Scratchin' and Survivin' (Hangin' in and Jivin'): Our Weekend with Family & Friends

Saturday and Sunday were great to the Chopins! Our Saturday morning started early. It was decided the night before that the majority of Saturday morning would be dedicated to yard work. The boys wasted no time. Gus, Beedle and I were up before 7am. While I was taking my morning run, the boys started picking up pine cones (Gus' cash cow!) and branches. I came back and made Saturday's staple breakfast--pancakes! Gracie was a big help making the pancakes. After breakfast, we mowed, edged, weed-eated and blew. In fact, Beedle had a major accomplishment. Usually he won't even stay outside when the mower, weed-eater or blower is being used. Not only was he outside for these, but he even decided to help out...

For those of you who know Beedle, you know this was a big deal!

After a long morning and midday in the hot sun, we enjoyed a nice lunch prepared by Mom. This gave us the fuel we needed for ladderball (pics to come soon--once we get better at it). It's a great family game. We took a break to go do some shopping and found ourselves hurrying back to get home in time for Nanny Wanda. Yes, Mom and Dad had a special night planned (we'll get to that in a minute), so Nanny Wanda graciously volunteered her time to spend the evening with Gus, Beedle and Gracie. This was heaven for the kids! Nanny showed up with pizza...

They got to have silly time with Nanny, watching Mary Poppins (yes, a repeat of last weekend--it was a weekly rental and we wanted to get the most bang for our buck) and popping popcorn.

While the kiddos were having Nanny Wanda time, Mom, Dad and James had the pleasure of attending a dinner party hosted by some of Dad's friends--the Tanners. Have you ever had an evening of dining where you really felt you were not worthy to eat the food being served to you? That's kind of how we felt! The food was incredible! It did not diminish the company, however, as we got to have some very pleasant conversation with Don and Carolyn and Tim and Melanie Reynolds. James was extremely well behaved (we really did not expect that)! We were treated to scrumptious appetizers. Our palates were alert, but were never fully ready for the delicious delicacies that awaited us--beef tenderloin stuffed with mushrooms and shallots, twice-baked potato casserole, and asparagus in a hollandaise sauce. WOW! I must have said "WOW!", like 100 times! And then (like we needed it) came dessert--tiramisu! Oh my! It's one thing to be full after eating, but to be full after eating something that you know you have no more room for, but it was so good that you would find a way to squeeze in a few more bites, just for the taste. We were so gluttonness! We're not proud, but we felt so well taken care of. A thousand thank you's to Don & Carolyn for inviting us for an evening of dining and fellowship we will certainly never forget!

We didn't get back home until after 10:30pm (late for us old fogies!) and arrived to find Gracie and Beedle cuddled up asleep with Nanny Wanda on the couch. Nanny said she was in heaven. I'm sure they were too. Thank you Nanny for not only helping Mom and I out but for being heavenly to our kiddos!

Sunday started slowly and we were pretty sure we weren't going to make it to 9am mass at the Cathedral. Since we were going to Grandma Dee's for the day we decided to make 10am mass at St. Landry's Church in Opelousas, therefore giving us a little more time after our slow start. You know, we sometimes forget that we live in what has been affectionately called "Catholic Disneyworld", an area inundated with Catholic churches. Most communities around the country don't have more that one or two Catholic churches and you don't have a lot of masses and mass times to choose from. Here, you can make a mass at pretty much any time you want on Saturday evening and all day Sunday. One church even has mass at 10pm on Sunday! Taking full advantage of that luxury, we made the 10am mass. The kids were pretty well behaved.

We made it to Grandma Dee's just after 11am and enjoyed our visit. Lunch was fantastic! The gluttony continued! We usually don't have rice and gravy too often, but we certainly don't mind when we go to Grandma Dee's as we seem to make absolute pigs of ourselves. The kids got to play with their cousin Dylan. One of their highlights was letting Dad take them for a spin in the wheel barrow...

As Dad quickly tired, the kids found other ways to entertain themselves: playing ladderball and hide-and-go-seek, watching movies, drawing, reading and entertaining James.