Reunion - The Shenanigans, Part 1

Within a couple of days, the small town where I grew up was teeming with my siblings, their spouses, their children, their children's spouses, and their children's children. What a crew! Oh, and my parents were there, of course. They are the ones to blame for all of these gremlins and the accompanying noise and chaos. I think the neighbors were both excited and horrified to see all of us together again. 

You never know what will happen when the Vikings unite!

So what did happen? 

A little of this, a little of that, a lot of loud talking, and mountains of food. And we had so many cars lining the street it looked like we owned the whole town. Maybe we do.

Just what a reunion should be. I'll show you a few things. 

There was a slip-n-slide and water balloon fight. 

There was backyard excitement like badminton and swinging on the rusty old swing set. (Tetanus shots recommended)

 

There was cousin time galore. This was my favorite part. 

My brother's little girl, who is a year old than Baby, kept calling her "my sister." Adorable!

There were car rides in my parent's fanciest hot rods.

And an electrical adventure just had to break out for the ADHD project people. (No animals were harmed in the wiring of this light.) But those who were teetering on the ladders had their bums poked and slapped by passers-by. There were also inappropriate jokes about the screwdriver my brother was holding between his legs. Naturally.

We also spent a lot of our energy fussing at the kids to, "Close the door! You're letting all the cold air out!" It's true. They were.

So there's a peek for ya. Next time, I'll tell you all about our trip to Lava. You don't want to miss it!

Reunion - The Arrival

How do you organize a happy but chaotic weekend for 9 siblings and their families at Mom and Dad's house?

Months and months of texting and indecisiveness. That's how.

Initially, only 7 of the siblings committed to attend, but then, my brother pulled a fast one and showed up as a surprise.

Huzzah!

Sadly, that left only one of my sissies who didn't make it. I wish she could have been there. But next year for sure!

Here's everything you need to know about our 1st annual reunion with 8 siblings and their families at my parent's house:

It was loud and chaotic

My parent's house is too small for all of us

The weekend flew by

It was loud and chaotic

I loved it

Allow me to share some highlights from the loud and chaotic weekend. Prepare yourself for all the photos...

Westward ho! We woke up early to head to the airport. It was well before dawn. It was dark outside and I should have been asleep and drooling on my pillow. I don't actually drool. (Very often) 

It wasn't all bad being at the airport in the middle of the night. Baby had free reign of the escalators.

Guess how many times I rode up and down and up and down the escalators with baby while we waited to board our plane. Before dawn. When I could've been home drooling...I mean...sleeping (We rode lots and lots and lots of times)

But after many hours, we made it! My stomach jolted in excitement when we emerged from the airport and saw the magnificent mountains. It felt good to be under the western sky.

So what is the first thing you should do when you land on Utah soil?

Eat at Maddox Ranch House, of course!

And then konk out before you even cross the border into the homeland. (It had been a long journey)

Hooray for Idaho!

While we waited for other peeps to arrive, Mykey and Baby played a rousing game of frisbee in the front yard. 

Until the sprinklers erupted. Baby loved it. Mykey, not so much. (Give the guy a break. He's old)

Soon enough, my Sissy arrived with her two new grandbabies in tow. Now the party can really get started.

Everyone else would gather in the following days. I was so excited to see my sibs that I felt like a puppy waiting for a treat. 

I could just tell that this was gonna be GREAT.

Let the festivities begin!

Pop

We went incredibly simple for Father's Day this year. How simple, you might ask?

Well...

I-didn't-even-purchase-my-husband-a-Father's-Day-gift kind of simple.

Listen. Everything he wants is expensive and adds more cables and doo-dads and electronic clutter to my house. I never really know what to get the old boy. Plus, he told me not to buy him anything. I took that to heart.

But - 

I made him a card and wrote nice things inside.

I made him a delightful diabetic friendly pudding for a treat. 

I whooped him again and again at Dr. Mario. (I guess that was more of a gift for me)

Regardless, it turned out to be a lovely and wonderfully simple day. 

We sure love and adore the pop in our family.

Happy Father's Day to Mykey!

Pearly Whites

Notice anything different about Sissy?

No more braces! Look at them beautiful teefs.

The orthodontist gave Sissy a cup full of candy to celebrate exposing her natural teeth after 2 whole years.

And what did Booney give her to celebrate?

Corn on the cob! 

Sissy spent the entirety of the evening running her tongue across her teeth and exclaiming, "They feel so smooth and weird!"

Hmmm. Smooth and weird. 

Sounds like my husband.

Baby Babbles

As we celebrated Baby's 3rd birthday, I reflected on our lives pre-Baby and our lives post-Baby.

What a miraculous blessing she has been to our family. Both of my daughters are miracles and I am incredibly grateful for the joy they bring to me. (Most days)

At 3-years-old, here are some common phrases that Baby says, and traits that she possesses. They delight my soul.

She will run wild and twirl in circles like an untied balloon full of air that has been released. Or she'll roll around on the couch or her bed, squealing with happiness. When I ask what she's doing, she responds, "I'm messing around." She'll also tell me randomly to, "Stop messing around, Mama." 

She loves to be chased. LOVES it. A person can get mighty sweaty chasing that girl around and around the house. 

She doesn't like her hands to be dirty. If they are, she will keep her hands clenched in a fist until they can be washed. (Sorry, Baby. I have a thing about dirty hands also.)

When Baby is upset, she throws things. Far. And with impressive force. She's broken quite a few toys and what-nots when she pitches. Is softball in her future? Perhaps. 

A few of her favorite lines are:

If I pick something up, regardless of its size, she'll say, "You're so strong!" 

When we drop Sissy off at swim practice, she yells after her, "Bye, Sissy! Have a good swim!"

She likes to reiterate daily, "You're big, I'm small."

We have a toilet paper stand in the bathroom that my parents sent us. If it's run out of toilet paper, she says, "He's naked. He needs some clothes." Then she carefully stacks the rolls onto his body.

She calls Michael several different names - Pop, Papa, Daddy. His favorite is Papa. My favorite is when she calls out, "Michael!"  

We still use a baby monitor because she won't come out of her room on her own when she wakes up. I've told her multiple times to just open the door but she patiently waits for us instead. One day during her nap, I heard her voice over the monitor say, "Mama, come in. Do you read me?" I was laughing and didn't respond and she said, "Hmm. She didn't answer."

She locks every door in the house ALL DAY LONG. If I'm heading to the bathroom, she'll run ahead of me, slam the door in my face and lock it. We'll get the mail and she'll lock me outside. Michael will come out of his office for a brief snack break and she runs in the office and locks him out. At any given moment in our house, at least one door will be locked. Thankfully we can easily unlock the door with a butter knife. I may just start carrying a butter knife in a holster on my hip. 

Baby loves to serve others and is genuinely kind. She spontaneously gives me kisses. She always says that she's giving me 2 kisses and then kisses my cheek many more than that. She calls me honey. If I tell her that I love her, she responds, "I love you more, honey." I don't even know where she learned it. 

She is tidy and loves to sing and read. She wants to say the prayer every night at bedtime. I smile as she says the sweetest prayers. I imagine God is doing the same.

She is my buddy and I love her. 

Thank you for being mine, Baby.

Helmet Hair

Well...

Did Baby have buyer's remorse or was a birthday bike helmet the proper choice?

You be the judge.

Treasure Hunt

The day after Baby's birthday, I remembered that she hadn't opened her card from my parents. It was stacked on the edge of the kitchen counter with all the other miscellaneous junk that accumulates there as quickly as snow in a blizzard. 

It's the result of having 2 family members who are creative types. They mindlessly pile things up while daydreaming about creative things. I don't understand this behavior. In case you haven't noticed, I'm more of the uptight and controlling type. (In a healthy way)

But I digress...

Baby opened her birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa! 

It was an adorable furry cat and she loved it. I took her up the road to the Super Target to spend the 50 bones they had generously given her. We zigzagged through the toy aisles for about 17 hours while Baby touched every toy and fiddled with every button, knob, and flashing light.

Everytime I asked if this was the toy she wanted to buy and take home she responded, "No," and puttered off to fondle the other merchandise.

And then the toy aisles ended and Baby was empty-handed. I was befuddled and wasn't sure what to do next. I thought about just pocketing her birthday money and picking out out a little treat for myself. I can blow 50 bucks at Target in 2 minutes. But it would probably be wrong to steal from a 3-year-old. (Am I right?) I instead suggested that we walk over to the crayon aisle and look for a drawing pad or somesing. On our way, we passed the bicycles and there was a wall of bike helmets. 

Baby froze and stared in awe. The wall of helmets suddenly illuminated and the angel choir sang, "Ahhhh." This was it. She was choosing a bike helmet as her gift.

After many minutes of contemplation, she settled on the pink kitty. But the Spiderman was a strong contender as well. 

We finished spending the rest of the cash on a drawing pad, stickers, markers, and a ginormous push pop. Whew!

And? And? They were handing out free popcorn! What a delightful surprise.

It was a wonderful day at Super Target. And now I'm tired.

Thank you for the birthday money, Grandma and Grandpa!