Catching up a little

I wonder how many other bloggers do something like this: in the midst of some funny/interesting/amazing event, she thinks to herself “I’m definitely going to blog about that!”  She takes several pictures and vows to blog about it as soon as possible. And then a couple of days go by, and something else funny/interesting/amazing happens, more pictures are taken, more vows made, more time goes by. And eventually, it all fades into the background.

So, I have a few quiet moments this morning (have to get up pretty early around here for that to happen) and I’m browsing through the photos on the laptop from the past few months and suddenly, this seems like the perfect time for a summary-type post.

So, while this may seem quite random, there is a common thread: all these pictures are from the laptop. How’s that for a theme? And before I start to feel too smug about getting this blog post done (finally!), I remind myself that there are actually lots more pictures on the other computer. Yikes! Oh well. Gotta start somewhere!

The Worleys visit the Worleys.

Back in April, we got together at Grandma Worley’s for a cookout. It was a mild, beautiful day, which is really amazing, considering the fact that 2 weeks before, we had a lot of snow! The kids had a lot of fun running around in the woods and playing in the little pond Uncle Rick put in.

What the girls probably remember most about that day was finally getting to meet cousin Nicole’s newest little one, Zavier. Sweet little guy who was happy to be held by all.

Back in the late 1970s, Mick’s dad bought this property from his parents that is located right next to theirs. He built the house just beyond some woods that separate the two properties. I took several of the kids on a hike through the woods and climbed up a little rise to show them this:

the beautiful pond that Mick’s Grandpa Worley put in decades ago. Mick spent many happy hours fishing on and around this pond. I went with him several times (caught a really big largemouth bass once!). I’ll never forget the time we were fishing and spotted a large, black snack slithering through the water in the general direction of our little rowboat!  For a split second, I didn’t know whether to stay in the boat or jump in the water and try to make a mad dash for the shore! We have great memories of being there, not the least of which were the many, many visits with Mick’s wonderful Grandma Worley. (Mental note: need to write a blog post about Great Grandma Worley!)

There’s nothing like visiting something from your past and finding that it looks exactly as you remembered it. I think that’s pretty rare.

Two Bruce cousins come for a visit – because six girls in the house just isn’t enough.

Back in April, Heather and Ron took a rare vacation, so two of the girls stayed with us. Anna divided her time between her caregivers and Mom and Dad.

They were here from Wednesday through Sunday, which meant lots of playing, giggling, late-night chatting and even quite a bit of work on a new production: a sequel to that great classic The Secret of the Vioin.

Alix and Kate joined the fun on Saturday night, so Sunday morning getting ready for church was fun. :-)  I really wanted to get a picture of the girls getting ready, but I was too busy and didn’t make it upstairs for a picture. Rachel said it was quite a spectacle to see everybody jockeying for position in front of the mirror.  :-D

Several nights during their stay, Erica entertained the younger girls with a show featuring many of their stuffed animals. The star was an interesting stuffed dog of Ellie’s named “Diddly” whose name, for some reason, was changed to “Old Joe Crotchety” for the show :-D This all usually started pretty late at night and went on for quite some time.

She had quite a rapt audience.

  

They spent a couple of days working on the drama, and I must say, as they get older, their costumes and props are getting much more elaborate and authentic-looking.

 

The acting ability is even improved: more dramatic.

 

The Bruce girls will be staying with us again towards the end of July, so hopefully they’ll be able to finish this elaborate production then. Filming delays are common in the industry, of course. I’m sure the final product will attract lots of attention and accolades at area film festivals.

Mother’s Day.

One of the fun things about this Mother’s Day was that all six girls sang together for the first time at Grandma Worley’s church. They sang “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” and did a wonderful job! Grandma was beyond thrilled and made us promise not to buy her any more Mother’s Day gifts. “The girls singing was my gift!”

One of these days, I want to go back through our pictures (yes, even the print photos <gasp>) and put together a collage of Mother’s Day pictures with Lois. We’ve been going to church on Mother’s Day with Grandma Worley since the girls were very young; I can’t even remember when we started doing it. I think it would make a fun collage.

And then it was on to Mom and Dad’s. I’m sure we were laughing at the kids in this picture.  :-D

That’s all for now. More to random, picture-filled posts to come!