to school when I knew I would have to beat him to get up out of the bed.

So that was my weekend! Oh yeah, we also started revival Monday night too!!!  See, I told you, I could really have used that extra hour this weekend!!!

This is so unrelated, but I have to share....................
My kids are at the library in their story time while I'm typing this out.  A lady came up to me with a notebook in her hand and said, "excuse me, but is the little girl with the yellow bow belong to you?"  I jump up and say, "WHAT DID SHE DO?"  The lady starts laughing and ends up being a reporter for the newspaper and she was just doing a story and had took her picture for the paper.  How exciting is that??????

See ya next week>>>>

I don't have time to spell check and proofread so please ignore the typos.  I really need to go watch my kids before they really do, do something!!!