A Birthday Brunch at Bravo!

We all met at Bravo! to celebrate Irene's 50th birthday.

Her birthday was really in August, but when you have a milestone birthday (like 50, perhaps), you get to pick any day or days to celebrate. My mom-in-law reserved a room at Bravo for our party of 20+ people. All the siblings were there, except Barbara who was due in later. I think I counted 8 kiddos, but we kept losing them under the table occasionally, so there might have been 9. After the cake was served and the kids were climbing the walls, I decided to call it good and head home for a nap with Luke.

Now I think I know why they charge extra gratuity for such large groups~we were pretty high maintenance!

Cousins

Nana and Jacinta are 2 of the 14 cousins that these kiddos have on John's side of the family. They came in last night and so we have had a lot of play time with them. Last night, we went to greet them at their hotel and the kids ran themselves ragged for an hour while the adults took turns watching them like you would watch a tennis game: back and forth, back and forth. It is so sweet to see how much they enjoy each other's company.

Tonight, Natalie had soccer practice. We called the coach to ask him if we could bring an extra girl to practice with them. After we got the OK, we suited Nana up in Cooper's shirt, shorts and soccer shoes, gave her one of Natalie's soccer balls

and she was good to go! I think she had a pretty good time!

Zoo Trip with Out-of-Towners

Everyone is coming into town for John's milestone birthday this weekend. My mom-in-law arrived last night in addition to my sister and brother-in-law and their 2 darling girls. As this morning's entertainement, we went to the zoo. We (my sister-in-law and her 2 daughters) met my mom-in-law and her brother and his wife at the Fort Worth Zoo. It was pretty fun to walk around with folks that really appreciate the zoo! I know quite a bit about this zoo because I frequent it quite often. (Probably over 75 times in the last 5 years?) They seemed to think I knew everything, which is not true, but they believed I did. They called me their personal tour guide... flattering I must say.

The funniest part of the excursion was when we went to the 'Barn' to play, the kids all started taking off their shoes, lickety-split so they could get to climbing, jumping, running, etc. Uncle Frank sat down and started taking his shoes off too! At first I thought he just wanted to air out his feet, then I realized that he thought everyone who entered had to take their shoes off. I told him he could put his shoes back on and we both had a good laugh! :>)

Redneck Christmas Tree

If only it were really this easy... hahaha!

Grandmother Comes to Town

My mom-in-law came into town this afternoon. It is always a treat for the kiddos when she comes to town for many reasons.

1) We have to go to the airport to get her. They LOVE the airport!

2) They do not get to see her very often, so she is quite a novelty.

3) They thought she was going to bring Bubba back to us. (No, thank goodness. Luke needs to get a little older and more gentle before we could have him back.)

4) She is much more exciting than I am!

After I picked her up, the kids had exceptionally bad behavior for her in the car. Why? Who knows? I wonder if they were thinking, 'Let's see if we can totally scare her into getting back on that plane and running home???' I think they must get so overly excited that it just oozes out in a negative sort of way. Maybe? Well, it was not pretty how they were acting. They cleaned up their behavior a little after we got home. They got to work off some of their energy, but they definitely were not the perfect little 'angels' that we try to describe them as sometimes. So, it can only get better from here, right?

My Latest Accomplishment

I finally did it. After months of procrastination, I finally accomplished a long ago set goal. I cleaned off the dining room table. Sound like a small feat? No, not really. It is quite an undertaking. Hence, the procrastination. It is not a chore that I could complete in an hour. It also is not a chore that I could just do a little here and a little there. No, there is no dipping your toe in to 'test' the water, you have to completely jump in the deep end with all your clothes on. There is no calling it quits until there is absolutely nothing on the table.

The rules:

*Relocating things is OK and actually expected.

*The trash will get completely filled up.

*The recycle bin will get some usage.

*It is OK to take a break and read an article from People.

*It is not OK to keep making piles and just move them around the table. They need a home.

*Use up all available closet space!

*If in doubt, throw it out. (Or put it in a pile for John to look at later.)

*If I make a box for John, I know that I need to put a date on the top, that way 6 months from now I can remind him, yet again, that he needs to go through his box.

*It is OK to have a beverage while enduring the marathon of cleaning the table.

*It sure feels good to be done! (Even if it did take 4 hours.)

AMAZING!

Best Blonde Joke Ever

A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, 'Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get started.'

Her boyfriend asks, 'What is it supposed to be when it's finished?'

The blonde says, 'According to the picture on the box, it's a rooster.'

Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle.

She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table.

He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says,

'First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster.'

He takes her hand and says, 'Second, I want you to relax. Let's have a nice cup of tea, and then ..' he said with a deep sigh...

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'Let's put all the Corn Flakes back in the box.'

Jumping Pictures

I love to take pictures of my kids jumping off of random things. Mainly rocks, ledges, trampolines and playground equipment. They love to jump and I love to try to catch it in a picture. Sometimes I even can get them all to jump together! That makes a very fun picture. Here are some good jump pictures that we have caught this year.

The 10 Cannots

The 10 Cannots

By William J. H. Boetcker (wrongfully attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

1) You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2) You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3) You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

4) You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

5) You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

6) You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

7) You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

8) You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

9) You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

10) You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Clean Humor

A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table, she had a near death experience. Seeing God, she asked, "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, brow lift, lip enhancement, boob job, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was hit and killed by a car. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 40 years? Why didn't you pull me out of the path of the car?" God replied, "Girl, I didn't even recognize you."