Best Week Ever: First Leg Complete

The best week ever started this past Wednesday, when Hannah came to visit and we had tea and scones. I unfortunately have no pictures of that, but it was a lovely visit, and it was really great to see her. I worked on Thursday, and on my way home, I called Suzie and found out that everybody was at Wal-Mart buying pumpkins to carve! This is a miracle, because the guys are FOREVER making fun of us for being "festive," and here they were, wanting to do something holiday-related! It was raining (boooo...) so we spread out a tarp on the living room floor, and proceeded with our pumpkin carving party :)

Messy business, that pumpkin carving...

And the finished products! My pumpkin is on the left, and Suzie's is on the right..

And here are Mark's and Andy's pumpkins (left and right, respectively.)

On Friday morning, we left for Chattanooga, and the start of Mark's birthday week :) We got there in the afternoon, and just hung out until dinner time. My mom cooked poppyseed chicken casserole, which is one of Mark's favorites :) Then we opened presents. And despite my best efforts, Mark had figured out my present before I even gave it to him...

A tent! (And other camping gear...) What a sneaky hubby I have...

Mark with all his gear: the tent, an air mattress, 2 sleeping bags, 2 chairs, a cooler, 2 flashlights, and some waterproof matches ... not too shabby :)

My mom, as usual, made an extremely cute (and not to mention yummy) cake :)

On Saturday, Kelly came! Mommy and I went to Michael's that morning, and I bought some (too much) stuff for Christmas decorating and things. That afternoon Kelly arrived, and we decided to go to World Market to look around.

In the car, on the way...

Kelly got herself a yummy drink, and Mark found some Tusker beer that is like next to impossible to find in Alabama (in fact, I don't even think they sell it here...) It's his favorite, because it reminds him of Kenya :)

We went home, and Cassie came over for dinner! Mark had the brilliant idea to put the tent up (and make sure all its parts were there and all), and we got into our typical photo-shenanigans...

throw your hands in the air...

jump!

After we got tired of jumping around like idiots, we put the rainfly on the tent and got inside :)

Tent!

Then we went inside for dinner. It wasn't quite ready yet, so Kelly picked up Daddy's electric guitar and we sang some songs. Because we're just that awesome.

LOVE this picture!

After dinner, it was game time! (My family has this semi-serious obsession with board games, which is like the bane of Mark's existence. He likes one every now and then, but not quite with the fervor that the Shannons do...) And while we were setting up, Kelly had this brilliant, quirky idea:

Coraline eyes.

This soon became the Thing to Do: put trivial pursuit pieces in your eye sockets and look like a moron. What a fun game!

Mommy's take on it:

We made Daddy do it too, and he was inspired:

Even Cassie wanted in on the action:

So that was a fun time, and we played the game and continued the idiocy that makes up our family, but is SO MUCH FUN. And then it was like, really late, so we went to bed.

Sunday morning we went to church with my parents (and Cassie made this really yummy sausage/cream cheese/crescent roll breakfast thingy for Sunday School OMG YUMM). And that afternoon, Sarah and Thomas took us out for lunch (Thank you again!!!! Love you guys!!) at P. F. Chang's, which was so much fun, and yummy. (This seems to be a theme for the best week ever: so much fun, and yummy. I like that.) It had been quite a while since we'd gotten together with them, living 3 hours apart and all, and it was WONDERFUL to see them and reconnect. We made plans to go shooting the next time we see each other (apparently I am the only non-gun-afficionado in the group... but I guess I'll learn!)

And now we're home. Got in last night, and today Elissa is coming to visit! And we're doing something with Andy and Suzie tonight! And Lissa is cooking dinner on Tuesday! And it will just pretty much continue on through this next weekend as well...

I am so, so, so thankful to have friends and family who love us. So thankful. You really can't beat them. They're the best :)

More wonderful-ness and pictures to follow soon!