i wanted to just catch up our last few weeks of fun and friendship. i last left off with a birthday party on april 25th. so let's see where we've been and what we've done since then...
the following monday, we took a quiet little family trip out to the laurels. scotty had forgotten how to get there and so we drove around for quite some time and nearly went to roan mountain. silas got car sick. we stopped long enough for him to feel better and for scotty to get reoriented and took a vote to see if everyone still wanted to try to find the place. they did and so we hit the road again and took the old reliable way he knew from way back instead of the "new" way he had just tried (not that we didn't enjoy the ride to "nowhere", we got to see new places and enjoy the beautiful day). we finally got there and pulled out our picnic stuff. hungry hungry hungry were we. the little creek is still nice and they have great picnic spots. it was relaxing to just hang out under the trees and enjoy being outside without freezing after such a long winter. there were a few stray dogs the kids played with and some people who left a bunch of trash in the creek that i picked up (the trash, not the people), the bathrooms were gross as many mountain park bathrooms can be, but they were usable. we only stayed a few hours before heading home all tired and happy (we seem to end a lot of days that way).
tuesday was an sofh picnic at the park day. we went to festival plaza at winged deer for some sunshine and playing in the water. and getting sunburned!!! nearly 2 weeks later, i'm still itching and my nose is just about healed! lots of our friends were there to talk and play with all afternoon. scotty even came out to play with us for awhile before heading home to meet up with bleu for a bike ride. i think we found our way home around 5ish where i found bleu and scotty all sweaty on the porch!! later, i cooked up some homemade pizzas for supper and then we got ready to watch fringe. just after it started, austin and the kids showed up to say hi. everyone was excited and jumpy! i love these mini-reunions when taylor and karina come back to town after being gone for a month. we all watched fringe together and talked during the short commercial breaks. it was the funniest thing shooshing each other during the show, trying to contain a month's worth of stories and then when the breaks came i said "okay, go!!" and everyone started chattering and catching up. too funny!!
wednesday was sierra star's 12th birthday!! let's just say we spent the day on a total sugar high!!! she had a cotton candy machine and a slushy machine going!! by the time we sang happy birthday and cut the cake, we had several kids simply not interested in cake and ice cream! they were actually standing next to the stove watching the timer for the rice and bean bake ren had put in for supper...while their cake sat uneaten. it was hilarious!! ren said..."hey you kids, no food until you eat your cake!!" they just looked at her with sugar-glazed eyes and asked "when will the food be done!?" but don't they know that if you let kids make their own choices they'll always choose sugar and junk food...didn't these kids get the memo on that one!!!?? it was a long, long day that also included sparklers!! so what more can you ask for?? oh i'm sure i've forgotten something...so just enjoy the slideshow!
on thursday, i finally hosted my first imagination tribe gathering!! we had so much fun...with friends, food, and art, how can you NOT?? beth brought blown out eggs at austin's request, deanna brought sticks to decorate so that when we beat each other with them, they might at least be spectacular looking! what a night!
friday i did some much needed gardening and getting ready for the big birthday party on monday. also trying not to spaz about what the house looks like as we are having lots of guests in from out of town. i've been noticing lots of volunteers in the garden, watermelon and jalapenos seem to be everywhere as well as some possibly tomato looking ones as well that i'm leaving alone until i know for sure.
friday was also "first friday", which is a monthly art and music festival downtown where they close off the streets and let the fun begin!! may is the best because the weather is just right!! we met up with friends and had a great time dancing in the streets, singing out loud, looking at art, and sampling some good food. the band playing outside the bead shop was amazing...they had a funky surfer slide sound that was all jam!! could NOT stop dancing!! if anyone can remember their name, let me know!!
saturday was all about making cake, cleaning, and getting things ready for the party. in the midst of all this, i took samuel and silas to the comic shop for "free comic book day" where samuel was a guest artist AND he sold 5 of his comics!! they had a lot of fun hanging out and meeting some other artists and comic book fans. sadie and i went grocery shopping while they were there and when we picked them up, we got our free comics too!! it was very cool!!
sunday was for finishing up any loose ends for the party and welcoming mindy and kelly to our home! we pretty much hung out in the kitchen all afternoon talking and making sure kids were fed. it was really nice to have NEW people here!
monday was party day!!! it is really a blur at this point but i'll tell you we had a lot of people (58 was the final count) at austin's house to celebrate the birthdays of 5 special kids - samuel, karina, sierra, kyra, & sadie (who are the ones responsible for coming up with this idea of a combined birthday btw, bless them)!! the day started out with getting kids awake, making kabetori, and finishing up sadie's cake. then the traaseths, allens, & finally the aycocks got here and after awhile it was just a matter of getting us all to austin's in one piece and having a great time. almost all the kids stayed at austin's house for a sleepover. scotty and alice stayed as the chaperones while everyone else went safely back home or to hotel rooms. not a lot of sleep happened...until the next day!
on tuesday, i woke up to find a cardinal nest outside our kitchen window, it's been cool to watch the momma on her nest and the daddy come feed her sometimes (i remember when scotty fed me while i was nursing). anyway, we had lots of back and forth between our house and austin's that afternoon, saying our goodbyes and hanging out and eating and getting ready for sadie's sleepover. in the midst of the after-party glow, kelly bought one of my paintings and scotty went to fetch it for her before she headed back to columbia. thank you kelly, you made my day!! there were tons of kids at the house all evening but only a handful (iris, audrey, and karina) decided to stay for the actual sleeping part (and the watching of fringe, of course!). most of them stayed up almost all night, but in the morning everyone was able to scream "happy birthday" to sadie!!
on wednesday, sierra, taylor and the traaseths rejoined the party and hung out for awhile until it was time for the traaseths to head back to georgia! after some sad goodbyes, i took samuel, silas, sadie, sierra, karina, and taylor out shopping because we had some serious holes burning in some birthday pockets! samuel got a great deal on guitar hero 3 for the wii and a used guitar. he was super excited! that was my first day playing any of these types of games. and i did it right there for the whole world to see me at best buy!! we sort of all took over that section of the store while a storm brewed outside. we braved the rain to run to the car and headed over to target where sadie eventually decided to save her money for another day. the rest of the day was all about playing guitar hero!!
thursday was samuel's birthday as well as the sofh hang out day. everyone was tired but said they wanted to get up and go and so we did. but because of the tiredness we only stayed a few hours before leaving and doing some quick grocery shopping. colin came over later and barb and i got to hang out for a bit talking...just a little quiet, mom-bonding time. later we had a really enjoyable summer supper on the porch. oh yeah, then we watched bones and played more guitar hero!!
friday was pretty quiet, laundry, a little shopping and library and then home again in time to get clothes off the line before some rain came. sheeew!! mostly a day of just hanging out...and yeah more guitar hero...while i worked on some art in my room, finally!!!
saturday (yesterday!) karina and taylor came over and hung out while i worked on making cakes for our family birthday/mother's day get together that evening. we went to my sister paula's house around 5 and had a cookout and gift exchange and cake and playing MORE guitar hero! a little after 9, me, paula, diana, & doug went to the kitchen to play a fun card game that i can't remember the name of now, 9 holes or something. by the time we were done it was going on 11 and the kids and i headed home. i was ready for bed, so sadie and i went upstairs and read a little before falling asleep. the end!!! well sort of...there's still tonight, but that will have to blogged about later =)
3 comments:
Wow! Super busy having more fun than ever! You are the paty people :)
Holy cow...even with all I've missed there has been a LOT going on! I'm so thankful you are blogging it because sometimes I feel like a slacker with all the hours spent at work. When it's all written out I think "damn, we do a LOT!" lol.
Now to get ready for the NW trip...wish you guys were coming! I'm super glad you have so many pics too, because Bleu deleted a bunch accidentally and I have NONE of Sierra's birthday now. Wah....
wow, so much fun! thanks for sharing all of this. again, this post makes me very homesick for hanging out with you guys.
Post a Comment