We then spent Thursday and Friday just hanging out. It was soooooo nice. It was the most enjoyably relaxing two days I've had in a long, long, long time. Since Katie & Joe's birthday hadn't exactly panned out the way we had hoped the week before (including not a single present to unwrap) Mom said we could have a little party for them up there. It was GREAT. James and I went to the store to pick up a little something for each of them that morning and found some terrific deals on clearance.
But before I post pictures of the post-birthday birthday party, I'll put some up from their real birthday a couple of weeks ago.
Both kids had requested a trip to the Hoover Library. They would move in there permanently if they could. Here is Katie diving into her stack of books.
The adults didn't seem quite as excited about this particular stop. Ha!
Joe wanted to stop by Guitar Center to check out the expensive guitar room. Jacob gave him a few pointers while they were there--and then copied an instructional DVD for him that Joe has LOVED watching and says he's learning lots from.
Katie wanted to stop by Christmas Tree Shops. Philip found this great birthday hat. We didn't want to actually buy it, but thought it was worth a picture.
Then it was off to Sam's Club to buy a birthday cake. How is it that teenagers do things that I don't allow my kids to do... but it somehow seems acceptable?! ;-)
The lighting of the candles...
Katie blowing out her eleven...
And Joe finishing off his ten... minus one, it looks like.
And the whole crowd.
Okay, back to our Cleveland trip this past weekend.
After our shopping trip that morning James and I got home at about noon and Mom had the table all ready--Frito pie for lunch and party stuff in place: balloons (thanks to Aunt Sue), party hats, those little blow thingies, and adorable and delicious strawberry cupcakes. We enjoyed a nice lunch together, then the kids lit the candles, one on each cupcake, and we sang to them.
Then somebody started making use of the party blowers. Dad didn't think they were very fun so he went for the big ammo. He's ALWAYS had a thing for long cardboard tubes.
Since Mom is the one who bought the crazy little blowers we told the kids they should all go blow them at her. :-)
And Sue... being Aunt Sue. :-)
Uh-oh. Looks like I've got my pictures out of order. Candle lighting here.
Sam getting into the spirit of things.
And then it was present time. Joe got a great set of disk shooters with wa-a-a-a-a-ay too many disks. I look forward to finding them all over my house along with all of the foam darts that are already there.
Katie's gift from Aunt Sue was a cute little coin purse and a journal.
From Grandma & Granddad, Joe got a BIG container of BBs and a cool slingshot that doubles as a whistle of some kind. He was pretty excited about it.
Katie got a bag full of random things from us. This is her Phase 10 dice game in a can. Very cute and way fun.
She received other miscellaneous items that I won't elaborate on, but this was her response. :-)
And an adorable blouse and jumper that Grandma Vicki had made--I failed to get a picture of the jumper, but I'm sure there will be pictures of it later on. I'm sure she'll be wearing it lots!
Aunt Sue took on the job of removing Joe's toys from the box. Never an easy thing these days. And Aunt Sue with a knife is pretty scary. ;-)
After the party we just played. Had a nice, relaxing day full of nothing but fun, enjoyable time together. I loved every minute of it. I just kept thinking, "Wow, this is sooooo nice. This is the nicest day I can remember in a long, long time!"
Dad recently bought a set of épées at an antique store. You know, the thin, pointy swords used for fencing. Like Zorro or the Three Musketeers. That's a fantastic toy for grandchildren to have, don't you think? Especially since there were no masks or protective gear of any kind. Ha! They really are cool and the kids loved them. Here's Dad teaching Sam a few things...
Joe and Katie's turn.
And I couldn't resist putting this clip up. :-)
Then it was time to shoot some guns from the back deck. I love shooting guns. Dad picked up a neat little pistol sometime recently that was lots of fun to shoot, then we moved to the .22 rifle.
James' turn.
And Sam...
Even Mom got in on the action.
Aunt Sue, hilarious as always. She makes everything way more fun than it otherwise would be! Ha!
After a while Dad pulled out an old 30/30 that he says hasn't been shot in 30 years--since the first year he hunted elk in Colorado. He decided to let Aunt Sue give it a try first, but didn't tell her about the change of caliber--she thought she was still working with a .22--HA!
I shot the 30/30, too--my first time with anything bigger than a .22 (but I was prepared a little better than Aunt Sue was--ha!) and it was very fun. It always gives you a little surge of that-is-so-cool when you blast a can and it jumps into the air, but when you're using a bigger gun and it blows the can to smithereens it just takes the thrill to a whole new level. SO COOL. :-)
Dad shot this tree and told the boys they could go dig the bullet out, but they were unable to do it alone. James worked on it for a little while, to no avail.
Then Dad came out with the big equipment (ha!), but even with the power tools he was unable to get down deep enough to dislodge the slug.
Charlie had a rather exciting day that day. He had only ever spent time around Brady and other BIG dogs, and if he was ever around a little dog he would totally spazz out like he didn't realize it was a DOG just like him. (I think he thinks he's one of the big guys himself.) But Mom & Dad's neighbors got a Yorkie sometime recently and she showed up in the yard while the kids were fencing. Charlie freaked out, as usual, but finally got over it and decided Bells wasn't so bad after all. Within ten minutes he was totally in love. Ha! He followed her around all afternoon and could think of nothing else. She seemed to enjoy all of the attention and it wasn't very long before she decided she was part of the family, even joining us in the house and finding a spot of her own on the couch. (The invitation to come in came from my Dad, NOT my Mom--obviously! HA!) She was a cute little girl and Charlie was devastated (and drove us crazy the rest of the night) when we had one of the kids take her home. I'm not sure he'll ever be the same again. Ha!
Mom fixed a great ham dinner that night, then we set up a projector and looked at tons of pictures and video clips from their trip to Israel, Turkey, and India. We all really enjoyed it (even Joe talked about how cool it was) and I was moved to tears several times--especially during the clip of the service they had with Brother Jones and his daughter in Turkey. It was the first service he's been in for 7 years, and the first service ever for his daughter. To think of having even just a few people in your home, singing When the Church of God Arises and having Sunday School together and hearing a message live for the first time in all those years... I can't imagine the feeling of isolation they must have over there and how much it must have meant to have somebody there with them. Anyway, I also really enjoyed the clip of Dad having a mini-service on Mt. Hattin where the CPMA marker stands in honor of the location where Jesus organized the Church. And the clips of the elephan "blessing" Mom and Dad--that was pretty great, too. Ha!
Friday was even more relaxing than Thursday had been. We did pretty much nothing the whole day, just played lots of games. Aunt Sue was dumb enough to get roped into a game of Monopoly with the kids. I only showed up long enough to take a picture, then I got gone as quickly as possible. I know how these games go!
I really can't remember much else about that day. I started to feel sick that afternoon and it continued to intensify throughout the day--runny nose, stuffiness, headache, all that stuff. But we played games and more games--Phase 10 dice, Rack-o and more I Buy. We ended up watching Daniel Boone together than evening--a pretty good one. It's always best when Jimmy Dean is on. :-)
It was bedtime after that, but the kids begged for more time because it was their last night with Aunt Sue, so we all went to the dining room and played the craziest game of Pictionary I have EVER played! Hahahahaha! We laughed sooooo hard. It was the first time the kids had played and they did great, but mostly we all just cracked up at Aunt Sue. She is a wild woman and keeps us all in stitches. Sam got pretty wound up, too, so between Aunt Sue doing the wave and Sam dancing on his chair it was a most memorable evening. I only wish I had some pictures or video clips from THAT!
Aunt Sue left early the next morning. I woke up feeling horrible and only worked at a snail's pace collecting our belongings and getting packed up. Mom cooked a fantastic late breakfast for us: eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, bisquits and gravy. I think it was somewhere around noon before we got loaded up and headed for home--one child short. Sort of on a whim Mom mentioned that she could keep Katie there this coming week and do some sewing for her and teach her some sewing things, too. We typically would have said no because we didn't have Kate's school stuff with us and didn't want her to fall behind... but she is desperately in need of some skirts and we can't find any anywhere! So James declared it "home ec" week for Katie and said she was to learn to cook and bake and sew and all manner of domestic schooling was to take place every day. I'm sure she's having a ball already. Joe was jealous and wanted to stay, too. Sam was anything but jealous and only wished that Joe would've been allowed to stay "at Alcatraz" with Katie so he could be an only child and be with just James and me for a whole week. Ha! He would have been so lonely and bored by the end of the week, he just doesn't know it. ;-)
Anyway, from the time we pulled out of the driveway at Mom's house I slept. We stopped at Southeastern Salvage in Chattanooga and bought a faucet for the kitchen (James found a nice cast iron sink on sale 50% off last week--now we just need a countertop so we can get it installed!), then I was asleep again. We stopped for lunch in Gadsden, then I drove the rest of the way home because James was feeling so tired. We arrived at 4:00 or so. I didn't unload a thing. I walked in the door, set my purse down, and crawled straight into bed. A sore throat had kicked in by then among other things and I just felt so, so exhausted. I slept until 6:00, then got up to work on Sunday School stuff for a little while. I changed into some warm pj's, then even dug out my Granddad's thick, heavy robe--I was just sooooo cold. Actually, it was a case of the sweaty chills. You know, where you feel hot and miserable under all of the covers and clothing, but if you take just one layer off you find yourself shivering and needing to put it back on. I was back in bed by 9:00 and slept for ten hours! But, praise the Lord, I woke up feeling much, much better. I had really prayed that the Lord would touch and help me--I wanted to be in church and I knew I had a Sunday School class counting on me--and He did. I'm not 100% yet, but a thousand times better. Thank God! He is so good to hear and answer our prayers.
James preached this morning and--despite our conversation this afternoon (ha!)--he did a great job. He preached on the Word of God not changing--Jesus still means what He said the first time, regardless of who or how many people want to change it or "say it wrong" like the Ephraimites. It was very good.
We decided to try Ruby Tuesdays with the Washburns for lunch. It was pricier than what we like to pay... but it was sooooo good! And they had a terrific little salad bar. It tasted like something different and that was good. And, as always, we had a great time fellwshipping with them. They are so great to be around. We hope they enjoy being with us as much as we enjoy being with them and that they don't have any ulterior motives or anything. Ha! ;-)
After all of the sleeping I did yesterday afternoon and last night, I didn't even get desperate for a nap today (!) so I spent the rest of the afternoon uploading all of the pictures for this blog (it takes a while, you know!) while the boys watched Savage Sam--the sequel to Old Yeller. It's a great show and doesn't make you cry at the end. Sam told me that he likes it because it gives him "that Texas feeling." Strangely enough, I knew exactly what he meant--and I feel the same way! :-)
Tonight was Lesson 4 of The Body of Christ course. It was very good and I was much more alert and coherent than last time. Ha! The Sunday night McAlister's crowd was pretty small tonight. Sister Krystal was home sick so the Coxes didn't come and the Ridlespurges have decided to save some of that eating out money for other purposes (something we intend to do as soon as I have a kitchen!), so that left us to enjoy the Washburns company for the second time today. :-) I just love fellowshipping with Church folks. It's the best.
And that brings us to the end of a wonderful, relaxing, blessed weekend. Even with the sickness thrown into the mix, it was just a fantastic weekend and I'm soooo thankful that it worked out for us to spend some time with Aunt Sue and Mom and Dad. And now??? BACK TO WORK! :-)
4 comments:
Great re-cap. I enjoyed the week so much! It felt real relaxing to me, too, even though I did a lot of cooking. It was laid back and enjoyable. It's always a hoot to have Sue around. She's a CRAZY woman! Pictionary will never be the same!
I think part of Katie's Home-Ec time will involve sending her out to pick up the aluminum can fragments from the back yard. :-) Not really. But I'll keep her busy with other chores. And we hope to start sewing today. She listed off 4 or 5 skirts she "needs." :-) We'll use what fabric I have laying around and only buy what is necessary besides. I'm hoping to let her sew something for Esther. That will be a good introduction into sewing.
LOL! You never know about those "motives". ;-) We do enjoy hanging out with ya'll.
Aunt Sue sounds much more fun.
Swords and guns and kids. Sounds like a winner to me.
That is a great post. I asked Sue how her trip was she says oh ok... you know her, not much elaporating HA!!!! ..Judging by your post it was great. I replayed that video of Sue shooting the gun over and over. I laughed and laughed. Gla dyou guys had fun.
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