The Craziness Continues!

John's Uncle Jack turned 80 this month and we recently spent a weekend celebrating his birthday and having a family reunion in Knoxville, TN. We always have a blast with his family--lots of laughter, chatting and good southern food. I don't know what happened, but I hardly took any pictures.

Oh, wait. I do know what happened. Andrew happened. Andrew who has had the most nasty snotty nose since December 1st and who refuses to sleep on vacation happened. I love the guy, but damn! He can ruin a night away from home faster than a bad hangover.....with less laughter and more snot on top of it!

He basically cried the entire first night. And screamed. And then we were all up for the day at 4:30 a.m. Well, by all, I mean me, Becca and Andrew. The unfortunate part was that I thought it was 5:30 a.m. I had them up, eating breakfast, playing, wiping their snot on me.....at 4:30 in the freaking morning! God! John woke up at 6:30 and told me to go back to bed. If I were about 5 years younger I could have handled a night like that. But, I am not. And I cannot.

And, of course, Becca did her freaky run a fever and look ill for a day or so while travelling, completely freaking me out. But, anyway....other than THAT (and the residual ill effects...see also: Mommy is a Zombie Do Not Talk To Her and Mommy is a Human Kleenex) things were fine. Becca had a blast playing with Hunter, who is about her age. Andrew had a blast playing with a houseful of boy toys (Marsha and Jed, John's cousin, have three boys). He was pushing all kinds of cars and trucks around and throwing balls. He was in heaven!
We had multiple fun family gatherings and gave Jack some silly birthday presents. Lots of laughter and some seriously delish southern cooking! It was so nice to see everyone.

The kids hung in there and were good sports for most of it. I love big parties where the kids are entertained by other kids and the babies are carried around by other people and I sit and relax!
I have two choir concerts this weekend and then? THEN! Then, I plan to relax. I have pencil-ed it in to my calendar. "Relax!" Starting Sunday. Relax and have fun....like maybe with some Christmas baking, some Bailey's in my coffee, some Griswold Christmas watching, some company coming, maybe some fondue eating......