Meeting My Sister

I met my new half-sister on Sunday morning, a month after she'd been born. I'd been waiting for Dad to ask me over, but he didn't so I finally gave in and called them. It was a little weird, I have to say. Not just that she's 37 years my junior, but because at no time did I really get a feeling like she was my sister. But I visited and held her. She was asleep the whole time.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now. Do I try and see her more, see if we bond or something? Or do I wait for Dad to invite me back?

Sometimes this family stuff really sucks.

We'll Miss You, Aunt Christine

Joe's Aunt Christine passed away last week, after a long battle with cancer. Joe went to the funeral on Saturday, and then we all went to his cousin Destiny's house afterwards. That part was nice, because Xander got to play with the other kids and Joe got a chance to reconnect with his extended family.

I'd only met Aunt Christine twice, but I know Joe has a lot of fond childhood memories of her. Here's a picture of them from Joe's cousin Jay's wedding in 2008:

Flag Day Parade

This was our second year of marching in the Flag Day parade - our last one, too, at least for a while because Xander will have aged out of T-Ball next year. For unknown reasons, possibly because people are stupid, we were told to meet in the parade staging area at 5:15pm. That gave all those little five and six year old ballplayers a full 45 minutes with nothing at all to do. So naturally they ran around being crazy, scraping their knees and elbows bloody on the asphalt, and generally whining about how bored they were. Xander spent some time playing games on my phone, but that only helped to pass a little of the time. If we were marching again next year, I'd be getting there maybe ten minutes before parade start time. Crazy!

The marching was okay. Xander was the only kid in T-Ball that was throwing candy. I'd picked up six bags of candy at two different dollar stores and it didn't take Xander long to toss it all out. Especially to all his little friends yelling his name from the curb, LOL! I had to keep reminding him to throw the candy down, not up, because he was hitting people in the face with some of it.

We were near the front of the parade, so once we reached the end we doubled back to the Sunoco, where Joe was sitting. I was surprised to see that he'd been joined by Eli, Krissy and the kids, who had probably come straight from Moving Up ceremonies.

The kids were going nuts collecting candy. Not a lot of people had any left by the time they got to us, and those that did would toss out one or two pieces. For four kids. Not a good scene! But they had fun anyway.

Aislin got excited any time a live animal would go by. "Awww, lookit the horsies!"

Xander kept waiting for his school band to come by, and waved at his music teacher when it did.

The parade in Stamford is a really nice one. It's really long, and a lot of school bands participate. Plus the Hobart Pipes and Drums, which Xander loves. Scotland music, he calls it. And he tells me how much he likes it when they play their "saxophones." What a goon!

Next year we'll get a spot more in the middle, for better candy retrieval, and we'll get to see the whole thing from start to finish. No marching for us!

Richmondville Day

It was time for Richmondville Day again on Saturday. I know I've missed one or two of these, but Xander has been a regular since he's been a year old. This year Joe missed out because he was on a bike run. Xander and I set up our camp chairs right in front of my mother-in-law's house, a prime parade spot. Xander was so excited to see the Richmondville Fire Department marching up the road to start things off.

Of course, for Xander the big deal is catching all the candy and swag that gets tossed out. It actually wasn't much this year - the parade was smaller than usual - but he did get a bunch of lollipops, gum, tootsie rolls, and even some pens and a clip for holding sunglasses to a car visor.

Then it was time to hit Main Street. Jean has already visited a few rummage and lawn sales before the parade started, but there were countless more to be had. I made sure Jean took a picture of me and Xander, since I'm usually so busy taking the pictures I forget to be in them.

Joe's Uncle Paul spent the day with us, which Xander seemed to enjoy. Jean bought him a hot dog for lunch and some cotton candy, and Uncle Paul contributed the fried dough Xander just had to have and then only ate one piece of. I ended up wearing most of the confectioners sugar because it was so windy.

Down at the school they had two bounce houses set up. Xander made three seperate trips inside, because that boy can bounce all day! The lines were long because there really wasn't much else for the kiddies to do. There were supposed to be pony rides, but they dropped them from the schedule.

We ran into a lot of Joe's family as we made the rounds - Andy, Angie and Josh, Dave and his kids, Uncle Sonny and his family, and Destiny and Jeanine and the kids. Eli and Mo took a spin in the bounce house together and Jean managed to snap a picture while I was off browsing one of the clothing stands.

The only sour note of the whole day was that we didn't see Mike, Jean's soon-to-be ex-husband. Xander kept looking for him and asking about him, but if he was there we sure didn't run into him. Otherwise, it was a fun day.

After Uncle Paul left, we watched a movie at Jean's and had a quick dinner. Then it was time to head home and wait for Joe to get back from his ride.

Baby Shower & Family BBQ

Saturday was a big day, and a long one. Krissy and I had run up to Albany the night before to get everything we needed for the baby shower and family BBQ - I didn't get home until midnight! I also had a great time - my sister-in-law is hilarious when she drinks Mtn. Dew!

Saturday morning I was over to her and Eli's house to help get the baby shower all set up. Things got cooking about 1:30 when Dad and Dina finally showed up.

The shower itself went well. We had plenty of food, and there were a ton of really cool baby presents. Dina made Dad sit in on the gift opening with her.

And of course it wouldn't be a baby shower without a ribbon hat! Krissy's mom did such a great job putting that together, it was the prettiest ribbon hat I ever saw. :)

Once the shower guests had gone, it was time to get the family BBQ underway. Uncle Andy had brought Meme's coleslaw and some ribs covered in a spicy new sauce he found in a magazine. Aunt Marge's contributions (able to feed at least 100 people, LOL!) were ten pounds of Meme's potato salad, a huge pot of fruit salad, and a crock pot full of baked beans. Not to mention two cakes. I made a big bowl of macaroni salad and a tray of brownies.

It was fun getting to hang out with everyone! Even Dad got into the act, running the kids around the yard in their wagon.

And the kids had a blast all day, playing out on the trampoline and with the wagon. Even though Andrew is 14 now, he hung with the younger kids all day. What a guy! They all played outside until after dark.

I had a really great weekend, but I sure was happy to go home at the end of the day!

Saturday at the Drive-In

Saturday was drive-in day, and it sure was fun! Joe, Xander and I went to Eli & Krissy's for dinner (BBQ!!) and then headed out to the Unadilla Drive-In. Once there we hooked up with one of Eli's work buddies and his family and friends, so we were quite a crew.

We got there at 7pm, and the first movie (Shrek 4) didn't start till about 8:45, so there were some boredom issues with the kids. They played freeze tag for a while, and some other kids joined in. And some of us played a game where we would guess the name and something bizarre about the people around us (for example - that guy over there in the green shirt, his name is Bud and he invented Post-its).

Finally, after several bathroom and concession stand runs, the movie got started. I can report that Shrek 4 was okay - funny parts, but not as good as the first two - and I enjoyed Iron Man 2. Not to mention all those good previews, my favorite part!

Xander fell asleep before the second movie started, and ended up in the car sleeping in his booster seat. Most of the other kids didn't make it through Iron Man 2 either. By the time the movie was over and we got all packed up, it was about 1am, and another hour before we got home. Yawn!

But I had fun, and I'd definitely go again. Long live the drive-in!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE AND MAUI!

Two of my favorite people are sharing a birthday today!

Happy 84th to my grandmother, Rose (aka Maui)! Lookin' good!

And a very Happy 38th to my very own hubby, Joe! Love you!

Easter Weekend - A Review

Easter Weekend was full and busy. And the weather was just beautiful - 80s on Friday and Saturday, 70s on Easter. Here's what we did:

Thursday

Easter Egg coloring. This being Xander, we got the Monster Egg kit that came with stickers, monster hair and pipe cleaners. Xander has gotten much better at coloring eggs - he lets them sit in the water longer so the colors are better, instead of giving everything a cursory dip in his haste to get to the next egg. And Joe likes to do multi-colored eggs, so he was messing around with that.

Me, I did two. One yellow, one blue, and I left them in the coloring until they were nice and bright. No pastel eggs for me!

Saturday

We went up to Xander's school for some Easter activities. There wasn't a very big turn out, maybe ten kids, but Xander had fun. He got his face painted, played on the playground, colored an egg, and colored a picture.

The big highlight was the Easter egg hunt in the gym. He ran around like a crazy boy until he had a plastic bag full of eggs. Mostly hard candy and gum, though, not a lot of chocolate (the good stuff). We left after that, and he got to go home and play with the hose - one of his favorite things to do. After he went to bed I had to finish prepping for Easter morning.

Sunday

Easter morning. Xander got up at the ridiculous hour of 6am and by 7am he was going insane because he wanted to hunt for his eggs but had to wait for Joe to get home from work (which didn't happen until about quarter of nine). The Easter bunny left Xander a picture map of egg locations, and an empty basket to put the eggs in. The eggs were filled with chocolate (the good stuff!) and Legos. And the last thing to find was the Easter basket, which was full of dragon-related toys and a Scooby-Doo video.

My mother-in-law came up for dinner. Xander dragged her outside almost immediately, where he showed her how fast he can ride his bike, and how well he can cast his fishing pole. They also talked about what a grouchy father he has, LOL! (Quote of the Day: "You don't have to be mean to me just because Grandma's here.")

I made a big old spiral honey ham, mashed sweet potatoes, and broccoli. Theh ham came out totally awesome (good thing, since we'll be eating it all week) - Jean loved it so much she was gnawing the bone! Just kidding...that bone went home as an Easter present to her dog Smokey.

We finished up the day with some pictures, Xander feeling sick, and Joe scooting off to work. Now starts birthday week - gah!

Family Game Night & Carlyn's Birthday

Whew, glad this is working today! I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, waiting to see what I was going to post. LOL!

Saturday was Family Game Night at Eli & Krissy's house, although it started earlier in the day with scrapbooking and the big boys playing Texas Hold'em. (Sad to have to report here that Eli's head is not nice for rubbing, but stubbly like sandpaper. Sigh.)

Krissy made chicken and dumplings for dinner, which is always delicious, and then the grown-ups got down to the serious business of playing Pirate Dice while the kids ran around outside until after dark.

As always, we are very serious and mature when we play games together. Ha!

In between rounds of dice, we had cake and ice cream to celebrate Carlyn's 11th birthday.

We finished up around 9pm. I sure do like Family Game Night! Next time we might bust out Yahtzee, or play more Harry Potter Clue. You just never know. Everyone had a good time and there was a minimum of fighting between the kids. Can't ask for more than that!