What A Weekend!!!

We had the first frost of the season this past week- and a family tradition of ours is to have a Chili Party the weekend after the first frost.
Soooo.......I went to the supermarket and got all the stuff to make a HUGE pot of chili, sharp cheese to shred and sour cream to top it off with, and both corn chips and bread for garlic toast to go with it. I had some leftover pineapple-coconut cake (which, by the way, gets better if you let it sit for a COUPLE /Three days in the fridge before serving it!!)for dessert too. I had to make 3 gallons of sweet tea which ALL my kids love and there was hot chocolate had anyone wanted it instead.
So the kids came over- my son actually came that morning and he and my baby brother did yard-work all day- and we all ate chili. Wiped it out almost. I actually had to put some back for Paulius since he had been up all night long(he isn't able to adjust his sleep schedule like I do) and was asleep while the party was going on.

It was the first one we have had that Clay hasn't attended and he and Kathy were missed terribly. Of course there were a lot of stories about all their antics when they were little, a lot of tears as well when it hit us that these were the stories we would be sharing, but no new ones would be made involving him.
But that's not quite true either.

Julie related a story from just last week about her brother........
She said she was driving down the road and her baby, Christopher, was bugging the heck out of his brother in the backseat. So she told him to stop several times. Finally she had had e-nough and so she started fussing at him about misbehaving when all the sudden he pointed out the window and said in a VERY URGENT voice, "LOOK MOMMY!!!!!" She said the urgency in his voice prompted her to slow to an almost stop and look at what he was trying to show her. She couldn't see anything so she asked him, "What is it baby? Mommy can't see anything- what are you trying to show mommy?" And he calmly said, "A Tree!"

Clayton used to do that to me when I was fussing at him and he knew he was in deep trouble. Christopher is only three and has never HEARD Clayton say that!!
I told Julie that Christopher must have had an Angel named Clay on his shoulder whispering what to do to divert her attention from Christopher misbehaving!

We all laughed and agreed.

I'm coming to realize that just because Clay is gone from us- doesn't mean that he isn't WITH us still.



Another thing that happened this weekend was that Paulius tried to print my photos so I could start my scrapbook for the kids for Christmas. He printed one off and it did just fine- then he tried to print off the rest and the printer just decided it didn't LIKE that photo paper and it wasn't going to print anymore on it.
And even after an hour of Paulius messing around with various things trying to make it start working again- it was adamant that it was NOT co-operating. So we gave up. That paper is relagated to use for use in the scrapbooks- but as frames and snowflakes and autumn leaves and such instead of photos. Which will be great for both me and Paulius because I can get some watercolors and markers and color them myself which will keep me occupied for HOURS, which, in turn, will keep Paulius happy because it will keep me out of his hair with my nonsense for a few hours!
The kids will get something hand-crafted special for them, so EVERYBODY wins!!!!


My mom came by as well. She showed me the photographs she had done at Glamour Shots.
Yes, 71 years old and she had her photos done at G-S.
Can you tell where I get MY audacity and obnoxiousness from? Yep- and her mother was the same as well. I LOVED my Granny Coyle! She was the most awesome woman I had ever come across in my life. She had 18 kids and ONE husband in her lifetime. And she could dish it out better than anyone I know. There was NO chance of getting by with a lie, fabrication, fib, fiblette, or even a detour around the truth with her.But she knew how to have fun- and MAKE fun as well.
She and all the girls in the family used to have a HAT DAY where they would all get together and have a picnic and every one of them had to wear a hat- the more obnoxious the hat the better. They ate- and drank- and took photos- and had a BLAST!
Occasionally for the family reunion she would command that everyone dress "Old Fashioned".
No one thought to NOT come old fashioned. If Granny wanted it- you just complied. Not because we were afraid of her-(Altho we could have been that as well)- it was because she would do anything in the world for us- and we did the same for her...because it's what families do. Or so we were taught.
I hope I can live up to her standard.

It was a GREAT weekend!