Pie

This week Rylee and I had the opportunity to help feed the missionaries in our stake.  Our ward was tasked with the feeding of 40 missionaries at their Conference this past Wednesday.  Our RS pres went with a Thanksgiving theme meal with lots and lots of pie. Due to a snafu in communication, it turned out that we were only feeding 25 missionaries and we'd come prepared to feed an army.  We could have fed everyone on the pies alone, but there were mountains of turkey, green beans, mac & cheese (cuz, you know, we're in the south!), potato salad, and rolls as well.  The missionaries ate well, and were delightfully appreciative. Rylee had a grand time racing around and finding different missionaries to play with her.  And she enjoyed eating the food.  Especially the pie!

Weekend-o-Fun: Part 2

As I may have mentioned, it was General Conference Weekend.  Kera did an awesome job prepping for it.  With her 6 kids and our 5, I expected it to be total pandemonium, but it wasn't!  It was great! The kids sat quietly and took notes or colored.  Because I had offered a special bribe treat, the 8 and olders took good notes and Marian and Callie sat well through 3.5 sessions of Conference!  Delaney and Rylee sat amazingly well through the Sunday sessions.  It really was the best Conference I have had in a really long time!  We left on Sunday halfway through the afternoon session.  I wanted to listen to it all, but Dan wanted to get home at a reasonable time, so half the pm session it was.  We had a good drive home and the fun was over.

 Marian and her notes.  She took better notes than I expected!

Emma fell asleep and was so cute! 

These 2 were inseparable this weekend.  Katie is a good cousin, and because Katie had to be listening to Conference, Marian hung out there too. 

Dinner for 15!  Did I mention that Kera is the best!  Oh wait, Andy made dinner here.  Andy is pretty great too! 

Poor Levi.  Consigned to the front room because Kera is deathly allergic.  She puts up with it because she loves us. 

 More Trampoline jumping.

 The 5 youngest cousins.  Cuties!

 I was trying to get them all jumping for me.  They tried.

The kids love the snake.  It sure is pretty. 

Isn't it lovely.  It was quite popular and sought after. 

Delaney and Matthew posing with the snake. 

All the littlest kids, lined up and ready for Conference.  They were SO good too! 

Well, this kid got a little rowdy and was spinning on his chair.

Between Conference break.  It involved lots of playing and a bit of arguing over little people. 

And Kera (did I mention she's amazing?!) made caramel apples for the kids! 

Joshua thought it was yummy. 

Ooey gooey sticky yummy!

Weekend-o-Fun!

Kera pointed out last week that we had not fled a hurricane to her house yet this year.  I called to chat and we decided that this past weekend would be the perfect time to get together.  Being Conference weekend, there would be no callings to get in the way.  With a delighted heart I hung up the phone.  Imagine the irony when I looked on facebook 10 minutes later and saw the Tropical Storm/Hurricane warning!   Well, we were already planning to leave town, so that was just fine!

I was a bad mommy and pulled the kids out of school 90 minutes early.  I felt a little guilty, but then I thought about leaving at 4pm rather than at 2:30 and having to drive through New Orleans at the peak rush hour on a Friday night and I felt less guilty.  We picked Dan up from work at 3 and headed out.  The drive went great!  The kids were marvelous.  I had loaded up "The Spiderwick Chronicles"  (All 3 books) onto the MP3 player and the children were enthralled with it.  Win!

We got to Andy and Kera's just before 8pm and the kids ran rampant for a bit before we got everyone to bed.  We had a lovely time.  Saturday morning I took the 2 youngest and Andy grabbed his 3 littlest and we went to the Home Depot activity.  It was a hit.  Delaney and Rylee took an excruciatingly long time to paint their airplanes.  It was an extra special activity because for some odd reason, the Chik-fil-A cow was there, and they served hotdogs, gave them candy and lego kits.  Oh, and a fire truck was on scene for the kids to climb on.  So a fun time!

Rylee snoozed adorably on the drive. 

It sure is a pretty drive.  And notice, not a rain drop in sight.

Oh yeah, the storm petered out and Nola got no rain at all! 

Delaney and her plane. She loves her apron and has worn it every day. 

Rylee, pounding in the nails.  Unfortunately, it was only later that I discovered the top wings were hammered into the bottom of the plane.  Oops! 

A lot of paining went into these 2 projects.  A LOT.  And I love that the cow is behind Rylee and she has no idea! 

Delaney posing in the back of the fire truck. 

And now she must pose in the front! 

And if Delaney does it, Rylee wants to too. 

The firemen were so nice.  They helped one kid put on all their gear, and that looked fun, so I got Rylee to agree to put on the boots.  The firemen were so sweet, but Rylee chickened out, so this was all I got. 

Did I mention how much fun the kids have with their cousins?!!  Look how high Katie is here!  

I love Katie's smile and I love how much fun they have. I'm so glad we live close to family.  I will be so sad when we move away.  It has been such a blessing to get to visit with cousins.

Mundane

I feel like it is harder to blog when nothing exciting is happening.  I guess that means I am boring, if I can't make the mundane interesting!  It may not be interesting, but here is some mundane.

Walking to school.  The kids have about a quarter mile walk to school each day.  They are so cute! 

This one tends to dilly-dally a bit. 

But she sure is darling in her uniform, with her ID tag, looking all  grown up. 

And I'm sure you aren't suppose to be taking photos in church, but I really could not resist!  I looked to my left and saw this:  3 little girls all quietly drawing.  (Marian moved as soon as she saw the camera.)

I looked to the right and saw this:  Dan drawing something for Delaney.  It was adorable and just made me happy.  Happy enough that I snuck out my camera, turned off the flash and clicked the 2 quick pictures!

Happy Birthday

September is our busy month for Birthdays.  This week we celebrated Rylee's and Dan's special days. On Rylee's birthday, I asked her what she wanted me to do with her hair.  She told me she wanted "cake hair".  CAKE hair?!  What is that?!  I put a little bun on top and she was satisfied with that.  Such a funny girl. She had lots of helper with her presents and had a marvelous time.  She asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and it was yummy yummy.  I even let them have ice cream with it.

Dan had his usual Jello Poke Cake and that was delicious too. He had a lovely birthday and the children were anxious to assist with his gifts as well.  And that Callie photo.... totally staged.  She's such a ham!