A first birthday party

Adria's half birthday

So we've stared something a little weird but the kids seem to like it -- we celebrate HALF birthdays as well as birthdays. Call it a chance to try to teach the joy of giving, call it just being our crazy selves, but come somebody's half birthday, we give them $10 and drop them off at the dollar store to go crazy shopping for nine people . . . but NOT for themselves. It's like Christmas on a small scale for the rest of the family, and believe it or not, the giver even has a smile though they get nothing physical other than hugs. This last time was fun as usual and some of those presents were amazingly dead-on!

Storm . . . the Second

So for the second time this summer, we have had terrific winds that last less than two minutes, followed by incredible destruction. Last time we watched as the rain was blowing directly north (NOT down, sideways), ripping limbs off our supposedly healthy tree out front and throwing them in the neighbor's yard. (We later found out it was actually a funnel cloud that just never touched down.) THIS time, the wind was blowing south (again sideways) and guess who got the limbs from our "healthy" tree? And oh by the way, our supposedly unhealthy and dying tree remained virtually untouched during both encounters -- why couldn't the wind have at least pruned that dead limb?

A point of interest, this time we also missed being outside in the mess by about half a minute. We were all walking down the street with a very light drizzle and were just ordering at our local fast food place when we heard the wind. And then, of course, by the time it was time to go home, everything was calm again. Except that at home, we had a few surprises.


Luckily, it was only a small branch that hit our garage.


Those of you who know my handsome husband know that he would never pass up such an opportunity to use his Suburban he's been getting ready for Moab. Not just to rip that branch the rest of the way off the tree (and to the road), but just to see if he could drive all the way over it. Verdict? Not quite. Made it with the front tires and past the transfer case, but that silly drive line on such a large vehicle just hung down too low. Ahhh. =)

Quiddich

So we've been incredibly busy around here lately. My family had a reunion, which means all my siblings showed up with their families. No Aunts, Uncles, or Grandparents for me, but let me tell you -- with just my family, we had I think 49 people, only 19 of which were adults. Crazy? You bet! Fun? Definitely. A lot of catching up? Not really. =) Some, but it definitely motivated me to call my siblings more. I loved seeing everyone -- can't tell you how much that meant -- but I don't know if I even got to have a good conversation with each of them in the three days and nights we were together. But wouldn't have missed it for anything.

I'm only going to focus on the second afternoon of the reunion because most of the people who'd be interested in the rest were there, lol. bu that second afternoon . . . WOW! It was a birthday, so to celebrate, my sister treated us all to a magical day of Harry Potter. It started in the morning with invitations delivered by owl (our family got a beautiful snowy owl named Jeberkerderker . . . well, a picture of it at least), even written on parchment in green ink. Later, the festivities started with a tasting contest of different ice creams, courtesty of Florean Fortestcue, followed by a visit to Honeydukes. A goblin had handed out 5 galleons to each person before so they could buy candy. Okay, can I just say my sister made everything here, cases, cards, everything (her family helped). Even the Every Flavor Beans were created by her, since she decided actually buying the real ones might not go over too well with the younger kids who can't appreciate getting centipede or vomit mixed in with their chocolate jelly beans.The grand finale of the Harry Potter day was a couple quiddich matches -- first with the younger kids, then with the older kids and adults. Wow. Again, my sister made all the brooms, including the one for the referee, found a sorting hat that really talked and sorted, set up the goal rings, had people fill water balloons for bludgers (beaters threw water balloons in this version), and came up with a snitch even (a small ball attached to someone's belt, with the person running in and out of the game). It was wild, crazy, full-contact, wet, tiring fun! Sorry to my neices and nephews I ran over and fought over the ball as a chaser, though I definitely preferred chasing to being keeper! But again, wow!! And I've got to admit I never thought I'd ever hear myself yell, "Go Slytherin!" But yes, blue brooms were Slytherin and red were Gryffindor.


And now we're trying to get back into our normal routines while I fall absolutely in love with a scrapbooking program my sister recommended for digital scrapbooking. =) Toodles!

I can't wait until I'm eight . . .

So yes, we have another 8-year-old! You all know what the white and the birthday stuff means, but the blanket may need interpretation. =) Steve's mom crochets afghans for all her grandkids when they turn eight. So this is Jessie's special one. Not a lot to say here, but so happy for our little girl and all her right choices!