The Lost Weekend

The weekend after my Grandmother's funeral services, we hung out "up north" and saw some family. I was going back through our pictures and I do NOT remember this weekend. At all. I think I was just exhausted. It was the first weekend in October, but the kids are wearing shorts...so it must have been pretty warm! The pictures are pretty...wish I remembered more of our visit!

Bible School Catch-Up

As I wrote in the Grandma post, the kids went to a week of Bible School in June. They went to the church that I grew up in and that most of my Smith family still attends (and also where Michael and I were married and the kids baptized). Bible School was from 6-8 every evening, we were up a bit late all week long but the kids absolutely LOVED it. They enjoyed every part of the program: singing, snack, stories, games, and crafts.

Getting ready one evening...



I am amazed at how well they learned about SIX new, long, and complicated songs to sing in church on Sunday. Aunt Sue was the song leader and, boy, did she get them to learn a lot in five days! They are STILL singing them three weeks later! Especially "Praise Ye the Lord, Hallelujah!"

The Sunday following Bible School the kids always do some skits and songs for the congregation as part of the service. When the leaders were handing out parts, they announced "If anyone wants a speaking part, come see Becky!" and Colin immediately told me he wanted one. I sent him to Becky and he got a part! He did a GREAT job with it too! He had one line, "No matter where you go, TRUST GOD." He said it loudly, clearly, and with enthusiasm!

Ready for church!




Singing with all the kids (with cousin Sarah sneaking in the side of the shot!):


Fun, fun week! And Becky did a FANTASTIC job leading Bible School! Good thing they liked it cause I have them signed up for a week of local Bible School this week too!

Memorial Weekend, Part 2: SIXTY!

Still catching up......and largely a photo dump.

So, Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we had A LOT planned! My Grandparents Smith are celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary on June 14. And, that? That is pretty darn special. And amazing. And deserving of celebration! So, celebrate is what we did.

We started off the morning at church. Well, the ladies did. Gillian, Gra Gra, and I met some of our other family at church for a nice (warm) service and some time to honor some of the long married couples in the church. There were quite a handful of couples who were married 50, 55, and 60 years. An amazing bunch of people! The boys decided to stay home and run off some energy and avoid church.

After church we had a family dinner at a local restaurant. This place is usually closed on Sunday, but opened just for our large group (about 30 of us). We had the entire dining room to ourselves with great service and a TON of good food (it became a running theme of the day). Michael took the chance to get some pictures of everyone chatting and enjoying each others' company.

Introducing the kids to Angry Birds...


Becky, Ben, Isaiah, and Brian.


Sarah, Aunt Debbie, and Bernie.


Me and Great (Aunt) Lori.


The Special Couple (in the middle), Aunt Ann, and Uncle Doug.


Uncle Willis, (The Real) Leah, Aunt Sue, and Uncle Stevie.


The Classic Matt, Samantha, and Rachel.


Looking at that loving gaze!




Sarah and Becky, love this picture!


Gillian must have been funny.


We surprised Grandma and Grandpa with an iPad. They like to read email and Grandma loves games, so we hope they enjoy it.


Michael calls this "Lea Explains it All."


After lunch we made our way to Matt and Rachel's house for an Open House celebration.


Matt and Rachel did so much work and did such a nice job of making their house the perfect spot for a party. It was a warm, muggy day, but their house was cool and BIG and accommodated everyone nicely. Even after a HUGE crashing storm came through! Memorable for SURE! So many of our extended family and neighbors and church family came to say HI and CONGRATULATIONS. It was pretty heartwarming to see how much my Grandparents are loved.

Grandma, Grandpa and their three daughters: Rosanne (GraGra), Sue, and Lori. Forever missing their fourth, my Uncle Mike.


I hope that Grandma and Grandpa had a good day and know exactly how special they are how much they are loved. They are such an example of a good marriage: loving, laughing, and working side by side. For SIXTY years.

Up North

Last weekend (when it wasn't 70 degrees) we took a quick trip north to visit with all of our family. We hadn't been up for a while and it was time. We picked the kids up at school on Friday and Miss Heather told us they were WOUND UP. Guess we shouldn't have told them where we were going after school. Oops.

Friday night night we had a nice dinner with Dickiedoo, Noonie, Uncle Stevie, and Aunt Emily. Colin discovered a love for thin crust pizza and Gillian discovered a love for Noonie's Texas sheet cake!

Saturday morning was pretty chilly, but Colin wanted to go ride Great-Papa's tractors. And maybe see a cow or a donkey. So, we bundled up and put on our boots. It was a lovely combination of cold and muddy, so both were needed!

G and I were having fun stomping on the ice covering the puddles and little streams. What a satisfying crunch and crack.


A boy and mud. What more is there to say? I did have to wash EVERYTHING he had on.

We walked down GraGra's big hill to Great-Papa's house, up the hill to the barn to see the donkey and calf, back down the hill to Great-Papa's house to say HI to Great-Grandma, and THEN to sit on the tractors!




Allis Chalmers for all!

Then we walked back UP GraGra's hill and in for a rest before lunch. Great-Grandma and Great-Papa came for lunch too!


After all that I was quite happy to see that both C and G zonked out quickly for their afternoon nap! After nap we headed over to Grammy and Papa's for dinner and a SURPRISE visit with JOE! Oh Joe is just the favorite person right now. With both kids!

So, nice weekend up north. It was so nice to get to visit with our family and relax a bit! And even lose an hour of sleep!

Turkey Day Catch-up

I think we are still recovering from Thanksgiving, over a week later! We just finished unpacking the last suitcase today! Anyway. Catching up on Thanksgiving!

A few years ago we happened to HAVE to travel on Thanksgiving morning. AND IT WAS AWESOME. So, now we do it every year. No traffic, fast trip, just in time for lunch. PERFECT. We had a lovely lunch at Grammy and Papa Frank's house with Uncle D and Aunt Cedes. Colin even tried a brussel sprout. And the only picture we got was our attempt at a family photo.

G insisted on wearing the Rapunzel dress, sitting in Grammy's little chair, AND holding two bears. On Colin's side, we had pumpkin insistence. So, it was great, needless to say.


The kids took an amazingly good nap after lunch (given that they hadn't eaten enough turkey to fall victim to it) and then we headed in to to see Dickiedoo and Noonie. We mostly just visited and picked at their feast. The kiddos had so much fun playing with my step-brother's 11 year old son, Dalton. Giggles, giggles, giggles. It was great.

On Friday, I took the kids to visit my Grandparents Bish. We also saw my Aunt Pat and her grandkids, Alyssa and Adam, and my cousin Becky, her husband Haiko, and their son Sven. The kids played with Alyssa and Adam so nicely. They played dominoes and cars and wrestled and laughed the entire time. I think my Grandparents had the best time just watching all the crazy. I wanted a couple of pictures of the kids with my Grandparents, but the kids wouldn't get a picture without me in it. I was NOT prepared to be photographed, but the pictures were worth it!

Great-Grandma and the kiddos! (Yes, that's my 87 year old Grandmother on the FLOOR. Man.)


Great-Grandpa and kiddos!


Friday evening, Grammy and Papa Frank were kind enough to wrangle C&G for us! We met Matt, Rachel, Samantha, Tim, and Betsy to watch "The Muppet" movie and have some Mexican for dinner. It was so nice to spend the evening with old friends (and family). You knows those friends that you don't see for months or years at a time and sit down together and it's like no time has passed? Yeah, that's awesome.

Saturday morning we headed out to my Grandparents' Smith house for Crazy Turkey Day #3. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of noise. Great, crazy fun.

Any, hey, look! We finally convinced Grandma to sit a large portion of the day instead of working so hard (and thanks to Matt, Rachel, and Aunt Lori who picked up most of her work!)!


My cousin Becky's little girl, Sarah, and Gillian were FAST buddies almost off the bat. G told Daddy, "I try to ask Sarah to be my friend, but she too quick, I can't catch her." I think they were friends anyway!



Those girlies even made a "Girl's Club" and kept trying to shut Colin out of the bedroom they were playing in. I think he took it in stride though. He was laughing about. But I think he was a little confused as to WHY he couldn't play with his BFF, Gillian. Not sure his sweet, friendly little brain could compute the girls only game!


FOOD!

(Even after feeding 35-ish people there were enough leftovers to feed about 20 more people!)

After that enormous feast, we hauled ourselves back to Grammy and Papa Frank's house to celebrate Papa's birthday with the Keisters. Colin was beyond thrilled. BEYOND. He loves Joe. While we were eating dinner, Colin would lean over on Joe's arm, gaze up at him, and say, "I love you Joe." Those boys played and played and played (OK, Joe is 22 I shouldn't call him a boy, young MAN). And Gillian colored with Jessie Bean (and Bean tried to teach the importance of re-capping your markers). It was so nice to visit with our Keisters. They kids have so much fun with them (as do Daddy and I)!!

Next morning we were up early, ate some of Papa's waffles, and helped Grammy light the Advent candle.

Then it was home again, home again. And we're still recovering. Ok, well, I am still recovering. The kids seem fine ; )