Monday Mystery

For the holiday weekend, Sandy and family were in town. We've been looking forward to it and had a jam packed itinerary. Morgan was supposed to be in Nicaragua to do some volunteer work for her nursing class. Since the state department had Nicaragua on the list of places NOT to visit, the trip was cancelled. We were glad of that as we had already decided that even if we lost the money, we didn't want her to go. The trip has been rescheduled for January---location TBD. That meant that she was going to be with us for the weekend. That definitely made Victoria happy!

So here's the mystery. Whenever Elizabeth is coming in town, she spends most of her time with Analise. This time, Analise moved in for the weekend. It's a mystery that "their" room could look like this in just a single day!

 You could hardly walk in the room!

Or the bathroom for that matter! I shouldn't be surprised. It's really no mystery. I lived exactly the same way when I was a teenager! Still, it really was a mystery to me at the time as to how it could get so messy so quick!

Analise graduated from the 8th grade. We decided to throw her a little party---any reason for a party in this family!

 We went to Stephanie's for happy hour and to open presents. A Kate Spade bag from the whole gang.

 A cute pair of hoop earrings from Elizabeth.

Of course, we had to have a cookie cake!

On Saturday, Analise left for a couple hours to go to a graduation party. When she got back, Merritt was with her. That little guy has been longing to hang out with the family and play a few games for a long time now. When Amanda was getting ready to leave, Merritt made the comment that he knew how to play 5 Card Draw. I looked at him---skeptically---grabbed ahold of him and said, "Okay Amanda, I'll bring him home later!" Anytime we have the change to relieve a kid of their money (in this case, his grandmother's money), we'll take it! Actually, the kid knows his stuff. Although he didn't win (he lost $3.50), he totally bid appropriately. We also taught them a new game---Liar's Poker. He did pretty well at that too. He was the last one with all of his quarters left. Then he got a little too cocky and said that he was going to win! Ultimately, he lost. Still, he had a good time. On the way home he kept saying how much fun it was. He kept saying his family was "boring." I know that's not true---we can't get enough of his family!

All the kids seem to think we have such a fun family. The truth is we do have fun. The main reason is that when we have the opportunity to be together---which isn't often enough---it's like one big party! There's no mystery to that!