Nieces and Nephews

My sister and her kids came into town this weekend and it was two days of full family.  Starting at my mom's house all 20 or so of use had a bbq.  This involved lots of eating, drinking and laughing while the kids ran around with squirt guns, frisbees and lacrosse sticks.

The kids range in age from the youngest Helana at 3 to the oldest my baby at 14.  They played together marvelously.

Then my brother offered to take all the kids for a sleepover at his place.  Trampoline, swimming, late movies and more laughter.  Sunday was my turn. Bring the group to Elmwood to walk, shop and once again eat.  The kids played in the hot tub and ran through all three floors of the house.  It was awesome to see all the cousins enjoying each other so much.

Not forgetting the adults, we spent the time discussing everything from teacher salaries, past indiscretions, kid issues to our futures.  My family may make me crazy on a fairly regular basis but I realize how fortunate I am to have them as a support network and balancing foundation.

Check out these beauties!

The right person in the family

This was a crazy emotional weekend for me and I have found that being with just the right person fulfills just the right need.  Although the family may make us crazy sometimes, boy to they rally to make you feel better when you need them.

Feeling depressed - call brother.  2 1/2 lunch with our favorite waitress and 2 bottles of nice wine results in me turning from tears to laughs while discussing ridiculous new business options.

Feeling ugly - visit with baby sister.  She brings flowers and cookies.  We help her kids learn letters and realize it what is really important.

Feeling hopeless - open package from twin sister who just happened to send her favorite bundt cake mix.  Now am anticipating mail instead of fearing it.

Feeling lost - visit parents. Listen to stories of their parenting trials and take their acceptance of my mistakes.

Feeling overwhelmed - lay down on bed with husband who listens and smiles.

Today I am feeling lucky :-) and apparently a little sappy.

Flat Stanley Visits

Have you ever heard of the Flat Stanley Project?  Basically it's a literary program based on a children's book in which a paper doll is sent for an adventure.  When you receive the doll, you write in it's journal and take photos, then send the info back to the school child.  Kind of like that gnome in the Expedia commercials.

Flat Stanley arrived at our house this weekend, sent from our niece in Arizona.  I think it is a terrific experience for kids and of course we were happy to help.

So yesterday we spent the day like crazy people carrying a paper doll around Buffalo.  Holding it over our heads to take photos next to City Hall.  Doing the scavenger hunt to find the rock marking the spot President McKinley was shot, which by the was is on Fordham.  We even went as far as to drive the doll to Niagara Falls to give it a better location shot.  Today one of us (guess who?) will write up the journal adventure and send it back to Arizona.

This may be a successful learning experience for our niece and her classmates but it was also a blast for us.  We spend so much time planning vacations and organizing events, while a simply paper doll brought us a family adventure basically for free.