Weekend Fun

We had more fun this weekend than should be allowed, one night without kiddos, the next day with the whole family. Just had to share some pics with y'all...

Saturday night, I made reservations for six at Maggianos. Becky and Mike, Catherine and Kipper, and Joe and myself all got babysitters for our collective nine children, got dressed up and headed down to Kenwood for a great time. The food was delicious, our waitress was a doll (she took this photo of us and joked around with us the whole night). I think we were there for over three hours, and never once did we feel rushed to hurry up and get done. (I can't wait to eat some leftovers, yum...).

Joe's favorite dessert...tiramisu. It was even pretty to look at.

We were home to relieve the sitter by 10pm, which was late enough for us, since we had our Sunday School kickoff the next morning, and Joe is one of the teachers for the "Dads" class. This was Gabe's first experience outside of the church nursery, and he did great! We have finally turned a corner, since he's a big four-year-old now. He even had his first communion (we do communion the first Sunday of the month at our Methodist church). Wish I would've had my camera for that one :)

After naptime, we headed out to the local retirement community where we always have our church picnic. The weather was beautiful (75 and sunny), and every single one of us had a good time. I was not raised in a church family, so I delight in these kind of events, and I'm so glad my kids love them, too. We ate ourselves silly, played games, went exploring, and enjoyed fellowship with our friends and churchmembers, young and old.

This girl of mine is just too much for words. I am truly dreading the teenage years when boys start knocking on our door...

Finally, I chased Elijah down and convinced him to stand still for a picture. He was so busy playing football and baseball with all the other boys, he didn't want to take too much time out for his mom (jeez, mom, hurry up!).

Gabe hooked up with another little boy, Phillip. Man, that boy is just like his dad when it comes to sports. He has never played this game before (bocce ball, I think, or jai-alai); yet he could toss that ball up like a pro!

Joe spent a lot time doing this (cornhole), when he wasn't busy feeding his face with all the yummy homemade foods at the potluck :)

I have only one picture of myself to even prove I was there, taken by a fellow parishioner. Not the most flattering, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Overall, the weekend was a blast! We are so blessed to have so many great friends and a terrific church family, and the good health to be able to enjoy it all. And now, it's back to school and work and laundry and cooking and cleaning and...well, Gabe says it best in this picture:

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Sometimes we just don't want the fun to end...