Busy busy weekend

Leilani and her cousins torturing our dog Ben with a flashlight,
they thought it wa fu-nny! Poor dog.

We had such a BUSY weekend, but I don't have time to blog about everything, isn't that just the way it goes? A little from each day...on the 4th we went to Russell's brother's house for a family BBQ and pool fun with Russell's family, then we drove over 6 blocks to my parents house where we hung out and played with the other cousins, my bro and my folks. Orion wouldn't fall asleep at my BIL house so we put him to bed at Grandma's house, while we watched Shawn light fireworks. Two 4th of July parties, two exhausted kids, two extra tired parents!

My brother Shawn got a huge tattoo on Thursday, total shock, never thought he'd get one. Its actually kinda cool, its the symbol for the Alaskan Native tribe my family has heritage in. Its a raven (looks like a totem, not the scary claws out Poe bird). We belong to the Tlingit (pronounced Klinkit) tribe of Alaska. He has to go back to get it colored in, my sister in law is pissed he spent so much money on body art, priorities, the man has priorities.

Saturday we went to the farmer's market downtown, and I bought a Living Arts Bakery brownie, of course, and today I ate half... our dog ate the other half... he owes me a buck fifty!! Then we went to my neighbor's 7th birthday party, woohoo! Actually, our neighbor's are a blast, I love my block... the people who live around the little park I live on are all so cool.
Funny story.... Leilani is kind of scared of the 3+ year old boy who lives next door, he moves fast and is loud, we'll call him C. C was so sweet to her at the party, Leilani climbed up onto a chair while imitating the big kids, he went over, picked her up and plopped her down in the grass, then he led her by hand over to me to tell me what he'd done. After a few minutes he came back over, gently grabbed her hand and paraded her around the yard. He took her onto the patio, opened the cooler and gave her a bottle of water then walked her down and around. When he came to a shoe in the yard that was in her path, he kicked it out of the way, what a chivalrous little man. I told his dad, "She can't date till she's 16, so don't encourage it. :) " If she still likes C when they are older, I will be in for some trouble. C is who she talks to on her play cell phone all the time. Guess she's not so scared of him after all.

Last but certainly not least... today we had the beautiful and talented Bonnie Berry come take our family photos! Hooray! I have been waiting what seems like forever! Russell's family all lives here in Austin, but we have not had a picture taken of the entire family with all the grand kids. Bonnie was so patient with my inlaws, what a saint. Not to mention how cool she was with Leilani. She is camera shy and was having a difficult time adjusting to the commotion, she did warm up though, whew! I am sure Bonnie got LOTS of great shots, can't wait to see them!

Russell leaves for Ohio again tomorrow morning. :( Didn't he just get back?? Well, at least we'll see him for a week when we all go to Snowmass on the 20th! I miss him already and he hasn't even left yet! My mom leaves Thursday, I will be all alone, sigh. Lots of quality time with the kids! :)

Looking forward to the week... maybe it will be more restful than the weekend.