The plan was to spend our meals at the pits eating. Friday night, everyone ate before coming to the house except for Jessica's family. We had pizza. Saturday's menu for lunch was to be hot dogs roasted over the fire with chili (provided by Ilene), chips and smores for dessert. Saturday for supper was chicken, baked beans and potato salad (for the adults) and french fries or chips (for the kids) with sugar free brownies (especially for Mark) and cheerwine cake (provided by Ilene, who spent all day with us) and rice krispy treats for dessert. Sunday's lunch was leftovers.
Chance spent the nights with Ryan at his house. Hannah spent the nights with Kara in the hotel. Abby spent the nights with Thaddeus and Araya at Ilene's house. The cousins really enjoy getting together since they don't see one another very often. And, my, how they have grown over the last year, even, let alone over the last five years..........
This picture was taken Memorial Weekend in 2015, when even Nathanael was with us, but not Adalina.
The kids from left to right:
Kara, Hannah, Abby, Chance, Michael holding Araya, Ryan and Thad. Michael lives in WV with his other grandmother. Miss having him around with the rest of the family, too!
And, family pictures from this weekend..........
The kids
Back row, left to right: Chance, Ryan, Hannah, Kara
Front row, left to right: Araya, Abby, Thad
Jessica and Terry and Thad (in the back), Araya, and Chance (in the front)
Michael and Jessica and Kara
Elisabeth and Brad and Abby, Ryan, and Hannah (in the front)
Mark and me
Kim and me
The rest of the pictures are miscellaneous pictures from the weekend. We had rain all last week and it stopped for most of the day on Friday and the sun came out, but it rained again Friday night (and Saturday night). By Saturday, the pit area was just too muddy to congregate around, so while Mark and the guys were with the kids in the woods on the 4-wheelers, dune buggy and dirt bike, Jessica was kind enough to sweat her buns off grilling the hot dogs for me. Kim helped me cut up 12 HUGE chicken breasts into 4-5 smaller pieces each, so it only took about 25 minutes to cook them in the oven for supper. The baked beans cooked in the crockpot all day and the potato salad was from Walmart. The desserts for supper were the leftovers.
Sunday, Jessica and family attended church with us. It was our first time to physically be gathered at church since COVID-19 quarantined everyone almost 2 months ago. It was WONDERFUL to be back in the LORD's house! Michael and family dropped Hannah off at church with us and they headed on home since they had their dog with them this weekend. And Elisabeth, Brad, Ryan and Chance came to the house after attending their church and eating lunch on the way. After swapping kids back and forth and family pictures, everyone headed home.
What a great weekend! The food was great and easy enough that I had to spend very little time in the kitchen!
The girls will be sending some more pictures my way later, so I will probably be posting more tomorrow as a follow up to today's post.
Now, for more pictures that I took this weekend. You will see lots of MUD on the kids from the woods! But, they had a great time, which makes Mark so happy!!
Friday night - everyone arrives
Height comparisons between the cousins.
Abby is from April to November older than Thad, but he is quite a bit taller than she is. They are best buds and always have been!
Hannah is 2 years older than Kara but Kara is about a head taller than Hannah this year!
And, Hannah may end up being the shortest cousin of all! Ryan has really shot straight up this year! He might be a little taller than Kara now!
Love the lights on the deck! These lights replace the original lights, which didn't last a year! We spent most of our time outside of the house. If everyone had hung around today (Sunday) we would have been hanging out in the house because it got pretty hot out! And, now, at 6:15 p.m., I have heard thunder in the area!
I need to add some more lighting to the car port!
Video
Saturday was busy with the kids riding in the woods and the parents keeping watch to make sure no one was hurt. It was pretty muddy!!! Let's just say they had to be hosed off! I didn't get pictures of Thad, Abby or Araya caked in mud!
Hannah's mud looked like freckles on her face!
Saturday, Time for lunch!
I was so happy Ilene could spend the day with us! She is just like family.....the family loves her!
Headed back to the woods for another riding session!
Even Ilene went to the woods!
Video - making use of those puddles in the yard.
While supper was cooking, we played some games!
Abby tried her hand at taking a few pictures! Kinda blurry, but that's OK. No better way to learn but to practice!
Studying a picture so they can answer questions about it. A game called "Stare."
Their turn to stare!
Gathered around to pray for the evening meal. Three flavors of chicken included Bourbon and Brown Sugar, Creole and Roasted Garlic. YUMMY!
Kara likes photography, so took some pictures of the neighbor's Knockout Roses.
Raven settling in for the ride to the hotel for the night.
A thunder storm moved in after Michael and Jessica left for the hotel. The sky changed quickly!
You can see the reflection in the water already standing under my shed!
The weather didn't keep the birds from feeding!
Video of the winds picking up.
Sunday, our first day back at church! YAY!!!
Family pictures before leftovers!
Some silliness, LOL!
What is it with boys not smiling???
That's better, LOL! What a cutie he is!
And, my favorite girls!
I should have more pictures tomorrow! Such a great weekend with the family! We are already talking about another gathering in September! Let's do it!!!
Thank You, LORD, for the many blessings of family and the safety you provided throughout the weekend! Thank You, too, for being able to enjoy our first day back in Your house!
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