Today was a FAMILY DINNER DAY!!!
I tried to take pictures of everyone as they arrived.
A friend left the little masks with me after the party last night knowing I would be hosting family today! I think they all got a kick out of them! Thank you, Donnis!!!
My mother's heart was full to overflowing to have ALL my children and grandchildren here with me today. All four of my kids grew up in this house and are now bringing THEIR children back 'home.'
That's not as common place as it used to be!!
My first born and last born!!!
Today was Summer's birthday! She is 51 years old and absolutely NEVER ages!!!
The gathering actually celebrated several fall birthdays from Sam in September to Summer's today and Levi's birthday tomorrow and Louis Dean and Jesse's in November!
We all gathered around in clusters throughout the house!
Levi especially loved showing off Slim Pickins!!!
Trystan was trying her hand at juggling and there was a lot of chatter all around!
Let's just say my photography skills were woefully lacking today!
Most of the pics are slightly blurry but I can still recognize who's who so I am using them!!
The frenzy part of today started when I discovered the electric roaster that held TWO large roast and several pounds of potatoes and carrots and onions was NOT WORKING!!!
Sam (my oldest grandchild) helped me begin salvage operations by transferring the veggies to a large pot to cook on top of the stove. The roasts seemed NEARLY done so he put those in a pan and we set them in the oven to continue cooking while we tried to get the veggies done!
Then Louis Dean rode into the kitchen like a knight in shining armor to save the day.......and even HE grew frantic in trying to slice the meat, make the gravy and move around the kitchen with bubbling hot pans on the stove and eight grandchildren and eleven other people coming in and out of the kitchen. We all backed off and left him to it!!
It was past the time I had planned to SERVE the meal but thankfully everyone had been nibbling on cheese and crackers on the counter and the veggie tray Luann had brought!
We had 19 people altogether and I counted 16 of them in the living room regaling each other with shared and remembered stories from childhood!
Summer is recounting the story of when she and Jesse, Jr. were young. Jesse was a night walker and Summer was a night time sweet eater. She would sneak into the pantry to get some sweets and would bump into Jesse as he was just standing still somewhere - sound asleep!
I used to make this recipe called Five Pound Fudge - it literally made FIVE POUNDS!!!
I would make it ahead for the holidays and keep it in tightly covered tins.
This was what Summer was snacking on in the night!
The next morning I was cleaning in the pantry and discovered the tin was NOT tightly covered!
Apparently Summer didn't secure it down real well and in the process it had MOLDED!
As in COVERED in hairy green MOLD!
You should have SEEN her face when I came out of the pantry with it!!!
She had just been eating it the night before!!!!
The food DID finally get done and dinner was served!!!
The older grands ate in the den......
Sam helped rescue my meal today. He was a LOT of help to me!
The younger ones ate at the coffee table in there.
My pics of them really were so blurry I simply couldn't use them!!
I MUST work on keeping my hands steady!
The rest of us gathered around the table.....
and I must say - the food did turn out delicious!
However, by that point both Louis Dean and I were too give out to eat any!
He opted for a glass of wine and a rest in the gazebo!
After the meal, Sabrina and Jesse loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up a lot in the kitchen.
We had pretty much trashed it in our frenzy to get the food cooked!
The quads and parents loaded up to get home for naps.
Luann and Monte drove off in style followed by Jesse and his children.
Summer, Raynie, Sabrina and I then just relaxed on the grass and picked up a whole basket of pecans and took some pictures!
A good way to end the afternoon!
I am grateful to have all my children AND grandchildren in my life!!!
They are so very precious to me!
Raynie is also grateful - for everything in the whole wide world!!!!
And so she should be!!!
She had to run in and tell Granddad bye and then they, too, were gone!
Happy, HAPPY birthday to my beautiful daughter!
I was only 15 when I had Summer! I have never been more proud of her and the woman she has become!
Summer, I love you dearly and am so grateful for you and our relationship!!
You are and forever will be - My SUMMER DEE!!
Happy Birthday!
Wow, both a party, and more than one challenge...er adventure! You are so blessed to have such a great family around. That picture edit function on your camera is really neat! Summer has such beautiful dimples! I love the picture of Louis Dean and his wine. Also the MUSTACHES!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful day! Now I hope you take Monday off to rest and pamper yourself!
ReplyDeleteHey Mom, what a great blog! It was a wonderful day and nice to see all my siblings and my favorite parent - YOU! The meal was delicious and the family was quite entertaining. I had fun telling Rayne stories about the house and it has changed so much over the years and it keep evolving. Love all the seasonal decorations, trying to do that as well at our home so Rayne has those memories too. I love you, Mom and thanks for all the wonderful memories!
ReplyDeletei am surprised you had time to take all these photos with all the family in the house. it looks like much joy and a fantastic family get together. there is no house i grew up in.. there were many houses, and the last one was taken by the gov to widen the road...
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwww, what a loving, tremendous post! I enjoyed it all. But the one regaling that struck me was the 'green hairy mold'! OMGoodness.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of Summer, Raynie on the grass:)
ReplyDeleteBuilding wonderful family memories Linda! And you keep a cool head in a crisis! What an amazing woman you are! X
ReplyDeleteYou were a brave woman - but you did have a lot of help. And dinner and family sounded wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet, precious family day!! :)
ReplyDeleteSusan
Linda, I love that your family enjoyed the day together. Happy birthday to Summer. She is sweet. I love her little Rayne. That precious voice. All the children did so well...LD is knight . Blessings to all, xoxo,Susie
ReplyDeletewow...nothing more fun than getting our sweet families together. It looks like everyone had a blast. Sorry you were too tired to eat...been there...done that. Now, I make a lot of my dishes ahead,freeze, thaw the day before and slid into the oven...sure easier that way. We generally have about 18 to 20 for Thanksgiving and it can get hectic real quick...the girls always being a dish or two and that's a huge help.
ReplyDeleteYou have a lovely family....