Family Weekend, A-Z

A few years ago, I talked about our family weekend in list format, A-Z.  Because I'm lazy, I'm doing the same thing again for 2013.  (you can find my stories about previous years here:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2009 (again)).

So, here goes:

A - Alarm.  As in, smoke alarm.  As in, went off at least 8 times on Friday night.  As in, starting at 2:30 a.m.  My poor dad.  He was up almost all night trying to get them fixed.  They are all hard-wired together, so if one has a low battery, they all go off.  Super fun, right?

B - Bubba!!!  I have called Baby L Bubba since he was born (not sure why... I think I called Bub that when he was a baby, too...).  L's momma calls him that, too, but for whatever reason, he associates "Bubba" with me.  So now he calls ME Bubba.  Or Aunt Bubba.  Which cracks me up... because don't I seem like a Bubba?

C - Candlelight.  On Saturday evening, the entire town's power went out for about 2.5 hours.  LUCKILY, we were just finishing all the cooking for dinner, so we were fine on food (check out "F."  Food was very important, you know!).  So my dad pulled out a few battery-operated lanterns, and we lit a bunch of candles throughout the first floor).  It was actually fun.  Romantic candlelight dinner for 16!  ha.

D - Drawing...  Of course Sis always draws.  Wherever she is, on whatever she can find.  But Little Sissy was also really into drawing this particular weekend.  And she talked her Aunt Darla to drawing a lot, too... (it helped that she really, really thought I drew well... which of course I don't).  Then Little Buddy wanted to draw because so many others were drawing... well, you get the point.  It made it especially fun because Little Sissy had so many "smelly markers."  (I told her at Christmas that one of them smelled like Gas Station Soap, and she still thinks that's SO hilarious...)

E - Earaches.  My mom was really suffering from a terrible earache and I was recovering from an ear infection (along with strep and the flu), so we spent WAY too much time talking about earache remedies.  We are party animals!

F - Food.  Oh my goodness... food!  We would sit at one meal and start talking about when we were going to start cooking the next one.  Not even kidding.  We had Kim's (Bill's girlfriend) scrumptious homemade chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chips and homemade salsa, rye bread/dill dip... all in addition to our awesome meals.  So.  Full.

G - Games.  We played Quiddler, the kids played Trouble... we started to play 2 truths and 1 lie (we didn't get very far... we just started talking instead). We love games!

H - Home.  I actually snuck home (to MY home) to take a shower and change out the laundry.  That is CLEARLY against all family weekend by-laws and regulations, but I'm not gonna lie... it was nice not having as much laundry to catch up on when we were home for the weekend.  That's an advantage of living in the same town as my parents, right?

I - Instagram.  If a weekend isn't documented on Instagram, then it probably really doesn't happen.  Ha. Here's my kids' favorite new joke:  How much does a hipster weigh?  An Instagram!

J - Joy.  I'm filled with such joy when I'm with my favorite people... even when I'm tired, and/or sore, and/or exhausted!

K - Kids, kids everywhere!  Sometimes the noise got a little intense, but I'm telling you... without the kids we wouldn't have near as much fun!  They keep the party going for sure!

L - Library.  Sis wanted to run to the library, so we took Big Sissy, Little Sissy and Little Buddy with us.  I told them they could all pick out a movie that they all agreed on to rent at Nana and Papa's house. That didn't work, so then I told them that the girls could pick out one, and Little Buddy could pick out a different one for him and Baby L to watch.  That didn't work either, so they each ended up getting their own movie to rent.  Yay!!

M - Milk... MAN, my family goes through some milk!  My dad bought gallons and gallons of milk before we even showed up, and my brother-in-law had to go buy some more before the weekend was over.  Of course, I didn't drink any (throwing up wasn't on my agenda for the weekend), but the rest of the family sure did!

N - Noise!  'Nuf said.  ;)

O - Overeating.  Overstimulation.  Overdoing the laughter.  And I loved it!

P - Piano.  Big Sissy is taking piano lessons, so she practiced quite a bit over the weekend.  And played around.  And then Baby L would want his turn.  He would sit and "play" the piano while bobbing his head to his own music.  So cute!

Q -  Quiddler (I think it's spelled this way) was our newest game we played this year.  We usually find one or two games and stick with them the entire weekend.  We didn't play as many games this year, but this is the one we played.  Fun!

R - Range... the men and Bub went to the Shooting Range, as they do every year.  They shoot clay pigeons or something that isn't alive.  Bub is just counting down the years until he's old enough to participate.  My brother-in-law, Kevin, who never grew up shooting, is apparently quite the shooting rock star.  Then they all bring home their paper targets to show off to us women.  Cute.  ;)

S - Shopping.  Once the guys get home from shooting, then it's our turn.  The women and Sis always make big plans to go an hour away or so to REALLY shop.  And then when it's really time to shop, we always decide we don't have enough time for that kind of shopping.  So, we do more local shopping.  Sis and I hit the bookstore while everyone else hits Michaels.  Then we all meet in the middle at Old Navy for some clearance shopping.

T - Talking.  I'm surprised any of us had voices left once the weekend was over!  ;)

U - Ugly.  Haha.  You'll notice I don't have any photos posted.  That's because we girls don't wear makeup, none of us really fix our hair...  maybe UGLY is an overstatement... but then again, maybe not!  Ha.

V - Valuable memories.  Can't beat 'em!!!

W - Words to live by.  One of my favorite moments in time was when we sat around the table Sunday afternoon (Billy and Kim were already gone, and my kids were already up from the table), and we all gave some words to live by in 2013.  I posted about them here.

X - E(X)ercise (give me a break... we didn't play any xylophones all weekend, and thankfully needed no Xanax... so Exercise is the closest I could come up with).  Don, Bub and I do a circuit workout just about every Saturday with the fitness group we work out with.  Last year my brother and one of my brother-in-laws came with us.  Neither of them came with us this year, but both of my sisters and my other brother-in-law all came (as well as our might-as-well-be-family friend, Cara).  We had so much fun all working out together.  Even if Christy did need to use both hands to cut her sausage the next morning because she was so sore!  :)

Y - YouTube.  One night we stayed up late and showed our mom all the funny YouTube videos that have become sensations ("hide your kids, hide your wife").

Z - Zzzzzzzzzzzz's.  Sleep is sooo good, especially AFTER a weekend like this one.  But little catnaps here and there were also (apparently) good.  I don't nap well, so I didn't partake, but there was plenty of snoring going on from the couch (Kevin!!!!!).