Sunday and Monday

Thankfully, everyone didn't just run back home again after the party. We were so blessed as to enjoy two more full days with them, plus part of a third!

On Sunday, after church, we headed up to Lake Geneva for a picnic in the park, and an outdoor concert performed by the Lake Geneva Community Orchestra. The concert theme was "Animals," so the selection included Copland's "Outdoor Overture," John William's "Jurassic Park," Leroy Anderson's "Waltzing Cat," a medley of Looney Tunes music, Strauss's "Die Fledermaus," and more!

We got to sit directly behind the orchestra and right by the percussion section, which was fun - although somewhat startling at times! :-)

Uncle Dick and William, enjoying the lovely - if a bit warm - afternoon.

Lunch was delicious, too!!!


Erica with The Sistahs: Clorinda, Emily and Margaret.


The California Contingent: Daniel, Aunt Emily, Erica, Uncle Michael - we missed you Anna (& Tony)!

On Monday...

On Monday, the guys engaged in a small paintball war in our yard...


Apparently they had lots of fun!


While the war raged out front, the ladies sat out back relaxing and chatting on the porch.


Then, sadly enough, came the closing dinner. Not that anyone was sad that dinner came, it was only sad to consider that this was the last time we'd all gather around the meal table together during this visit. But if you think that stopped us from enjoying our meal, think again! :-)



And, of course, we had to gather for some final fun and lovely quartets before heading to the "theater" in our basement where we watched a slide show of the 700+ pictures we had taken over the week and enjoyed them all over again!

Afterwards, Grandma headed up to bed, but the rest of us sat up talking until near midnight before finally turning in. One of the first trains leaving town on Tuesday morning took with it the first ones to leave us, and later that afternoon the rest bid adieu and started on their journey home. Now we are left with closer relationships spanning the miles between us, lots of memories to enjoy - and the pleasure of anticipating "next time!" :-)

We love you aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandma! Don't stay away too long!

Birthday Party!

The site of Grandma's birthday celebration happens to be the same facility that our church is now meeting in - and just on the other side of "the block" from us. Of course, as we live in farm country, our "block" has a perimeter of about 7 miles... still, it's very literally just around the corner from us and VERY convenient!


As some of us finished the dinner preparations, some sat around and chatted...


...others provided lovely background music! Some of you may be familiar with Aunt Clorinda and Aunt Emily's music from Jeanine's wedding. Living in opposite corners of the country, they don't often have opportunity to play together, but they enjoy it when they do... and so do we!


Erica and Joanna.


Finally, time to eat! Meatballs, lasagna, garlic bread, salad...


Aunt Lori, Uncle George, Grandma.


Uncle Dick, Aunt Clorinda.


Mangia!

After Dinner Entertainment:

Ed Sullivan (aka Uncle George) showed up to host a special "Big Shew" in honor of Grandma's 80th birthday. Oh, what fun we had! Laughter and shouting, cheering and applause!


Lots of music...

...the Erberantey's showed up to sing, too...

...more music...

...ah, yes, and some juggling...

...and a skit...

...and another skit...

...and more music...

...and yet more fabulous music...


...and some mystery artwork...


...and Banjo Joe...


...and still more music...


...we even had a visit from Topo Gigio who came to say goodnight...


...all presented before an extremely enthusiastic and appreciative audience!


Jake captured it all on video, and we look forward to getting a copy of the DVD from Uncle George and enjoying the evening all over again!


Happy Birthday, Grandma!
(Corrine blew out the candles before Grandma could, so we had to relight them and do it again!)

The Guest of Honor!


Grandma and Erica dancing the Lindy! Erica also taught some dance steps to the rest of us, as well.


Then it was time to clean up...


...and wash up...

...well, some of us cleaned up! :-) Yes, finally the party was over... but the fun continued for a couple more days!!

Progressive Dinner

As our entertainment for Friday evening, we held a progressive dinner. Our first stop was at Nathan & Jeanine's home for punch and hors d’ oeuvres! Here some of us got to meet Uncle Bill for the first time!


Aunt Emily, Corrine and Winston spent some time getting to know each other on the front porch!


Our second stop along the way was at Jeremy and Sara's home for the main course!


Grandma, Aunt Clorinda, Aunt Lori and Daniel in the food line!


(Corrine and Caroline)
While these cousins had lots of relatives to meet during the week, they already know each other quite well!


The third, and final, stop for the evening was back to our place for dessert...


(Cousin Erica)
...ice cream sundaes!


Good to the last bite!

Food and Fun

Well, the big bash is behind us, now. Everyone has returned home or is at least en route. It is now time to sort through the 700+ pictures we took and smile and remember, and thank God for the wonderful and delightful people whom we get to call "Family." Of course, not everyone was able to make it and we missed the handful of absent cousins. But those of us who were able to gather from the distant corners of the country had a great time and can't wait until "next time" whenever that may be!

Seeing as this was the Italian side of the family that was getting together, you could sum up the week in just a few words: Food, Fun, and Music! The big birthday bash for Grandma's 80th birthday was held on Saturday, before that, we had fun rehearsing, visiting, and eating!

Uncle Dick (from Maine) spent time working with Josiah on his cello music/technique.


(Cousin Daniel, Jonathan, Aunt Emily)
Rehearsing for the Big Bash...


(Aunt Emily, Joanna, cousin Daniel, Aunt Clorinda)
...and more rehearsing...


...Grandma relaxing with a book, while everyone else is getting ready for her party!


Being rather warm and humid throughout the weekend, the pool got a little bit of use, too!


Looking through old photo albums.


(Cousin Daniel, Uncle Michael, Uncle Dick, Josiah, Joshua)
Evening fun!! Yes, it was "Four on the Couch" and the guys won all three games.

Family

...and counting!

The hour for our guests to arrive is quickly drawing closer! And we're preparing to greet them with temperatures in the 90's, humidity around 90% and a couple more days of storms! We're praying that our AC unit and dehumidifier can handle the extra hours they are running these days, and that the air will dry up some for the weekend as most of our house doesn't have AC...

The last couple of nights have drenched us and brought with the downpour fairly severe storms. Not far from Nathan & Jeanine's new home a tornado was spotted and the tornado sirens in their town were set off for about 5 minutes during the night. Incidentally, their home is right next door to the siren - but Corrine and Winston slept right through the ruckus!

Joshua received a unique customer service call for Resounding Voice last night. Somebody had purchased CD's at a recent conference only to arrive home and discover they were the wrong size! Could she exchange them for a different size?

Mom is out with Joanna and Josiah for violin and cello lessons, and final grocery shopping for the coming week, and tomorrow we pick up Grandma from O'Hare and the celebrating begins!

Getting Ready

If this blog is suffering from lack of posts or news items of interest, it is because our attention is focused elsewhere. Next week we are expecting relatives from all corners of the country to show up and spend a week with us! The occasion? Grandma's 80th birthday celebration! We'll be having aunts, uncles, and cousins in from as far as Florida, Maine and California!

Of course, having company means finishing up all those around-the-house projects that have been on hold for who knows how long! So, paintbrushes have been out, closets cleaned, yard work done, deck building work done, windows washed, mosquito repellents experimented with, curtains washed, little details finished (like taking care of that missing outlet cover in the basement)...

Oh, and then there are all the good smells that have filled our kitchen and are now tucked away in the freezer waiting to be unveiled - breads, sauces, meats and more!

Joseph has spent a few afternoons this week helping out on a neighbor's farm - up in the loft throwing around bales of hay. Nice hot, itchy work!

Jonathan has been putting in his every spare moment this week working for Jeremy and Nathan in the continued absence of their needed additional crew member. The job is still available, by the way.

Thanks to Mr. Carlson we've also gotten lots of delicious organic strawberries. Sara came over and made strawberry preserves one evening this week, and we've filled up our freezers with strawberries, and strawberry sauce - and we've enjoyed consuming them before they made it to the freezer or pantry shelf.

Ah, yes, and it is zucchini season! Yum!!!