A Rare Event x 2

The sister and her pup are in town, due to the evacuation of New Orleans earlier this week, so we are lucky to be blessed with their presence. Since Molly is home, Maegan hasn't gone back to school yet and Mom is always looking for something to do, we took the opportunity to have a girls' lunch at La Duni yesterday with mom's close girlfriend from college, Nancy, her daughter Shelly and her grandson Quinn. Mom and Nancy only live about 15 minutes away from one another, but somehow they still only see each other about once a year, if that. They keep saying they'll get together soon but they never do, so the daughters have made it a point to keep them in touch more often. I was also excited to find out that Shelly had a blog she was trying to work on too, The Stagners. Too bad we didn't get a group picture, but maybe we can grab a photo op during our reunion at Christmas...if that actually happens!

Being that everyone in the fam was in the same general area, we decided to get together for an 'ole fashioned weeknight dinner at my parents house last night. I can't even tell you the last time this happened, all of us sitting around the table for a meal that wasn't celebrating a major holiday. It was one of those nights to treasure for sure.

Before we ate, we all joined Mark & Maegan in one of the bedrooms to sit and stare at Claire. Funny how there are soooo many rooms in my parents' house, but we squeeze ourselves into one small bedroom. With all of us piled on the bed or in the chairs, we sat and watched Claire smile, laugh, spit up and even squeal. She's the cutest squealer and has so much to say! Claire definitely keeps everyone laughing and can even get us to act silly with her!

I couldn't force myself to leave the fun when we were all sitting around chatting, so I didn't end up getting home until real late - just enough time to throw some laundry in the washing machine, take a bath and hit the sack. I frantically woke up this morning realizing I didn't put the load of laundry in the dryer last night before I crashed, and my running gear would still be wet. So this is how I sit at work...my space heater is drying my clothes spread out over the floor. Nice, huh?
I'm running in a 10K tonight, so please wish me luck. Why do I do this to myself? Oh yeah...the free beer afterwards! :)