Partied Out

Whew! Talk about a busy week! It was great, but I'm glad it's over.

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Last Friday we had the family Christmas party/white elephant gift exchange with DH's family. That was a lot of fun, and I got to teach one of my newer niece-in-laws (DH's nephew's wife) how to crochet. A lot of family from out of state and out of the country were there, so it was good to see them.

Saturday I can't remember what we did--we may have just rested, cleaned house and done errands. Saturday night I picked up Dr. A from the airport and took her home.

Sunday we had no obligations at our church, so we went to DH's parents' church and heard one of DH's brothers (the one currently living in Texas) preach. Then we went out to a restaurant with DH's family. After lunch, DH's parents and his TX pastor BIL and SIL from Australia came over to our house for a brief visit so BIL/SIL could see our house. Just after they left, the 6 families (12 adults and 13 kids) in our Home Group/Bible Study arrived for a potluck.

Monday was New Year's Eve and we had a game night here. We all hung out, played board/card games, ate snacks and visited until 2am. It was really nice hanging out with family and friends. When midnight arrived, we toasted the New Year with sparkling cider and prayed together.

There happened to be TEN little girls at the game night, and they had a ball playing princess and dress-up. They all played so well together. My dad got in on the fun, too. In the photo below a bunch of little girls are inside the toy castle. They said it was "the castle with legs that eats grandpas!"



The Miraclebaby family drove quite a distance to come, so we had planned ahead for them to stay all night. On Tuesday Becci and I went shopping while the guys stayed home with the kids, watched sports, and played more games. Then we had dinner before they left for home.

It was fun hanging out with Becci. Even though we don't really wear the same styles for the most part, our tastes are similar enough that we were both liked a lot of the same things. It was fun shopping together. We even bought matching blouses.



Their daughter Dorothy sure is a cutie. My girls enjoyed playing with her.



On Wednesday we had the "goodbye party" at AJ's therapist's place. I've done her play therapy at home twice now, and the therapist and I feel we're ready to just do it at home. So all three kids, DH and I went and had treats and a special play time together at the therapist's house one last time.

Here's a picture of the scene the kids set up in the sand table:



Wednesday evening was the big 60th anniversary for DH's parents. Congratulations, MIL and FIL! Aren't they a sweet couple?



Of course, there were a lot of out-of-towners here for that, too. After the celebration Adventurous BIL and Artistic SIL came with their three kids to stay the night at our house.

Baby G is just a few weeks old and is quite a cutie. I got to take some pictures of her wearing the little sweater I crocheted for her.



We had a nice time visiting with BIL, SIL and the kids before they left Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night DH had worship team rehearsal, so I attempted to put the kids to bed early. It didn't work all that well since they are now used to staying up all hours of the night and had a hard time settling down, but they all fell asleep shortly before DH got home.

Yesterday (Friday), I took the kids shopping and then we went to dinner with a bunch of MY family. Then DH took the kids home while I went to my cousin's house with some of the family for dessert. It was really nice to see some of the family from out of town on my side of the family, too. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. :)

Today we're all tired. We're doing some needed errands and then I think tonight we'll all cuddle up on the sofa and watch a movie, and hopefully go to bed early. DH has to be at both church services tomorrow, and we have home group here in the afternoon.

I hope the next few weeks will allow us a little bit of down time. It was nice to spend a lot of time with family and friends, but it will be good to get back into a somewhat normal routine.