Catching our breath

We spent this past weekend catching our breath from the events of the past two weeks. Just after I wrote last, I went on a three night work trip to Memphis, leaving John at home with Charlie. The boys survived their week together, although John's attempt to cut Charlie's hair met with mixed success. On Friday I returned home and rushed off to the grocery store to prepare for our weekend guests and our annual Memorial Day barbecue.

Friday evening, my sister Christine and her family, and my parents and grandmother, all arrived into town. Saturday we took the kids to Sharon Woods park for a picnic and some play time. Saturday evening we had a May Birthday dinner-- Charlie, Christine, and John all have birthdays in May-- and we celebrated with some steaks John cooked on the grill. John's mom joined us for dinner. The birthday folks all opened some gifts after the meal, and then we had cake and ice cream.

On Sunday, we made last minute preparations for our annual grill-out, including sending Todd and Dad on a trip to the store to buy a new picnic table for the kiddies. After he finished mowing the lawn, John helped them assemble the table-- a bigger job than we had expected! The grill out was quite a success, even though we had a few last minute no-shows. Christine and Todd got packing that night, as they were slated to leave first thing on Monday morning.

After the Brewoods left on Monday morning for their drive back to KC, the rest of us trekked down to Krohn Conservatory to see the Butterfly show. I got to use my new video camera (a Mothers' Day gift) for a little bit. On the way home, we stopped and had lunch at Maggiano's. We rested some that afternoon, then made a trip out to Jungle Jim's to hunt for Brooks tomatoes (no luck!) and stopped for Steak and Shake malts on the way home. By then it was time for Charlie to go to bed.

The Houston folks left first thing Tuesday morning, and I took a half day off to rest up and get myself together before going back to work for the week.

Charlie had an eventful week at daycare. He was bitten-- twice! Once on the leg on Tuesday, and once on the arm on Thursday-- apparently by the same child. We, too, had a busy week. We traded movie nights-- John went to see the new Indiana Jones movie on Thursday, and I went out with some girls to see the Sex and the City movie on Friday.

Saturday morning I took Lucy to the annual Doggie Dash (a fundraiser for the Cincinnati SPCA) and she had a great time. It was looking like rain, so John stayed home with Charlie. Saturday evening we celebrated Beth's birthday at a dinner with many of her friends. All the commotion was a little much for Charlie, and he slept in pretty well on Sunday (no complaints!) Sunday was a good day to relax.

I think that catches everything up for now-- see the flickr sites for recent photos.