Kelly's Birthday!!

Sunday evening we celebrated Kelly's birthday--even though her birthday was September 1. We had dinner at Ann's and enjoyed visiting.

I wish this picture had come out better--but the two that I zoomed in closer were blurry so this is the best I can do...

front row: Ann Keaton, Ms. Mitchell (George's mom), Jodi Mitchell
2nd row: Aunt Pat (Hendley) , Patsy (George's sister), Kelly Mitchell, Darin, Donald
back row: Rod Hendley, Terry Keaton, George Mitchell, Kyle Keaton

Family dinner

Every month, usually on Sunday, we have a family dinner. This started being a monthly occurrence in 2003 when Devin and Jamie were both attending UNC and we didn't always get to see them at the same time. They've been going strong ever since. It's been a fun way to make sure we all see each other at least once a month and we have enjoyed adding Sarah, Delainey and Erik to our family--and our dinners.

Basketball

Darin and his roommate, Dean, are playing in a church league. It actually started before they began school, but they've been able to play with them a couple of times so far. They play in Apex, a suburb of Raleigh, and since that is close, Donald and I have been to watch them a couple of times.

Yesterday they had a game and I took my camera just to take some pictures and then Donald and I were asked to keep score and clock so I only got one picture...
Yes, it's Darin after tying his shoes and before playing--how pitiful is that! :-)

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are probably my favorite day of the week. On Tuesday evenings, Devin and Sarah head to Durham to spend time with the youth of their ward. That leaves me with Delainey! Sometimes Donald or Darin or Jamie will come, but often it's just my Delainey time--and I don't have to share with anyone!! :-)

Usually we start off with Delainey eating dinner...

She's gotten so good at a sippy cup...
(even when it's upside down!)

After dinner we have to do some cleaning up....

And then it's play time!!

We look at the fish...
We read some books...

We do some puzzles...

Sometimes we practice our spinning...

Then it's bath time...

And while Delainey is in the bath, she works on her ABC's...

Then it's time for Devin and Sarah to come home and the next Tuesday we start all over again!!

uh-oh

I have had the best summer I can remember in a long time. As I've pondered that and wondered why, I've come up with one main reason it was so great: Our family spent a lot of time together!! :-)

Not only did we have the entire family together for a two week vacation, but Jamie is living in Raleigh instead of DC so I got to see her, Jenna didn't have school during summer session so I got to see her, Darin worked at the pool just down the street so I got to see him, Devin and Sarah and Delainey were around most of the summer, and Sarah had lots of pictures to take so I got to spend extra time with Delainey.

Today I got to spend the morning with Delainey while Sarah was on a shoot. (In case you didn't know Sarah has a thriving photography business--check out elainebellaphotography.com and see how talented she is!) As Delainey was eating breakfast, I was talking to her and decided it would be fun to run her through all her "tricks".

(Delainey's "ohh-noo" face)

She "meowed", "barked", and "mooed"; she clapped and stuck out her tongue; she made faces and showed me where her belly button was; then I remembered that she has learned how to say "uh-oh". So I said "uh-oh" to her so she would copy me. She looked at me with a quizzical look on her face and then looked at the floor around her high chair. She looked back at me, picked up a piece of watermelon, dropped it on the floor, grinned at me and said "uh-oh!". So cute!!

As I return to teaching seminary, preschool and piano, I will cherish the memories that I have from this summer and hope that they will hold me through the dark, cold months of winter....

Delainey fun....

While we were California visiting the Rose family, Jenna and Erik slept on an airbed--a really nice airbed! :-)

One morning Jenna, Erik and Darin thought it would be fun to put Delainey on it and bounce her around. Here's the resulting video--thanks for taping, Erik, and thanks for sharing...

hair today...gone tomorrow

When Jenna got married last year, she wanted her hair long enough to do an up do. Since then she's gotten her hair trimmed once or twice, but not big changes. I couldn't find a great picture of her with her long(ish) hair--she had in a ponytail most of the time we were traveling because of the wind and humidity but here's picture of her hair recently...

Today Jenna got her hair cut and it looks fabulous!!

Here's the back...

What a great new cut to start the school year!!