Whirlwind

We have been swooped up in the same whirlwind as Nancy. We have the great opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with our extended family. All of our kids' 9 cousins are here in Texas right now. Angela is here with her 5 kids, Nancy with her 3, and Kelly with her 1. It's almost like a mini family reunion, except that the men are missing. We spent a couple of days at Joe's parents house. There were bodies asleep everywhere! Since we live close by, and could sleep at home, we ended up on the floor. It was almost like a campout. I love sleeping in a big pile with me, my husband and kids (for a night or two). We arrived on Thursday for Roscoe's 13 birthday party. After the party I took my mom to the airport, so she could be back with my dad and sister.
Friday was probably the busiest day! In the morning, Haley and I made cupcakes. Slowly more and more people started helping out, especially when it came time to frost and decorate them.
Somewhere in there Liz also found time to go on a walk with some of her grandchildren.
Angela (Joe's sister) was going to a 3 hour yoga class. She kind of jokingly asked me if I wanted to come. I totally did! I just had 3 little problems; Winter, Sterling, and Ginger. Luckily I have a fabulous mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who agreed to take care of them. So we headed for the gym. When I walked in to sign up for a temporary tryout pass, the guy looked me over and said something to the effect of: "This is a very advanced 3 hour class! We hate to keep people from attending, but...." and "have you ever done yoga before? Just wanted to remind you that this is a 3 hour class". In hindsight, sitting here with a sore back, butt, and legs, it might have been smarter for me to start with a 1 hour class. But you know me... I can not be stopped! The class was very interesting. There were some strength parts, some stretch, balance, and meditation parts, as well as parts where I thought I was training to become a contortionist. There are just certain things my body will not do! Oh, and add to all of this the 97 degree room and 40% humidity, and you might see why it might not have been the smartest thing I ever did. At the very end of the class we practiced the handstand, and I'm excited to tell you that I held it for a few second on my own. Angela was amazing. She did all the crazy balance poses while being wrapped up in "the lotus".
After we got back from the yoga studio, we quickly had to get out of our sweaty, wet, stinky clothes, and into clothes appropriate for a date. Since we had all the girls together, we went out to dinner for a girls night. I had some great baby back ribs. We don't go to nice restaurants very often, so I appreciated the half rack of ribs at a nice sit down place even more
After stuffing ourselves with great food, we headed over to the craft store. My sister-in-law Nancy designs and makes jewelry, and she was going to teach us how. It was fun to pick out the different beads. I have never done anything like this, so I heavily relied on Nancy's expertise. We headed home, and spent several hours creating some fabulous bling. I ended up making 3 pairs of earrings, and 1 bracelet. And Nancy made me a super cool bracelet too. Thanks Nancy!
After the jewelry making party ended (because everyone was wasted), it was too late to go back home, so we crashed upstairs, on the ground, amidst all our family. Wonderful!!
I haven't had such an action packed day in a long time!! Today was time to unwind a little. We spent the morning at home, relaxing. Then, in the afternoon I went grocery shopping with my friend Anja. It was nice to get away from kids for a little while. The night ended perfectly with a good redbox movie, which we watched with the Dowdys.