babies and frog legs

In June, Drew’s sister threw us a joint baby shower with Drew’s cousin Annie and her husband Keith who are expecting their first baby a month before us. It was a great chance to get to Missouri to see family since we won’t be traveling for a while (and missing another cousin wedding in September.)

There were yummy cookies shaped like baby carriages and fried frog legs! I’d never had frog legs before, but they were delicious – tasted a lot like chicken!

Kari planned a game for Drew and I and Annie and Keith – it was more of a race. We had to race against Annie and Keith by diapering and clothing a doll, eating a jar of baby food and then Drew had to suck down a baby bottle full of beer.

I started with diapering the doll to show Drew how it’s done, then he had to undiaper and rediaper and cloth the doll.

Then we both scarfed down a little jar of baby food. It was fruit – not bad!

Then Drew tried sucking down the beer in a slow flow bottle and quickly decided to just down it without the lid, or else we would have been there all night.

We won!

We got a lot of nice loot for the baby and plenty of cute outfits!

Thanks family for the wonderful shower and all the great gifts!

it’s summertime and the living is easy

A few weeks ago, we traveled up to Missouri for a family reunion of giant proportions. The family just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This family reunion, which happens every three years, is Drew’s grandma’s side of the family – so it’s her’s, her brothers’ and her sister’s families (kids, grandkids, great-grandkids). So that means lots of people.

We started the weekend out at Drew’s uncle’s house with most of the family gathering for a cookout. This year there just seems to be more young kids. And they’re all running around all over the place. It must be tiring to run after them! I wouldn’t know…I just sat back and snapped a few photos.

Before it got too dark, we attempted to assemble the whole gang together for a picture.

The next day was a full day of family fun at the local park. The guys played some wiffle ball like they’ve done every reunion since they were all kids.

They take it quite seriously.

The younger generation looked on, picking up pointers.

The girls opted not to sweat it out. We’d rather pose for pictures.

And play with the kiddos.

Later in the evening, we ate (again) and had a local guy come sing us some tunes.

The little kids danced. (Or twirled.)

And the big kids danced too.

Drew hung out with his bro-in-law.

Some little kids played duck-duck-goose.

Others dragged chairs around the floor. You know, just for fun.

And a few kids even sang for the crowd.

The evening wrapped up and we all said our goodbyes.

Drew and I stayed for another day and spent time at his grandparents house, where we looked forward to Grandma’s fried chicken and watched a nice thunderstorm blow in.

It was actually bad enough that we hid out in the basement for a while. A lot of trees in the neighborhood blew down, shingles flew off roofs, and the power went out for six hours. After the storm blew over, we sat outside until dark, and then went inside and lit some candles while we waited for the power to come back on.

So plans for fried chicken were scrapped. Instead, dinner was Pizza Hut and a nice bottle of wine by candlelight. And that made for a memorable end to our family reunion trip! (Thankfully, Grandma made her fried chicken for lunch the next day, so we didn’t miss out before our flight home!)

See the rest of my pictures from the family reunion on Flickr.

*Blog post title is a lyric from the song “Summertime” by Sam Cooke

missouri loves company

In mid-August, I made my second trek to Kansas City (a weekend after visiting there for my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party) for Aaron and Chrissy’s wedding (Aaron is Drew’s cousin.) It was nice to see a bit more of the city, but boy was it hot! We stayed at the Argosy hotel and casino where the reception was held. The ceremony was at a beautiful church in downtown KC. It went down as another fun family wedding!

Almost everyone from Drew’s mom’s side of the family came – perfect opportunity for another family picture. Each year, the photographer has to get on a taller ladder to fit us all in. In the ten years since I’ve known Drew, 18 people have joined the family! And it just keeps growing!

The bride and groom, Chrissy and Aaron

Grandma with her sister and granddaughters

Grandpa and Grandma with some of their great-grandkids

The live band really knew how to throw down

See the rest of my pictures from Aaron and Chrissy’s wedding on Flickr.

*Blog post title is a lyric from the song “Missouri Loves Company” by Ringo Starr

me and my cousins and you and your cousins

Over 4th of July weekend, we drove down to Missouri to see Drew’s relatives and to celebrate two upcoming weddings in the family – Aaron (Drew’s cousin) and Chrissy and Kari and Brett – by having a joint wedding shower at his uncle’s house. It gave us a chance to see a lot of family – aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins’ babies. Yes, there are a lot of babies. Actually more toddlers than babies. Three were born within 3 weeks of each other last year, so they’ve all just turned 1! And boy are they cute!

Layne

Avery

Molly

We watched some fireworks launched by the neighbors, which looked more like a big city production than backyard firecrackers.

Played some shuffleboard…

On the 4th, we got together for the wedding shower. Had some great food and played a game. We broke into teams to answer trivia questions about the couples. Of course our team won after answering most questions right. Since we won, Drew and I had to go head to head against Kari and Brett to see which couple could tear open a pack of powdered donuts with our teeth and eat all 4 donuts the fastest – all while having our hands tied behind our backs! By the time Drew and I teared open the package, I looked over at Kari and Brett and they already had all 4 donuts in their mouths. They were serious competitors.

The bride (right) and her Matron of Honor (and cousin) Annie

The soon-to-be-wed couple

Then it was time for the couples to open presents!

All the while, the kids were running around the yard and helping open presents. They had fun playing on a new toy – an airplane teeter-totter. Even the “big kids” got in on the fun!

We had a blast with everyone and it was a great way to continue a busy, but fun summer. We’re looking forward to Aaron and Chrissy’s wedding in KC in August, and then Kari and Brett’s in IL in September! See the rest of my pictures of the weekend on Flickr.

*Blog post title is a lyric from the song “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend

our words are strong and our hearts are kind

Last weekend we made the long trek down to Missouri for a much anticipated wedding – Annie and Keith’s! Annie is Drew’s cousin and she’s the first girl on that side to get married. I had a good time tagging along with the girls for our mani/pedi’s and lunch the day before. As always, it was nice to see all the family. I met all three new babies – Molly, Layne and Avery. So cute!

Here are some of the highlights from the weekend.

Cutting the cake

Kari (my sister-in-law and the Maid of Honor) and the Bride

Me and my dapper date

First dance to “You Are The Best Thing” – Ray Lamontagne

Father/Daughter dance

Grandma with all her granddaughters

See more pictures of the weekend on Flickr.

*Blog post title is a lyric from the song “You Are The Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne