Lainey had a cold, but again made it through family festivities without major illness (this is the second cold with no accompanying ear infection--she's been infection-free for TWO MONTHS!).
As always, it was a fun and busy time with 8 adults and 5 kids (soon to be 7 kids) tearing open gifts and huddling around the dinner table to enjoy Frank's delicious brijole. Big thanks again to Frank for making it twice this year. You made two pregnant ladies very happy!!! And thanks to Lonnie for making the oranges. (She hollows out oranges, mixes the fruit with vanilla ice cream and refills the rinds. Very refreshing and the perfect dessert to follow a heavy meal--they're also a lot of work!) That may be my favorite meal of the entire year.
We celebrated the birthdays with giant chocolate chip cookies! Oliver just turned 4, Amelia 6, and Jacob will be 12 in a few weeks. I can't believe how fast these kiddos have grown! Jacob will be a TEENAGER next year! He's already looking so mature. I couldn't stop staring at him over the weekend (which, if he hadn't been distracted by so many other things, I'm sure would have creeped him out).
I want to make a quick shout out to Ben, who didn't have a birthday, but is just an awesome kid! He spent a lot of time trying to show Elaine how to jump and making silly faces to get her laughing. Hanging with a toddler isn't a 9-year-old's idea of a good time, so thanks, Ben!
Of course, Lainey loves getting some QT with Oliver and Amelia--however, Amelia is not allowed to take pony rides on Mark's back. Lainey did not appreciate that (Mark is HER mommy!). But, she did have fun coloring with her, and Amelia was very patient when Lainey would suddenly reach over and scribble on her picture--"That's okay, Lainey. I was going to make the cat purple anyway!" (I highly doubt that, but it was very sweet.) Lainey's been talking about all of her cousins all week. We're a lucky family to have such neat kids! (The grown-ups are pretty cool, too!)
Below are some photos of the fun! I'm writing this post from my phone en route to Ohio, so I'll have to add captions later.
No comments:
Post a Comment