Father's Day Weekend

Oh my goodness, this second week of summer has been even busier than the first! I had somewhere to be every single night this week.

On Monday we went up to Brian's parents to say hi to the Mississippi cousins who are visiting for the next two months.  The kids were so excited, starting at breakfast they asked every 5 minutes if it was time to go yet.  "Not until Daddy gets home!"  I love that all the kids just jumped back into playing and having fun even though it has been almost a year since the last time we saw them.

On Tuesday we did some cleaning, (not that you could tell by Wednesday...) went swimming at Grandpa's, and then Caite and I went to a baby shower for a cousin.

On Wednesday we went to the library, and that night was our friend Adelynne's first birthday party. It was a fun night spent with Dinee and Tay and both of their families.  My kids picked out a ball for her present and were so excited to give it to her!

On Thursday we did some more cleaning (and again you couldn't tell by later that evening). Then I went to my knitting night.  Caite came which always makes it more fun for me. We were listening to everyone else talking about a bakery where they make the best cookies, and looked at each other and said, "Great, now I am craving cookies."  So we ran and got some and then came back and finished knitting.

On Friday I gave up on cleaning and just played with my kids. Caite came over in the evening to babysit while Brian and I went to my cousin Sarah's "30th again" birthday party.  We had a great night just hanging out and playing board games and eating Canadian fish.  The kids had even more fun cooking a French meal with Aunt Caite, but that is a post all on it own...

(Hmmm, this post is starting to remind me of A Very Hungry Caterpillar...)

And then it was Saturday!  The first thing that happens each and every Saturday when Evie gets up is that she realizes that her Daddy doesn't have to go to work for that day and she gets soooo excited!  We had decided that we were going to have a family fun day for Father's Day, so we got up, got ready and took Daddy out to breakfast.  Then we went and saw Toy Story 3.  It was a fun movie and even Lila watched most of it.  When we got out of the movie they were having a Chalk Art Festival at the Gateway.

It was a lot of fun to wander the street looking at all the neat pictures and they had booths where they were giving away all kinds of things.  Cotton candy, popcorn, face painting, hair painting, balloons, sunscreen, pencils, stickers, candy, coloring books on water conservation... and we didn't even hit every booth!

After we explored to our hearts content (i.e. Lila was letting us know it was nap time... NOW!) We went home and got ready to head up to Brian's parents again for a barbecue.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and taking turns riding on Grandpa's toy cars.

After dinner my sister-in-law gave her dad his Father's Day present which was a DVD of family pictures set to music, so we all got to watch it.  It was really neat.  There were pictures of him with all the grand kids,  but even more touching were sections of pictures of their sister Brooke when she was adopted and Brian when he had his car accident.  Brian had never seen the pictures from when he was in the hospital and recovering after he woke up from his coma, so it was a little emotionally overwhelming. But it is a part of his history and I think it is important that his children learn just how miraculous and special our family is as they get older.

My mother-in-law gave each of the boys (her sons and son-in-law) a card and a pie for Father's day. So that was dessert. My favorite quote of the night was from her as they carried in the pies,  "This is how you have a good time for $20!"  (I love my mother-in-law!)  We all ate pie, and indeed, had a good time!

On Sunday we went to my Dad's for dinner.  Dad cooked a brisket (even though we offered to cook the meal...) and Grandma-great, Grandpa Jerry and Kaleb joined us, and we enjoyed a great meal and fun conversation.  It was a nice low-key ending to a somewhat hectic week.

Happy Father's Day everyone! Whether it was your first, your last, or somewhere in between, I hope you enjoyed (and survived) spending time with family!  I know I did...