A Weekend of Family

When Kalissa was pregnant I asked and asked her if we could host a baby shower for her.  She said she didn’t want one.  Finally I suggested we have my family over for a shower/Thanksgiving all at once.  She finally agreed to that…Saturday was the day we picked for that.

My family is really laid back…not judgmental…is totally at the event to visit and doesn’t care about much else besides good food.  Having them here is totally not stressful for me at all.  In fact, I did little house work out of the ordinary for them to come.  I did however do a little cooking in advance.  Remember, I said they liked good food.  These cookies, shown below, are a favorite of all my great nieces and nephews.

They are Ritz peanut butter cookies.  They taste like a cross between a Twix candy bar a Resse’s Peanut Butter Cup.  I spread peanut butter on a Ritz cracker then put another cracker on top.  After that I melt chocolate almond bark and dip them in.  The childcare kiddos love them too.  I made a double batch.

I had posted a picture of those cookies on Facebook.  Then our son Buck commented and said don’t forget Cheerio bars.  Recipe here.  So I made a batch of them.

Ruby was so happy because when I was moving a few tables and such around- her favorite toy was unearthed.

Then came family time.  Slowly they all started arriving….there was Nintendo for the kids.  Then a visits to the local park too.

My great niece Dawn loved baby Carver.

This isn’t the best picture of Kalissa but here she is after opening THE CUTEST GIFT….a homemade stack toy that my niece Jody crocheted for Carver while she was taking chemo treatments.  It is so adorable.  We were all in awe of Jody’s work.

Carver also got many cute little outfits.  We love the “uncle” shirt.  He’s going to be one well dressed little boy.

Then last year we started a new tradition.  We have a ccoking/baking contest.  Last year we had the “cheesecake off”.  Everyone had to bring some type of cheese cake to enter in the contest.  Roger and a couple other guys severed as the judges and pick winners.

This year we had a “pumpkin off”.  Whoever wanted could bring something that had pumpkin in it to enter in the contest.  I made my pumpkin roll.  Recipe here.  Kelli made my pumpkin dessert.  Recipe here.  We’re really flexible and there really aren’t rules.  Our son Buck brought things and entered a pumpkin alcoholic drink.

It’s silly fun but we like it.  Here Hubby is taste testing.

We had three judges.  Each picked their favorite.  Wendy, to the left made no bake pumpkin cheesecake.  She won last year with her no bake cheesecake.  This time she changed it up a bit adding pumpkin and won again.  Next is our daughter Kayla.  She had a cold so her husband did the cooking.  He made a pumpkin dip.  Here’s the recipe for that… one can of pumpkin, 1/2 cup brown sugar, teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, package of vanilla pudding and 1/2 cup milk.  Don’t use all the milk the pudding calls for…just the 1/2 cup I mentioned.  After that is mixed and creamy add a larger carton of Cool Whip.  Fold it in. That’s it!  Dip it in vanilla wafer cookies or graham crackers.  YUM.

My niece Jody to the far right made pumpkin bars.  She out did everyone by using an actual from scratch pumpkin.  They were our winners.

To make it all easier on me we decided to get a roaster of chicken catered in along with a roaster of broasted potatoes.  It made things so easy…I wasn’t stressed a bit and I could visit without worrying about the food!  I HIGHLY recommend it!

My family is really a unique bunch.  All of us have outside interests and are big into staying busy.  Hobbies and second jobs are very popular with all of us.  My niece Crystal has a hobby farm.  They raised four pigs this year and butchered them.  They have a whole bunch of rabbits and a whole bunch of kids too.  My son Buck made this wooden box contraption for her.  Crystal is going to enlist her kids in collecting the grass and baling it into small bales so she can feed the rabbits over the winter.  It’s really neat.

My sister picked up a bicycle seat off of Craig’s List and brought it for my brother who is restoring an old bike.  It’s crazy the hobbies we all have and things we do outside of our own jobs.

Speaking of crazy….my niece Ariel, the LuLaroe consultant, (find her page here) brought me my most recent order….  My new leggings.  Check them out.  There are walrus’ on them!!  I am not a skinny girl at all but I have good legs so I’m accentuating them and becoming a leggings girl.  It was so fun.  She brought them and I didn’t have to wait for the mail to deliver them.  My other niece had wanted to buy this same outfit so they all ribbed me until I tried on the outfit.   I love it.  This is definitely my new childcare outfit.  Silly, I know, but very comfy and fun!

Our daughter Kalissa has joined the throng of us who have too many irons in the fire and she to is becoming a LuLaroe consultant.  Find her page here.  That means I think there are more funky child related leggings in my future!!

My niece Crystal tried to steal the leggings away but I said- NO WAY!!

Everyone was very welcoming to Carver.  We also welcomed two other new family members.  My nephew and his wife adopted two teenaged boys from over seas.  They were able to come and join us as well.  The family is growing and growing.  We counted and figured out that Carver is my parents great grandchild #50.  WOW.  That’s a lot.  There are several grandchildren that aren’t married and some that don’t have children so I anticipate that number to grow.

Sadly, we all can’t ever make it to any events but I sure have fun no matter who comes.  My kids love seeing their cousins.  We did this last year for my birthday and now this year for Carver….I plan on making it a yearly event.  It’s so nice to be surrounded by people who “get me”.  Like I said, all of us have side jobs and/or are big into hobbies- just like me.

I can’t thank my family enough for making the drive and joining the fun.  I really appreciated seeing all of you!!