What a beautiful way to kick off the week, even one where I was sick with the flu!

This past Sunday was out class’s turn again to put out a story for display in the hallway leading up to the sanctuary.  Here are Rylan, Lee, and Matty after they helped put out the display for The Ten Best Ways.

By the fourth day of Jeff Fest they were about done in :-).  We had such a great time with Johnny here – all guests should be this easy!

While Luke was playing, Clara and June, those loving cousins, sat on the side of the stage and were swaying away.  They are so precious.

There’s just nothing like a bonfire.  Just a great, great time.

What an absolutely wonderful time we had at the party the kids hosted for Jeff’s 60th birthday Saturday night.  They had worked so hard on it, & it was just perfect.  It was at Lindee & Jackson’s house, and Jackson had worked hard, and even with the six solid weeks of rain we’d had leading up to the big event, he’d gotten a stage built in his backyard for Luke, Jeff’s friend and leader of one of his favorite used-to-be bands, to sing on.  Here is Andrew welcoming everyone to the big event.

Party-goers:  Brother-in-law Gary, brother-in-law Boo, the birthday boy, and cousin Johnny.  Just a great, great evening…

2Friday I went to Momma’s to hang out with her and give Jeff & Johnny a chance to be together. Then that night we met Jeff’s brother Dennis in Charlotte at a place where the Indiana alumni association was supposed to be streaming the first IU game of the season. That got cancelled, but we stayed and ate, & ended up sitting there for four hours just visiting. It was great fun. Here is a picture of the IU fans – hate I got Dennis with his eyes closed 🙁

When we finally finished up in the restaurant we walked outside, and the Charlotte skyline was all lit up so pretty.  Obviously my picture didn’t turn out at all.  So my pictures of the night were basically fails, but the time we had was great.  Just a good, good evening.

This weekend is Jeff’s 60th birthday, & the kids have what sounds like a great party planned.  For his first big surprise, his cousin Johnny flew in from Indiana for the weekend.  To say that Jeff was, indeed, surprised is putting it mildly.  I drove up in the driveway after picking Johnny up at the airport, and Jeff’s jaw just dropped.  It was great.  This is one of my favorite pictures that I’ve taken in a while.

Wednesday morning I think all of the kids in York County participated in big Veterans Day programs at their schools. Jeff went to the Veterans breakfast at Rosewood with Charlie and Adam, and then attended the program where they both performed, and said it was absolutely excellent. I went to Larne to see June sing with her third grade chorus. I didn’t get many pictures at all – the parents and grandparents were sitting at the very back – but here she is walking out after their performance.  She’s the one in the white shirt and long hair walking out in front.

The school was just decorated so nicely.  I honestly don’t remember ever seeing a National Guard flag before on display with all the other branches of the service.  I thought that was so nice.  I don’t mind saying that I teared up several times during the program.  Just such a special morning, and teaching the kids such an important lesson.

Saturday night after Lindee’s birthday party June, Mason, and Charlie all slept over.  They had great fun playing until about 10, when we turned on the Monsters U movie, and I crashed immediately.  I have no idea how long they stayed awake, but when I woke up in the middle of the night to check on them it was dark, and I couldn’t see Mason anywhere.  I figured he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom, but he wasn’t there.  I looked in every room, and just couldn’t find him anywhere.  I checked the doors, and they were all still locked, so I knew he didn’t go outside.  Finally I looked really closely, and could see he and Charlie really were literally sleeping on top of each other – both just snoozing away :-).  That funny Mase.

Saturday night we celebrated Lindee’s birthday with supper here at our house.  Jackson had taken her out to the new James Bond movie the night before, and they are going on a week’s vacation to celebrate her birthday and their 15th anniversary later in the month, so she just wanted something low key with just family.  We did want to make it special, though, so Jeff & I got her two tickets to a Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  She has been a lifelong Duke fan, and as such as always wanted to go to a game there.  She was excited – so were we :-).  Here she is texting the news to a co-worker who is also a big Duke fan.  Good times…