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My brother Michael and his lovely wife Olivia hosted our extended family at their new home for a barbecue on Saturday.  Olivia is an AMAZING decorator and I love walking around looking at all of her neat ideas and the little touches she puts on everything.  We had yummy fajitas and the boys enjoyed some fishing at a local pond, while the women helped me with a project for Jacob's teacher (thank you for cutting out leaves with me, ladies!).  IT was fun.

   

   

   

BUT when we all get together it can get a little rambunctious.  Earlier in the day we were laughing about how my Dad (with his huge hands) would slap/pat our thighs as a greeting not realizing it was painful.  Then he would squeeze the top of our knee to tickle us – and you can't help but laugh, but it really hurts!  Anyway, I never should have brought it up…

Because as soon as I tried to get a nice picture of me, my mom and my two brothers…this is what happened.  Watch carefully…

   

   

   

   

Somewhere in the middle of that relentless torture, we got a good one…

 

But it was immediately back to this…

 

We have way too much fun together! :)  I don't think other people even know what to do about it…other than keep the camera clicking (thanks Derek!).

Donna and I had WAY too much fun designing and delivering our Gourmet Club invites for next month.  We're hosting a Hawaiian Luau (gourmet style!) in my side yard (weather permitting).  Yesterday we drove all around town hand delivering our invitations on people's doorsteps.  The invitation was carefully rolled up and placed in a bottle with sand and shells.  Donna soaked the corks in pina colada oil for extra flare!  And as we rang the doorbell, we squirted a tropical scent at the door, so our guests would get a "wiff" of the tropics!  Oh – and we labeled our bottles with everyone's Hawaiian names!  SO FUN!  We're hard at work on our menu, but have a LOT of work still to do!

We've had some pretty fun birthday parties around here, but the one we had for Jacob on Friday night ranks up there at the top.  We took 4 friends, plus our three, and headed to Erwin Park in McKinney for a camping party.  We found a beautiful spot tucked back in to some trees with a pond, a field for playing, and a fire pit.  The temperatures were in the 70s.  The boys that Jacob invited were pleasant and polite.  We played flag football, threw frisbees, explored the woods, explored the pond, heard scary animal noises, roasted hot dogs over the fire, roasted (and torched) marshmallows for s'mores, drank lots of Gatorade, looked at the stars, admired the hundreds of fireflies that we saw, and had an altogether splendid time.  Then we took all the boys home between 9 and 10 pm and were in bed by 11!  I enjoyed it so much, and I think all of the other "guys" did too.

Jake, Will, Brendan, Jacob S, Jacob H, and Caleb

   

My Eagle Scout husband is a great fire starter!

   

Samuel showing off our campground / Our star quarterback

 

I absolutely LOVE this blurry picture – do you think Derek had any fun?!

   

     

Jacob and Brendan roasting hot dogs / Samuel exercising proper safety procedures while campfire cooking

   

S'MORES!

 

Oh, look – there's the photographer making a cameo appearance!

And yes, we like to hypnotize our children whenever possible. 🙂

And one more…our little comedian liked to torch the marshmallows and then act like a caveman…

 

Poor Derek was in an accident last night coming home from work.  Thankfully, he is OK.  His neck is a little sore, but other than that he is fine.  But the Acura didn't fare as well.  He got hit from behind by a white Honda Accord driven by a 16-year old girl.  And then as a result he hit another Acura in front of him. 

I'm always thankful when he gets home from work – usually for selfish reasons!  But last night I was especially glad to have him home with us – safe and sound and unharmed.

   

 

(p.s. I don't want any comments from my family about "what goes around comes around".  I had a few accidents when I was 16, and I'm just beating them to the punch on the comments. 🙂 🙂

For a while I tried to ignore all of the news about the ongoing financial crisis.  I didn't want to jump on the roller coaster.  But over the last few days I've tried harder to wrap my brain around the details and try to understand the implications.  "Ay, Caramba!" is about all I can think of when I delve in to it.  The latest news today is the largest bank failure in US history (Washington Mutual) – but thankfully they were quickly acquired.  And another headline: Tensions High with Bailout Talks – and yet, shouldn't they be when you're talking about 700 BILLION dollars?!  Seems like par for the course in some ways. 

Dana posted recently about just wanting to be an ostrich and bury her head in the sand.  I jokingly teased her about it, but now I'm going to join her! 🙂

What a week.  I've had all of the normal stuff, plus lots of other projects that for some reason all need to be finished THIS week (or next).  Remember that clean desk I showed a few weeks ago, it's back to it's "buried" state.  I'm trying to get Gourmet Club invitations out (and they are special!), and trying to pin some things down for that menu.  I'm having to choose and custom print a million pictures for the scrapbook retreat next week, and arrange some childcare, and generally get the house ready for my departure.  PTA Membership stuff is due next week, and there's lots involved in getting that out the door.  I'm in charge of Sharing Time in Primary on Sunday and I have to teach my normal lesson for the 5 year olds.  I am cutting and tracing some things for the boys' teachers.  Samuel started speech therapy this week with Ms. Kristin.  She is a sweet, happy, gentle woman and I really like her.  She's given me several things to be working on with him to help him "find his voice".  And then there's just the hum-drum things that still have to get done – dishes, dinner, mounds of laundry, and bills to pay.

Phew!  I'm tired just writing about it.  But once again, I am reminded that this is all fun and good, and I'm so grateful for the chance to live THIS life…this happy, busy life.

Here's a couple of pictures from our date night last Friday (thank you Shelley!):

 

 

My Big J. turned nine today.  It's half-way to eighteen, but I don't like to think about that.

I see a difference in him lately.  He's maturing.  He wants to communicate with adults more and have meaningful conversations.  He plays video games or board games, but toys are definitely out.  He loves his skate board, bike, and the trampoline.  He's always found reading…either a book or a magazine (Boy's Life or The Friend).  He doesn't have much tolerance for his younger brothers these days and he grows impatient quickly with "childish" things.  But he also has a soft heart that can quickly be tender and kind when need-be.  He loves science and facts.  He likes watching football.  He's more in control of his physical body.  This is a formidable time, I feel.  He's coming in to his own – trying to develop different aspects of his personality.  This is an interesting age, and I'm excited to learn and grow right along with him.

I love this handsome, talented, smart and thoughtful nine-year old.

 

My dad drove up from Austin yesterday just to see his grandsons and celebrate Jacob's b'day.  We were so happy to have him here!  My two brothers and sister-in-law also came.  It was a fun, relaxing afternoon/evening.  And it was fun to celebrate Jacob!

Uncle Mark & Jacob

Jacob, Papa C & Caleb

 

 

I love this picture of my big-wig-attorney-Wall-Street-Journal-reading, smart and sweet brother, Mark.  It's a very typical expression for him – dirty glasses and all!

   

Jacob got lots of loot – all stuff for his new hobby, cycling.  He got sunglasses, gloves, biking shorts, a Camelback backpack, socks, and a speedometer! 

Caleb & Liv

 

Here is my charismatic-Dellsalesman-footballobsessed-smart-funny-"anythingyoucandoIcandobetter" brother, Michael, showing off his mad flippng skills on the trampoline. 

 

It's not a race…and ride sounds too casual…so I'm calling it a "tour"!

Jacob rode in his first "tour" this Saturday – the Cotton Patch Classic in Greenville, TX.  He rode with Derek and Pops (Steve) for 21 miles.  He was SO excited and proud.  And we were too.  Me, Caleb and Samuel got up with them and piddled around Greenville waiting for them.  It was fun!  There were booths, bounce houses, corn dogs and popcorn.  Caleb helped to build a dog house for Habitat for Humanity.  We saw old cars, tractors, and trains.  It was quintessential small-town Texas…which is one of my favorite things ever. 

 

 

We bought $3 sunglasses!

   

 

One of the things I love about small towns is the signs you see.  This particular one cracked me up – this is some serious "one-stop shopping":

We were, miraculously, able to plan a fun date night with two of our favorite couples last Friday night.  For an upcoming scrapbook retreat (i.e. Girls Get-Away) we needed pictures of us as couples…something that we don't have nearly enough of.  So we decided to get some photos of each other and then go to dinner in old downtown Celina – a very small town.  It was great fun!  And the men were especially cooperative! :)  I love this group of friends.  We never lack for conversation or laughs.  And we always leave with a smile on our faces.  It's the best kind of friends to have.

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes action:

 

   

 

And here are just a few of the actual results (stolen from Shelley's blog):