five generations on mother's day

well, really it's not special b/c of mother's day.....b/c we get together all the time. that's what's special about it! since before i was born my "extended family" has done everything together. i think i've mentioned before about my gramma sanders cooking for all 20-something of us. and gramma tally does the same thing when gramma sanders doesn't have dinner.

ok that's besides the point...i'm way off track here.......must be delirious with enjoyment of my first official mother's day. (last year i was pregnant, but my mom and i went to ky to visit my very mucho more prego sister)

so here's my mother's day in a nutshell, well maybe not if i get carried away.....which i am told i tend to do when i write. :)

last night nathan took me (and ace) out to dinner--carraba's baby!--and then we walked the mall and hit the sale at gap. i found a few shirts for under $5! we had to do our own family mother's day last night b/c the big fam was having dinner at uncle paul's today. that was a blast. oh, and i have a new favorite at carraba's (besides calamari) --mezalluna. it is excellent.

then today was baby recognition at church. this is where all the latest models get wheeled out onto the showroom floor. in other words, all the new babies of the year parade across the stage and show how cute they are and the dad's frantically recall their birth info. then we get a little blue or pink new testament from pastor doran (aka- uncle david) and when all the babies are introduced he prays for us as parents and for the kidos. it's great fun. a little nerve wracking for me personally, but hey i didn't have to say anything. i did all the hard work about 8 1/2 mos. ago. now, i have to say this...it is unavoidable. the thunder was stolen this year....several times. there were tons of babies parading across the stage. so cute, so lovable, so NOT triplets. yes, that's right. the sherflets came to church today. (looking adorable and smiling at everyone!) they walked up on stage and everyone just started giggling. it was too cute! tim had the two girls and adrianna had sebastian. btw, adrianna is looking fab for having 6 1/2 month-ish triplets!! but not to be outdone, connor started YELLING when uncle david was talking, praying...basically the majority of the time he was up there.

then uncle david does the recognition of women, mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and this year (thanks to connor!!) great-GREAT grandmothers!

we heard a phenominal sermon about how to teach our children (i may sum it up tomorrow...it was an excellent challenge to me personally and to parents and teachers and christians in general).

then family dinner with EVERYONE. mike, nic, and ava came and david is home from bj. then we were so exhausted we came home and crashed (all of us!) until time to get ready for church.

and even tonight was great. joel weaver (missionary to kenya) was in the pm service and it was great to see him and his wife, mary ann.....i was able to go to a Bible study with a group of believers in nairobi when we travelled through on our way home from africa. actually, i think we (jared compton, dan mcnamara, and myself) sang a song for them (quite impromptu as i recall).

so now here we are, ready to crash once again....looking around at my messy house and thinking maybe i should milk mother's day and turn it into mother's week! ok, i'll get back to business tomorrow.

so here are some attempts at a five generations group shot. you'll note that the photographer (nathan) had more trouble with the adults looking away, than with connor.

ok, you'll note that there is no picture here....unless you have air for brains. i can't seem to get my pic to upload. so i'll keep trying on another post. hey, my friend shyla finally had her little boy ON MOTHER'S DAY! what a treat! he's a doll baby...check him out.