Family Alive

Whew!  This early part of the week has been spent recovering from an overwhlemingly busy weekend.  Here’s the recap:

Friday

• Early doctor’s visit with Josiah downtown at Children’s – all’s well, no problems with his urinary reflux, and he continues to do well.  We hope maybe at the next visit in August we’ll find he’s outgrowing the problem.
• Consignment sales have started!  We found some deals – yeah!
• Dinner with Brian’s parents and his aunt and uncle from Nashville
• Scrapbooking!  My dear sweet husband took care of the kiddos while I escaped for a few hours to scrapbook with friends from church.  Yeah!

Saturday

• Early bike ride for Brian, while Analise, Josiah and I started getting ready for a what we thought would be a small gathering (8 people, 6 kids) of his cycling team for a pasta dinner.  
• Somewhere in the day, I move 4 loads of laundry though the wash and dryer, but no time to fold…
• Afternoon – we find out that 12 or so people and 8 kids would be coming for dinner.  Scramble to plan more food and quick get a babysitter to help out.
• Evening – a great evening with Brian’s cycling team… 14 people, 6 kids, 4 jars of spaghetti sauce, 3 lbs of ground turkey, 3 loaves of bread, double batch of my favorite hot spinach artichoke dip, 2 bags of salad, one delectable chocolate bundt cake.  After everyone leaves, the dining area (i.e., front living room and dining room) and kitchen look like a tornado has hit.  But it was fun!  To bed without worrying too much about the mess because we’ve got a super-busy Sunday…

Sunday

• Brian has a bike race, so I get the kiddos and I out the door to church.  Materials for my Sunday School lesson aren’t available which is frustrating. 
• After church I’m supposed to go to a children’s ministry meeting, but I’m overwhelmed with the kids and starved because I couldn’t mange to get myself enough to eat in the busy-ness of getting us all to church on time, so I sneak out to the usual lunch with Brian’s parents.  
• At his bike race, Brian gets 4th… A bit disappointed because he thinks he could have won the race.  I’m sure he’ll share the details.  
• I have a Tastefully Simple party (the first one not hosted by me!) to do, so I spend the afternoon getting things ready in my already-messy kitchen.  
• Brian relieves the fill-in babysitters (ie, his parents) at does a wonderful job on his own with the kiddos until I get back.  What a pleasant surprise… both little ones are in bed!  Good job, Brian!
• The party went GREAT!  I had fun, the hostess was great to work with and we got quite a few orders.  Yeah!  I’m in business!
• Collapse into bed exhausted after the weekend, ignoring the 2 baskets overflowing with clean clothes in my room and the kitchen disaster area.
• (The link above is my own Tastefully Simple website!  Anyone can order through it, and your order will ship directly to you.  How convenient!)

Monday

• Whip up some Tastefully Simple snacks for a Women’s missions meeting at Brian’s parents church.  (New spring/summer items, a Key Lime Cheese Ball and a Dried Tomato and Garlic Chicken cheese ball with this pesto mix).  The kitchen gets worse…  But everyone loves the treats, and we take the leftovers to Brian’s office.
• Finally, we’re home, and the kitchen is un-ignorable:)  I get it mostly cleaned up, but thank goodness for Moe’s Southwest Grill and their Kids-Eat-Free Monday deal (Brian gets a huge burrito, and I share Analise’s huge kid-sized burrito.  With extra queso sauce, we can eat for $10!)!  
• The laundry is now taking over the couch in the den… good thing we have a sectional sofa with 11 feet of space!

Tuesday

• Finally!  A day to catch up!  Nowhere to go, except school for Analise.  Josiah naps all morning and I start to get CAUGHT UP.
• I get all my TS orders placed, and the party wrapped up.  Yeah! 
• The rest of the house is nearly back in order after the busy weekend, I’m sure only to unravel as this week comes to and end with another busy weekend!

 We’re going to Knoxville on Friday/Saturday for a bike race, coming back to be in charge of the nursery on Sunday morning, leaving church quick for Brian’s Sunday bike race, coming home to host a home church meeting at 7pm.  Whew! Oh well… such are the circles of our life!  Now you’ re all caught up with us!