Cheri's Visit - And Grandma's Birthday

Since Aunt Marie and Uncle Adam were bringing their four little ones for the week, Aunt Cheri came up - and brought Great- Grandma Sylvia with her! It was very nice to see them both, and we had a very enjoyable visit.

Aunt Cheri played a lot of ball with the kids! Some of them had no fear of the ball - and some learned how to "crack it" - but they all had fun. Seeing that we didn't really have enough to "teams" there would be two in the outfield... the way it worked, once you batted and ran to home - or got out - then you went in the outfield. You were in the outfield for two runs of people. That way everyone could bat and everyone could be in the outfield! They had a blast with this, and at one point Aunt Marie was pitching.

Of course, during all the gaming, the little guys were doing their own thing. So cute! And grandpa? Well, you can see he found a great place to nap!

But... the best part was a surprise celebration for Grandma's birthday (seeing that we did it early). While the majority of us were gone to church, Aunt Cheri made her favorite cake - German Chocolate (and we all know just how hard that cake can be)! She hid it at our house - and our boys (well, Jeremy and Peter) made brownies for dessert - so she really was surprised! Funny stories, though - Aunt Cheri had to make the frosting 3 times... it's tricky and they really mean it when they say stir constantly!... and you really do need sugar in it. AND - we forgot the flour in the first batch of brownies... that's what happens when I'm instructing two youngester, trying to keep the daddy out of the batter and then starting putting away the ingredients already used (and put away the flour instead of the sugar)! We were a funny bunch of bakers!

But, as you can see, the cake was gorgeous! Mine never come out looking so good! And it was, of course, scrumptious! (The brownies were good an gooey) I already posted pictures in the earlier post of the aprons we gave Grandma, but you'll see a beautiful pitcher that Cheri made. And Kansas cousins gave the best gifts of all - the brought themselves and completed it with hugs!

Before Cousins

Cousins came for a visit..... that meant getting ready. I'm sure our getting ready was very different than that across the road - after all, they didn't sleep with us. Still, it was quite the handful with little kids!

Bob went off to Scout Camp - for the whole week - so I figured it was time to finish up some sewing projects. Okay, I'll be honest, I knew my time was running short. We were making cousin size aprons for Lynne for her birthday - that way kiddos can stay clean when they cook or bake with Grandma. Her birthday would be in two weeks. So I had a few to finish cutting out and I had all over them to cut liners for - I like my aprons (and that of my kid's) to be sturdy. And while I was at it, I decided to cut out one for Jacob (which he's seen... and worn... but wont' officially receive until our FHE family party for him) and a larger one for Jeremy... and had Beth's to do anyway. We had decided on 3 boy sizes and 3 girl sizes for Lynne - that gives a couple of extras, but makes it work out better for longer. That meant I was working on 9 aprons.

I was also altering a one piece swimsuit pattern to both fit me and become a tankini (seeing that I'm still nursing my little one). That was a scary project because altering swimwear is not like altering regular patterns and to change it on top of that, and make it something I thought was cute and have it all come out right... let alone that I had never sewn on lycra before.... okay, it was scary.

It was the next week (after Bob returned and the same week that cousins would be arriving at the end of) that I finished up all the aprons and then went crazy on my swimsuit - sink or swim, so to speak - or I wouldn't have anything to take the baby into the water with. The suit was originally finished up the day they arrived - though I hated the bottoms... they ended up much snugger then I would have liked and the skirt was a bit shorter than I had wanted.... but seeing that I was so round in the hips - yes I'm very curvy - I just couldn't feel comfortable with it. I did not have any more of that same color lycra (I'd bought all my lycra at least four years ago on clearance), but I found another color that seemed to work well. So I made a second set of bottoms, being more careful and changing the design to make sure the skirt did what I wanted - the under piece was perfect. I was very glad that it was the bottoms that I was redoing and not the top - the top took a lot of time, pinning, setting and all that. But, fortunately, it came out the first time! Anyway, I ended up with a fairly okay cutish suit... mostly, it's something I felt comfortable in - and even felt good in. That's saying something to this woman who's body is far from skinny and smooth - some day I might get back there, but I'm not holding my breath!

In amongst this, I was taking the kids across the road to swim in the afternoons - it was rather warm and the water was great for them. So I took along Jacob's water shoes - his all around shoes really - and some pieces of black lycra and spent the time hand sewing some "socks" to the shoes, so they didn't keep falling off his feet! They turned out well - and he wears them every where. If one comes off - which is very rare - he brings it to me to put on... he'll bring them to me when he wants to go outside as well!

As you see, I don't have pictures of everything - and we took pictures of the aprons on the kids at the end of the visit - and included my kids' aprons on themselves (You'll notice two sets of nearly matching aprons... Annie and Beth (pink and yellow trim) and then Haley and Gabi (orange and green trim)... that doesn't count the Eli and Jacob, who we didn't take a matching picture of, or Jeremy's that matches the medium boy one for Lynne) - but that's a bit of what we were doing getting ready... I wont mention that the kids and I cleaned the house three times before company arrived and it still was trashed the first time Aunt Cheri came through - though we cleaned it again that same time to get ready for Sunday... she happened to come back to hide Lynne's birthday cake on our counter and was probably quite surprised to see the house in order - I'm not sure she's ever seen it in such order - some what tidy onces, and trashed at least twice! (Yes, we can clean... we do clean... but it rarely ever stays that way)

Jeremy's 6!

Is it any wonder I'm always behind on post now a days? I must be busy or something....

Anyway, now that I'm more than a month away from Jeremy's birthday, I thought I probably ought to post some pictures! His birthday hits after school gets out - so, the invites were put in the last Friday Folders going home. Sounds fine, right? Well, the reality is (or so I believe based on what I discovered about myself) that we parents are excited enough to not have school - or things to send back - that we avoid the Friday Folder - figuring we'll get to it eventually! (Am I a terrible end of the school mom or what?)

Anyway - one family full of friends was unable to make last minute due to illness that attacked throughout the night. We certainly understood that - and were grateful not to have it passed on to our house. Only one school friend made it - and his mom called after the original RSVP date (see what I mean about Last Friday Folders). Still, it was Jeremy best friend from school so that worked out well. And small is never a problem around here - seeing that we have plenty of our own kids running around and making noise!

He wanted it to be Tom and Jerry - and I didn't have the energy (or the non-interrupted-from-baby ability) to accurately decorate such a cake... so, he chose an imagine and we printed one to stick on. Sound familiar? Seems like the habit I've begun to develop for him. Anyway, he, of course, wanted a strawberry cake - so I took a recipe that I have for an amazing lemon cake (one I altered and created as my own without even trying the original - I know, I'm crazy that way) and swapped out the lemon for vanilla and then added real strawberries. It was sooooooo good! Very moist, but held together - and a deep, rich flavor! YUMMY!

They spent the bulk of party time playing water guns - can't go wrong with water, right?

Our little FHE family party was fun too. Jeremy got exactly what he asked for (which included two chess games)! He has lots of chapter books to help propel him into the world of "long books"! And best of all, since he had chosen homemade ice cream sandwiches, he made us all be "candles" that he got to "blow out" one at a time. That's what they do in Kindergarten, and so we did it here - seeing that candles on ice cream doesn't always work out so well.

So, our first little man has moved up again - 6! I still shake my head at every child's milestones - because I can't believe the time has gone so fast!