November 4, 2006

• This has been a GREAT week of vacation.  I believe I last left you at the beginnng of the birthday celebrations on Friday evening – I have actually been putting this post off hoping that I would get some pictures of the party Saturday night emailed to me – but they have not yet made it here to me, so we are largely ‘pictureless’ due to the fact that my camera ran out of battery power.  Argh.  Anyway – I am just going to break this down by day for ya’ll – Enjoy!

  SATURDAY:
  Saturday I spent most of the day at a womens conference with my mom and two sisters.  I honestly had a pretty sucky attitude about it – not being totally into organized women’s things like that – especially on my birthday.  Getting ready for the day with my sweet sister Hannah I realized however that this was a great opportunity to bless my mom – she really just wanted to spend some time with my sisters and I – and I had this crappy attitude about it.  I realized that so often when mom wants to spend time with me, it has to be on my terms and what I want to do.  YUCK.  What a horrible thing – I have a mom who loves me and wants to spend time with me – who will do the things that I want to do just to be with me…and I have this attitude when she asks me to do something with her?  Double YUCK.  Not a pretty way to see yourself….  Humbled, and grateful for the chance to change my attitude before the day started, I went and was totally blessed and glad that I went by the time I left.

  After the conference, I came home and napped for a bit before everyone came over…the family was out in full force – all ten of us, spouses and children crammed into the house for an evening of chili [ummmm - glad I didn't have to go home with any of my brothers], cake and game playing….again – not many pictures, but here is what I have…

  **Me and my dad – who says I will never be too old to sit on his lap….awwwww…***
  
  

  **A couple of my siblings and myself – from L to R – Me, Caleb, Hannah and Sam**

  

  ** The cake – compliments of Mom…**

  

  **Sharing some ice cream with my nephew Ian**

  

  **My nephew Michael cheesing it up for the camera**

  

  **My niece Bethany – I LOVE her smile**

  

  SUNDAY:
  Sunday I *thought* that I was scheduled to work in the baby room at church – so rushed to get there early, only to realize that I was not really scheduled – but worked anyway cause they needed an extra hand, and who doesn’t like a little hang time with babies really?    Fun. 

  Left church and had lunch with my brother Ben and his wife and family, as well as my sister Hannah, her husband John and baby Ian…I love going to the same church as them – being able to hang out afterwards is an added bonus…

  Sunday night I hung out at the house with mom, dad, and the four youngest kids still at home – relaxing and enjoying the time together…

  MONDAY:  Took mom out to breakfast and had a couple of really good hours of heart to heart stuff.   So good to hear her heart and share mine with her.  Precious time.
  Early afternoon I headed to my home on the IL side of the river – halloween is a big deal over there, with two nights of celebration…so I headed over to join in the fun…here are some shots of the kids before they left to go trick or treating…

  ** This is Wendy, Max and baby Graham [daughter of one of her friends - Graham came over to play for the night too] before everyone started to get ready for the evening – Max was so cute with baby Graham – kept saying ‘hello baby’…he thought she was pretty cool…as you can see from the picture, she didn’t think he was half bad either**
                                                                         
  

  **Sweet Maddie – pinch **

  

  **Nick, Josh, and ummmmm – neighborhood kid whose name escapes me right now**

  

  **Could this boy be any cuter?  I think not**

  

  TUESDAY:
  School day for Wendy, so I was the ‘go with girl’ and used the day/quiet time in her office while she was in class to have some reading/correspondence/extra journaling time – really just time to sit and think/write about things and decompress from the crap of everyday life.  I don’t have much of an opportunity to do that, so it was extremely welcome time.  Tuesday night was the halloween parade – pretty fun/funny – there were some really good floats, and some that just invited you to make fun of them.  Unfortunately, I did not get good shots of any of them – just this one of Maddie and I in the kettle corn line.  As you can see from the red in our noses, we are FREEZING OUR BUTTS OFF!.  Cute picture though.

                                                  
  

  WEDNESDAY:
  Happy Birthday to Wendy!  I think that one of the best things ever is to share a birthday [day] or week with a good friend – all the more reason to celebrate as long as possible…so Wednesday we ditched all responsibility and went resale shopping at some great shops in St Louis – went for a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory…got home in time for a late dinner out with the family – then home for some yummy birthday cake made by the neighbor…I have some cake pictures, but since I didn’t run any of the birthday shots by the birthday girl first I am not going to throw them out there without her approval… [aren't I the nice one?]

  THURSDAY:
  The day was a repeat of Tuesday all day, then Thursday evening it was girls night at Baileys Chocolate Bar.  SO. FUN.  How could it not be?  Good friends, good food, CHOCOLATE and coffee all in an amazing atmosphere – yep – doesn’t get much better really.   See Wendy’s site for more details and great pictures of the night…

  ** This is one of my favorite shots of the night – me and sweet Maddie before heading out for the night**

     

  Okay folks…that is a weeks worth right there…and I am tired of sitting here in front of the computer – more tomorrow…

  • 6:03 pm
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