All in a Day's Work

It's been fairly hectic around here lately. And this past Saturday was even busier than most days. After making french toast for breakfast, I took some senior pictures of my nephew, then cleaned the house, decorated a cake, attended a Mother/Daughter banquet at church, raced home to a birthday party already beginning at my house, and then went down to the waterfront to take more pictures of my nephew. And somewhere in there I also changed several diapers, put children down for naps, fed them lunch, etc. Phew! I am still recovering from the day! :)

This was the first year that I was able to attend the Mother/Daughter Banquet at my church, and what an event it was! The men did everything - from cooking to serving to clean-up to vocal entertainment. :) The food was SUPERB! Each table got the same appetizers (which included shrimp scampi - Abby and I were in heaven!!!), everyone got a salad (well, the kids could choose applesauce), and then we got our choice of two soups, five entrees and three desserts. I picked butternut squash soup, pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and green beans, and seven-layer chocolate cake with ice cream. Mmmmm! It was scrumptious!! My nieces Hannah and Kresint were in town for the weekend, so they and my mom joined Abby and me (and Ben! :). The highlight for Hannah and Abby was the table centerpiece - goldfish swimming in a vase! And much to Abby's delight, we got to take the goldfish home.

We had a low-key, fairly last-second, combined birthday party for Ben's 1st birthday and my nephew Stephen's 18th birthday. Ben got a couple of neat toys from my parents, which Abby is enjoying a ton. ;o) Since I was pressed for time and had no great ideas, I went for the "minimalist" look for the cake. :)

And here are a few of the senior pictures I took of Stephen (as like many young men, he doesn't like to smile for pictures! Arg!).

On this week's agenda:

• Create Stephen's graduation announcements and mail them out.
• Begin planning Stephen's graduation party.
• Continue to watch Ben to see if something more than teething/a phase/allergies is going on (he's waking up to 7 times a night, very fussy during the day, and not eating well).
• Work on my Night Photography Assignment for my class.
• Do countless housekeeping tasks, paperwork items, and perhaps even fit in a trip to Albertson's to use some of those double coupons that are calling my name. :)