Saturday was a calm slow day for us. It felt like we were just gliding along with no hurry and scurry.
I like leaving the house clean and tidy when we go away for then we can just rest and relax when we come back home. Late Saturday afternoon we drove over to Fort Worth to visit with my siblings and cousins. We plan these gatherings months in advance!
Our one and only brother, Lonnie, along with his beautiful wife were our hosts that evening.
I have to stop right here and thank Nita for the photos!
For some reason my brain didn't think ONE time to take pictures - even though I took my camera with me and fully intended to snap some!
Our husbands!
We all sat around and visited with each other mixing and mingling in different groups all evening.
It was just a perfect Saturday evening in Lonnie and Michele's beautiful home!
Sweet Deanie and cousins Gay and Joyce.....
All of us admired Michele's newly remodeled kitchen!
There were tons of delicious food from BBQ sliders to beans to fruit and veggie trays and dips and on and on! Gay brought a chocolate cake and we all enjoyed that!
We are having a great time getting to know each other better and sharing some of our life stories.
I have been working on a timeline of our childhood and the cousins have helped me fill in some blanks.
Nita had brought a box of old and VERY old photos to go through and we were busy trying to identify who's who in them! All of this will be helpful in writing the book I'm doing of our childhood.
The pieces are beginning to form a clearer picture and we continue to discover and understand more of the circumstances we found ourselves in as children.
You can see some of the photos all spread out on the table in the foreground as well as the one in the background.
My favorite photo of the evening was this one of Deanie, Lonnie and Nita taken in the early 1970's.
This morning we got up bright and early and made it to church practically on time!!
We walked with the quads out to their car and promised to come watch them at their swimming lessons just as soon as we grabbed a bite of lunch.
What a thrill it was to see little Logan going under water for a fish hunt with the best swimming teacher in the whole wide world! Just ask anyone around the DFW area and they will tell you it is Patti!! She was the founder and head coach of the Pirouettes of Texas Synchronized Swimming Team for all the years Amber swam. PTX just celebrated their 30th year reunion last month!
Harrison is demonstrating his kicking!
It was a great day to spend by the pool - even if Louis Dean and I were in our church clothes!
All four of the kids love the water just as their mommy did when she was their age!
Little Trystan was FREEZING after her turn so Kailey sat beside her and made sure she was covered up good.
Then she leaned over and gave her a kiss.
I love how the quads love each other!!!
AND I love how they all love their GAND DAD as Kailey calls him!
From the pool we stopped at Sherwin Williams to look at more wallpaper.
The one I had chosen has been discontinued so I am back to square one.
After looking through over a dozen big books, I chose two to check out and bring home with me.
We are so happy Football Season is back!!!
Louis Dean ran out to pick up some Buffalo Wings and we were set to watch the season opener of the Dallas Cowboys playing the Giants right here in AT&T Stadium.
WHAT a great game! It was a real nail biter all the way to the last 7 seconds!!!
Although I did NOT bite my nails!!
I have not bitten them in MONTHS now and I am so proud of myself!
One day I just stopped!
It's been a great weekend and we are looking forward to a good week ahead of us.
I heard on the news that HOT weather will be back and I was not happy to hear that!
It can't last forever and we have certainly enjoyed the cooler temps of the last few days!
It was a great time at Lonnie & Michele's. How wonderful all the kids love the water just like their Mom, usually there's always one in the bunch that like something. What a great thing that's not how it works with Amber's crew. Enjoy your week. Type you later !
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great weekend. It is important to do the timeline and pictures thing....we've done it too. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to get with family and share olden times...and I love looking thru pictures.....
ReplyDeleteThe kids look good...glad they like the water. :)
Linda, Fun times with your families. I know that had to be interesting telling each other your stories and learning of relatives. Those little ones are so adorable...they touch my heart with their sweet ways. So glad you and LD had that fun week at the ranch and a beautiful weekend. xoxo,Love you guys, Susie
ReplyDeleteSure sounds like a good week-end! What a good idea to plan months in advance and make the effort to get together with your siblings and cousins. There are six of my brothers and sisters all together and gathering has become almost impossible. We all had kids and now our kids have had kids and there are SOO many of us it is nearly impossible. Sooo we have been gathering once a year [at Christmas] with just the my siblings and their spouses for a total of 12 at the most and spending time. No kids, no grandkids, and it works REALLY well. But I think we should do it at least one more time a year, lol. And then maybe ALL of us every couple of years at a park....the important part is to make the effort. Those quads are sooo cute! Enjoy your week!
ReplyDeleteOk, of all your post, the nail biting thing just spoke to me Linda. I was a life long nail biter and one day I just no longer had the "urge". I told my friends that God must have delivered me from it as I had never been able to stop on my own! Then to see that you just stopped as well!! Eerie!! Love all the photos and how wonderful you all are making time to build relationships. I want to read your book when you write it!! And the quads! Darling as usual!
ReplyDeleteYou had such a wonderful time with your bro I can see... and along with the adorable quads and beautiful mom! How fun it is to make a timeline with family. Hubby and his cousins always do, lol.. I stopped biting my cuticles when I had to fix a tooth more than ten years ago, but yes, I bled the side of my fingers, yay!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week sweetie.
FABBY
You have a wonderful family Linda, and how nice that you're all able to get together like this!
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful how you and your siblings and cousins are able to build relationships and overcome your challenging childhoods. I love seeing those quads! They are growing and learning something new all the time! So glad to see them love the water and not fear it, and its great that your daughter is having them learn to swim!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Deanna
we know you were having a grand time since you forgot to use your camera. the quads look so happy in the pool.. so glad you got together with your siblings and cousins. i have not seen my brother since 07 and my cousins in 06.. they are all 10 hours away
ReplyDeleteWell done on the nail front - I bit mine until I was 30 and like you just stopped one day! Quite mysterious. Now, if only I could cure some other bad habits! Cheers from Carole's chatter
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful family get-together Linda. I have never really bitten my nails, but I did have a habit of picking at the side of my thumb nail when I was a child, if I was anxious or nervous and it was really painful! I don't do that any more thankfully. X
ReplyDeleteI love how the quads take care of each other. Cool flashback picture from the 70's.
ReplyDeleteYou get in a zone when things are happening and the thought of taking a picture flees from the mind. I totally understand.