McCombs Family Reunion 2011

It's been a while since it happened, but...We did it! My parents and all of my siblings along with all of their kids were in the same place at the same time. Here's the picture to prove it.


Our family reunion, planned by Abbie and James, was a great success. There was talking and playing and eating and bonding. Abbie and James even had the weather planned out. It started raining right after our hike/last outdoor activity. Amazing.





We even had a talent show. Everyone did great, but some highlights were stand-up comedy by Darren and baby balancing/acrobatics by Kelsey. And my brother Joe, who's studying to be a periodontist, showed us awesome pictures from all the surgeries he's done this year. The lessons from that presentation were 1)brush your teeth, 2)avoid, if possible, having a graft taken from the roof of your mouth--apparently it hurts, and 3)Joe is good at what he does. Did I mention brushing your teeth?

Of course the kids had too much sugar and not enough sleep (or teeth-brushing). Which left some of the parents feeling like this:



All the kids were getting cuter and bigger and nicer and more good looking since I last saw them. What good parents my siblings are!








This last year, my parents had their 40th wedding anniversary. For a gift, they asked us all to try to make it to this reunion. We did, and it was awesome and noisy and lovely to be together.







P.S. The Hilton Garden Inn (where we stayed) has delicious complimentary cookies. Just sneak in some afternoon around 5:00 pm. You won't regret it.

Annie's Emerging Fashion Sense

It was time

We said goodbye to Guillotine Gertie and got Annie a new doll. I remember my mom taking me to a toy store one Christmas and asking, "Which doll wants you to be their new mommy?" I let Annie choose a doll, too, but I think her choice was based on the cool packaging. The handle on the box = cool. But the doll itself is a new favorite, too.