Mom's birthday weekend re-cap

This weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday with a cookout and crabfeast in my parents' backyard.

My Mom's two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston with my Nana, Nana's boyfriend Mr. Raymond and a family friend. My Uncle Michael and Aunt D'Jenne came from Knightdale, N.C., with two of their 3 kids (their oldest just went off to college in Texas), and my cousin Alexis drove in from Richmond. Add those folks in with my family, Kadija and her family, and a bunch of other cousins, neighbors and friends, and there was a big crowd of people happy to help Mom bring in year 59!

Who is that beautiful woman who looks waaaay younger than 59? Well, that's my amazing Mommy!
And who took that beautiful picture of that beautiful woman? My friend Angel!

Didn't she do a great job? My Mom was thrilled at this photo -- thrilled! -- and that is saying something because she hates all pictures of herself. And my Dad was psyched that the yard looks so nice in the background. (Dad would be excited about something like that.)

I asked Angel to come take portraits of my Mom, her sisters and her mother since they'd all be together, and to also maybe try to get one or two nice photos of my Mom and Dad, since we have no decent photos of the two of them (seriously, the last good photo of them was taken in like 1985 or something). Angel did that, but also took some lovely off-the-cuff photos of just our family milling about being messy and unorganized and loud. She's processing the photos now, but sent a few for me to steal a sneak peek.

It's my Cary! Actually smiling in a photo. Awwww.

Me and my little sister Kadija. Isn't she a pretty girl (when she wants to be)? I love her!

Nana, Auntie Val, Mommy and Auntie Fern. Aren't they beautiful?

It was soooo great to have so much of our family in town for Mom's day. I love having family around. But it is made that much nicer when you can look back at really great pictures of everyone who was there. I'm so grateful to Angel for documenting this special day!

I saw her take some super cute photos of my nephew Matty, and of Clair with Lester, and of Dean. I can't wait to see those, and also see the shots she got of my Dad (who fought me tooth and nail to change out of his working-in-the-yard clothes to go get his picture taken.)

OK, really, I can't wait to see ALL the pictures! The sneak peek did its trick. My appetite is sufficiently whet! I'm so glad to have such talented friends!

P.S. Happy birthday today to my dear grandmother, Rosyth White, who I miss every day. I know you would have been at this party, dancing and laughing and eating all the ice cream. I love you Grandma. I miss you.

Long and full three-day weekend

Just when I think our weekends couldn't get any more packed, we went and had an extra day off. Which should have meant a day of rest, but instead meant a day of more things to do! Hooray!

Here's how the weekend went down.

Saturday, I took Sara to the vet and discovered she still has an upper respiratory thing, so I have to give her medicine twice a day from a dropper. That has not been going well. So I've just been putting it in her food, and hoping that will do the trick, because homegirl was NOT having me putting things in her mouth. No sirree.

Then, we went to visit Lester's Aunt Tootie and then to my Mom's house to bring her cupcakes for her birthday! As usual, the boys had a fabulous time running around with their cousins, eating sweets and being spoiled rotten.

There were so many cousins at Mom's house, the boys had to eat their ice cream and cupcakes on the floor.

Sunday, I took the boys to music class and then later we all went to visit our friends Doug and Denise. Denise is expecting a baby in February -- her third. She was sorta freaking out about it, in the same way I was when I found out I was carrying a third. But I don't feel too bad for her because her oldest is 8 and can do this:

Perry, making her own sandwich! And making one for her 5-year-old brother too!

Perry, her daughter, will be so much help to her. It'll be like having a third parent.

After the boys' nap, we went to our friends Antwyne and Mari's house for dinner. Their son Antony will be 3 in January, so the three boys are close in age and had tons of fun making ridiculous amounts of noise and refusing to eat.

It was impossible to get a picture of all three boys looking at the camera. They were in perpetual motion the entire night. And boy was it loud.

Monday, Columbus Day, Lester and I both had off. Lester decided to go in to work to finish some things, and I had plans to meet my friend Kelly and her daughter Naomi at the pumpkin farm.

The Pumpkin Patch Kids, starring: Naomi, Dean and Cary. Doesn't this look like their album cover?

Note: Kelly is also expecting a baby in February! Hooray for February babies! (Where were all these babies when I was preggo with Clair? She could have a bunch of friends all her same age!)

Unfortunately, the weather was crappy, crappy and I didn't dress myself or the boys properly (this is becoming a theme) so Dean was whiny ("Mommy, I am cooooold!") and the cold I was pretending wasn't actually coming got fueled by the chilly rain, so now I'm a coughing, sniffling, headachey, can barely breathe mess.

BUT...the good news is, unlike at Russy's birthday party, this time the boys actually wanted to go on the hay ride! And so here we are, riding and having a fabulous time. Can't you tell?

"Mommy, I like the tractor," they said over and over and OVER.

After the cold, drizzly day at the farm, and a quick lunch at the mall, I came home, put the boys down for a nap and promptly crawled under the covers myself.

Turns out, I could have stayed in bed all day if I had wanted to, because guess what? I realized after we got home that the boys actually HAD SCHOOL YESTERDAY! (Smacks forehead!)

I'm still getting used to the idea of my 2-year-olds having a schedule different than my own. It never even occurred to me that they'd have school on a day I was off. Whoops!

But we actually had a lot of fun, despite the rain. We fed sheep, rode on the hayride, picked pumpkins (one for Clair, too), hung out with Naomi -- who is so super cute! -- got muddy and ate cookies (not necessarily in that order).

 AND, the best thing is, I can cross "go on a hayride" off the boys' Synapse Checklist!


 Y'all know how I love synapses! Hooray!