In Which I Ramble Incessantly

Last Sunday and Monday found us spending lots of time with friends and family. Sunday morning we went to the church I grew up in and introduced Emerson to several of my parents’ friends while the other three kids ran around the auditorium like banchies, Uncle Andy trailing dutifully behind. Brandon and I attended different churches growing up, so afterwards the six of us high tailed it across town to have after-church lunch with some friends from North Point.

We’re blessed to have so many friends who are more like family, and we were so thankful to get to have a chance this trip to see a few of them. There are people in our lives we can go months and months without seeing and then sit at at Taco Bueno with for two hours while our four tired children run around the empty restaurant and climb over empty booths and there’s no where else we would rather be. Some people just feel like home, and the Farras are some of those people.

Heaven forbid I actually get any pictures at lunch. I have 200 pictures of my children jumping into a pile of leaves, and none of lunch with the Farras.

We spent Sunday evening at the house with the Means family, enjoying tacos cooked on the griddle and suffering through family pictures with my children. Dinner with the Means used to be nine people: four Means and five Sloans. Now it’s four grandparents and their children, with five spouses and eight children under eight. Mass chaos ensued, stories were told, tears were shed, and Christmas gifts were fought over, and the two families who have been sharing dinners and coming in through the backdoor for the better part of 30 years didn’t bat an eye.

And did I mention that we took a few family pictures? After about 300 flashes and a little photoshop magic, a few decent shots were pulled from the rubble:

Six kids sitting on a couch with no screaming, biting, climbing, or tongues sticking out? No problem with a little photoshop!

My boys? They love their daddy.

I've never thought Dane looked much like Brandon until I saw this picture:

Monday was our last full day before we had to head back to Houston on Tuesday, and we decided to make the most of it and cram as much fun as we could in before we heading back to reality. Well, cram it in after waking up late and enjoying a leisurely breakfast and coffee time. We, along with John and Brandy, left the little kids with MoMo and Pappy and took Dane to see the new Narnia movie with the guys while us girls saw whatever romantic comedy is out right now. I didn’t really care what movie I saw, I was just glad for a coupe of hours where I got to sit in a theater full of adults without having to share my coke with anyone. And, of course, we saw someone we go to church with at the movies 250 miles away from home. Naturally.

After the movies, we scooped the kids up and high-tailed it over to visit Tommy and Kristin, some of our old friends. We caught up with them at their new home, and met their beautiful little girls for the first time while Aidan played with the pretend housekeeping cart. Never before have I seen a little boy vacuum with such gusto. Harper and Emerson spent the hour throwing toys on the floor and attempting to draw self portraits on the walls with chalk.

We left sometime before dinner and headed over to the Kilman’s house. We have known Tommy (this Tommy) and Rhonda since before high school (I would say for “almost 20 years”, but clearly we are not old enough to have friends for “almost 20 years”. Ahem.) Anthony, another old friend, joined us with his three-year old son, and we all sat around and watched our kids scarf down an embarrassing amount of pizza while we discussed how we are not old enough to have known each other for as long as we have.

I'm not sure if any of us realized Harper had a mouthful of brownies when we told her to smile for this picture:

Then our collective seven children retired to the upstairs playroom while us mature adults played Star Wars on the Wii.

Thankfully, Rhonda took 144 pictures of our evening together while my camera sat unused on the floor. Of those 144 pictures, approximately half of them were of Emerson hamming for the camera.

We threw the children onto the couch while we (unsuccessfully) attempted to take a picture of them all without anyone screaming.

It appears everyone was a little too distracted by Harper's antics to see what was going on at the other end of the couch.

Here is Tommy and Rhonda's son, Josh, with a little girl who is not allowed to date until she is 27.

We had a great time on our trip up to DFW over Christmas, and we're glad to be home, back to reality and the biggest pile of laundry I have ever seen.