Hermana

My sister is here! She lives in Costa Rica, Central America, but I picked her up from the airport last night and she is sleeping in my guest room with my dog right now as I type!!

I'm definitely bringing my sister for Show and Tell today. Hopefully the kids will be able to see straight enough to talk to her. They're just a little excited that today we start our Christmas Break. :)

Sisters! How convenient that we stood in birth order from left to right last Christmas when we took this picture. Em, in the middle, is with my today! And tomorrow, the whole family will be here, including our baby sis!! If you can't tell from all the exclamation marks, I'm excited!!!!!

My Boys!!!

As per tradition, we got together with our dear friends over Thanksgiving! And I got to spend time with my favorite little boy!!

Ollie and I may have had a little fun together...

And this time, we added a new little guy to the mix! Benji is two months old and smiley!

It was nice to catch up with their parents, too. :)


I love them!!!

Thanksgiving!

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with my husband's family! We played...

We cooked...





And (not pictured) we ate!!! If my experience is any indication, a good time was had by all!

Kids III

I know I've had a theme going on these blog posts lately...but I can't help it if my friends and family have such cute kids! Tonight I'm featuring Miss Megan...daughter of el maestro's cousin!

*swinging photo courtesy of el maestro*

So fun to spend time with her and her family!

Kids

I don't have the time today to go into all the detail I wanted to...but I just HAVE to post these pictures.

So suffice to say, of all my 45 cousins (seriously), Abby is a dear one! And she has the most beautiful, sweet, and just plain pleasant little girl! Abby's in town, and since she's busy working (and cooking up the world's next most fabulous baby) I had the chance to "watch" Marisol for a day.

Now, technically I think I was fulfilling a lifelong obligation of mine. See, Abby watched me when I was little, and my mother promised my future services to her. I really only have one memory of being watched by Abby...she was making cookies, and was sure to leave a nice amount of the cookie dough (with chocolate chips) in the bowl for me! I don't know what I was like as a kid, but I think I got the good end of the deal!

Anyway, on to the good stuff!



This is the reason I said "watch" in quotations. It turned out to be fairly easy...

We did play in the sprinkler!

And every little girl needs to feed her grandma some stone soup!

Thanks, Abby, for letting me spend time with your wonderful baby girl! Can I come back? :)

Better Homes and Gardens

As I previously documented, we had a wonderful time at our Mexican themed BBQ this past weekend. But as popular as the food was, I think that the greatest attraction was the beautiful venue! My in-laws live on The Ranch...a beautiful place in the middle of nowhere! They bought the property almost 20 years ago and have literally built it from the ground up--we're talking they cleared the trees and laid the foundation and BUILT the place.

In true Evergreen State style, this place is surrounded by all kinds of tall trees and green undergrowth. And Beanball and her husband have made this wilderness into a beautiful home! Their personal touch is everywhere...


They set up many intimate conversation areas throughout the yards...most complete with fresh flowers from the garden!

I love the eclectic mix of furniture styles and finishes!

I think it gives the whole place a feeling of "home."

The fire pit and benches were built by my husband and his brother as a Father's Day gift a few years ago. They're nestled in a grove of vine maples--the perfect place to cook a smore!

The styling is great, but the plants are Beanball's signature! There are beautiful flowers and herbs spilling from every surface...

And guess what? I didn't even take pictures of the garden, hen house, or duck pond!

Thanks, Beanball and D, for sharing your beautiful place with the rest of us!

Comida Mexicana

Translation: Mexican Food

Once upon a time there were four lovely couples. They met at their local church and found that each family consisted of a mom, a dad, and a baby boy. The four families became fast friends!

About three years later, each family had a new addition--another baby boy! Which makes four families with four sets of brothers. These brothers grew up together and became known as The Boys. Among the four families there are many more siblings that are wonderful and loved, but the bond of the first eight boys is something that very few people have in their lives.

If you haven't guessed, my husband is one of The Boys. And I am what has become known as one of The Wives. And this past weekend, up at the Ranch, my husband's family threw a huge Mexican BBQ for all of the four families. It was a day of fantastic food and fabulous friendship.

We feasted on the world's most delicious tamales, previously recorded here. I'm so grateful for the amazing kids and parents I get to work with!

We made sopes, a deliciously fat corn tortilla filled with refried beans, cheese, and topped with cilantro...

Of course there was plenty of carne asada...

And an assortment of rice and beans to go with it!

The Ranch looked so amazing that I'm going to dedicate an entire blog post to the gorgeous flowers and cozy seating areas...but I'll tell you now that everyone enjoyed themselves! It's always fun to catch up with old friends, and even better when you're in a place that's worthy of its own magazine article!

There was, of course, dessert! Along with some cakes for a couple of birthday boys, we made smores and dough gobs! (What is a dough gob, you ask? It's a canned biscuit, wrapped around a stick and roasted to perfection, then filled with butter and jam...or chocolate if you're me or Beanball...)

They were delicious! And the dough gobs were called so many names...from dough bobs to dumb balls...it was cracking me up!

It's so much fun to be a part of this family...

Another Graduate!

Two weeks ago, my baby sister graduated from High School! She was in the top ten students of her 300+ graduating class. And she sang a rockin' solo when her Jazz Choir performed at graduation! She's working this summer and will be heading off to college in the fall. Which freaks me out considering I remember when she was born. I brought her to first grade for show and tell!



As I type, she and my mom are in DisneyLand...celebrating with my sister's best friend (another graduate) and her mom. Have fun! And tell Cinderella hello! She always was my favorite...

Graduated!

This past weekend El Maestro and I drove many hours to return to our Alma Mater--for my sister's graduation! She majored in Cross-Cultural Studies and Peace Studies, so now she's all set to save the world. Soon she'll be moving over to my neck of the woods to work so that she can make some money before she heads off on a year-long volunteer position in Costa Rica!

Congratulations, Em!

Get Set...

Today is my last day to prepare for the upcoming school year! This evening I'll be in my classroom greeting students and parents as they come find our room and drop off school supplies. Then tomorrow, bright and early, we'll start our exciting year!

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had this weekend with my family! Very nearly everyone was in town! (And that's saying a lot when you're talking a few of my great aunts and uncles, 5 sets of aunts/uncles, 16 cousins, their husbands/wives, and six great grandkids!) Until I can sort through the 500 pictures we took this weekend, I'll just give you a glimpse into my family. This is my grandma, who is 80 years old, about to whack her birthday pinata...

We sure know how to party.