I really can't believe that it is already September! Where has this year gone? :) Work has been getting pretty busy for me lately and of course our social calendar is always quite busy. This weekend we will actually be staying home - which will be nice! I apologize in advance for the long post today - let's see if I can do a quick recap of what's been going on since the middle of August.
Jersey Boys: As part of our Broadway Series package, we went to see Jersey Boys in downtown Columbus. It was a fun date night. My sister recommended this cute Italian restaurant and it was really good! (And prior to that night I didn't think it was possible to eat at an Italian restaurant and not eat any bread, but I proved that it was possible - thanks to my food diary with Elphie.) The show was also really good - we both enjoyed it. They used quite colorful language - kinda like the Jersey Shore, except they didn't use quite as many acronyms. It is a fast-paced show with tons of great music - we definitely recommend it if it comes to your city!
Hosting Book Club: One of my neighbors started a book club this spring. I wasn't able to attend the last book club, but I ended up hosting it in August at my house. For whatever reason they decided to do 2 books - I read one of the two. The book that I read was "Bossypants" by Tina Fey - it was kind of an auto-biography by her. Super easy read and very funny! Being a Saturday Night Live fan - I enjoyed reading about her time there. The other book that I didn't read was called "Nutureshock" and was more of a parenting book. My sister read it though, so I'm sure I can borrow it from her some time. There were probably about 9 ladies that attended - most of them were friends of my neighbor that I didn't really know. I had some wine, a veggie tray, fruit salad, and chips/hummus for them to snack on. I also made some cookies from some cookie dough that I bought from my niece/nephew's school fund-raiser. (Random: I learned that my next-door neighbor is allergic to peanuts - because she ate a cookie thinking it was chocolate chip and had to go home to get some Benadryl because they had peanut butter in them!)
Most of the book club was just us all mingling and chatting - but we did have some formal book club conversation as well. My neighbor that started the book club led the discussion. Now all of the other ladies (except me and my IVF buddy) had kids - so you can imagine there were a few times when the "Nutureshock" conversation got a little tense. My favorite part (sarcasm warning) was when one of the ladies asked, "Does everybody here have 2 kids?" and then everyone went around the circle saying how many kids they had. "Two!" "Two!" "One!" "Two!" Lovely, huh? My poor IVF buddy had to say "none" - but I think I was heading back to my seat from somewhere and managed to dodge that bullet.
A lot of the ladies have preschool age kids - so my sister was talking to them about preschool. After my sister said which preschool she had picked for my nephew, the lady responded with "Oh, we looked there, too." My sister didn't pry - thinking that there was probably some reason why they didn't pick it. But the lady continued to offer up that she didn't like it because the classrooms were so small. :) Just kind of an odd thing to share - something I would've kept to myself. (In my sister's defense, even though the classrooms are small - they do have 2 teachers for 12 kids, which is the best teacher-student ratio they found.) It was fun to host though and nice to meet the new ladies that I didn't know. Next month we are reading "The Help" - which I've heard lots of good things about. I bought it from Amazon and already started reading it on my Kindle. :)
There is always plenty of food at the reunion and lots of photos being taken by yours truly. This was the first year that the weather didn't cooperate. Every year we've been lucky to have beautiful weather - but this year it kind of sprinkled off/on throughout the reunion. We still had a good time though! And the past two years, we've had the paramedics called which was a little scary. The same cousin, Juanita (that is in her mid-80's), has passed out the past two years. After last year the doctor thought it was a mixture of wine and chocolate. When it happened again this year - we thought maybe the excitement of the reunion along with the wine and chocolate could've caused it. Both times she was okay and alert before the paramedics arrived. We will be hoping for no paramedics next year! The big group photo was taken right after the paramedics left. Luckily, Juanita is a good sport - because as everyone was saying "Cheese!" for the photo - someone yelled out "Wine & Chocolate" and everyone laughed. It was fun to see everybody and meet the new babies that have joined the family since the last reunion... 3 new girls: Abby who is almost 9 months, Evie who is almost 6 months, and little Gabby that is almost 3 months! Next year we will have Sissy's baby boy to introduce to the gang. :)
Arkansas Baby Update: Based on some posts by the baby's uncles on Facebook congratulating the new parents - it appears that the baby has arrived. But I haven't gotten any texts with an official update or the baby's sex or name. I just texted my cousin (brother of the new mama), "Has he or she arrived yet? :)" and he just responded with "Yes!" So now I know the baby has arrived just as I suspected...... I just texted the new daddy - we'll see if I get more information from him! So happy for my 79'er and her tall boy and their new son or daughter!!
Today was also my nephew's first day of preschool and it sounds like he had a great morning there. He's growing up so fast - such a little cutie. In closing, I'd like to ask everyone to keep PBR in their thoughts and prayers - we love you lots!!