Labor Day 2014

I love it when a plan comes together!  Or in our case, a whimsy!

When I was doing my shopping on Friday, it was in my mind that we would be having a bar-b-que on Monday, so I talked with the girls and they told me the various things they wanted to make (Not have ME make, mind you, they wanted to do the prep themselves). Laurent wanted to make a sour cream dill potato salad (her favorite); Megan wanted to make fresh guacamole and pico de gallo for chips. I thought baked beans would be a necessary addition to the table, and we all agreed Paul’s famous garlic butter grilled chicken was the perfect centerpiece for the meal.  And home-made cookie monsters for dessert!  So I got the schtuff, and then we went about the rest of our weekend, attending church, etc., and only Monday morning did we realize we had yet to invite people over to enjoy the repast.

So first we thought of the Jezeks, put out an invite, and found out late morning that they would love to come.  Then we found out the East End Heidmanns weren’t planning anything, so they were invited, and by 2:30 our house was an absolute din of chaotic fun with 20 kids and 8 adults (and one extremely patient and good tempered Pit Bull named Guinevere).  The East End cousins had not met our Jezek friends before, and as I expected, they all got on like long lost buddies, and we had a really grand, loud afternoon of fellowship together.  Laura added a delicious taco salad to the menu, and Jessica showed up with Ribs for the grill! Both went over supremely well, as did Jeff’s contribution of hot dogs, fancy blue cheese burgers, gourmet sea salt potato chips, and every kind of frozen fruit he could find, along with juices and ginger ale, to make a kid-friendly sangria!

The only thing that would have slightly improved the day would have been weather cool enough to permit expanding the play area into the out of doors (and even as hot as it was, several kids spent some quality time in the front yard).  I meant for the kids to bring along water weaponry for a water fight, but I don’t think my message got through to everybody in time (thus it goes when flying by the seat of your pants). But Jessica did bring along a “peep” — one of their wee newly hatched chicks, which the all girls especially enjoyed seeing.

Anyway, we’ll have to plan more of these gatherings during the winter months.  Just imagine how much fun we’ll have when Doug, Sarah, and their five arrive!! 😀

The first few on this album were taken by me before everyone arrived, during prep time (which was obviously the time when Junior decided he really wanted to do some “cool work”!).  Pics from the festivities were snapped primarily by Megan – she who prefers no-flash…. it does make for a different look, but some fun for me (and interesting results) in post-processing. I loved how the photos of Jenna and baby James turned out! Handing off my camera also usually results in pics I would never get… like that series toward the end with Geneva and her ghostly companion…