Busy bee to a party
I wasn't home at all yesterday, or so it seemed. I was gone all morning and was busy until 2; gave myself a half-hour to get home; then had to shower and change between 2:30 and 3; then, time to drive up to my uncle's for my cousin's graduation party, which I hoped to get to by 4. I succeeded, but that was a frantic couple hours. I know, who has a graduation party in September? My family, that's who. My cousin was homeschooled and wanted to wait until he got all his certificates and whatnot before having the party; I remember when his brother graduated, they had his diploma on display. I didn't see this cousin's diploma anywhere. Hmm.
The party actually started at 2, but I'd had plans already and actually had to cut them short. Well, at least I got to do both. We arrived after dinner was served but we at least got some food and it was fine. My uncle, ever the food patrol, still made us walk around the proper way (he likes to have a specific route around the table when serving...and you thought *I* was anal-retentive), and when I went looking for silverware he said I'd missed his announcement and it was in the kitchen. See, most people put it by the plates. You're ruining the natural flow of things, man.
Before I sat down to eat--inside--I did go out to the yard and greet the missing family members. Both my male cousins were out at tables with their friends, and my grandfather (whom I barely saw) was deep in conversation with one of the family friends. This is the religious family, you might recall, and my grandfather is pretty much anti-religion, so to see this happening was pretty amazing. He honestly enjoyed himself, as he's mentioned said conversations multiple times since he left--he will talk about it for weeks, because that's how he is.
We got to see the baby again; she's nearly three months old and already a character. She's very much mommy's girl, and my cousin and her husband are great with her. The baby is way attached to her mom, though; my cousin would give the baby to someone else to hold, and she'd be fine, but as soon as she realized that the person holding her wasn't her mom, she'd start to give off this fake cry. As soon as her mom picked her up? Totally fine. You are such a little faker. But she's cute, and while one picture in her birth announcement showed her looking like her one grandfather (not my uncle), I can now see my cousin when I look at her--they have the same eyes. It's weird to see in a way, to look at this baby and see her mother from way back when, but yes, she has her mother's eyes.
My cousin went back to work today, and on Tuesday my aunt will watch the baby; she's so nervous. I don't know why, as she had three kids of her own and they turned out just fine. I guess she's concerned the baby will cry the whole time with her mom gone, as my aunt kept saying, we'll cry together! The rest of us think she'll be fine, especially since the baby will surely nap for part of the time. She was totally out for the first hour or so I was there.
It ended up being a surprisingly long night; mom kept saying she didn't want to be the last ones there, and what happens? We're there until 9 o'clock and we left with the last big group. The only people left were my cousins' friends who were going to spend the night. (They were hiding in the basement playing video games.) But before he went downstairs, the graduate did open the few gifts he got. I felt kind of bad for him since he didn't get much, but I guess he got a lot of cards, so someone brought him a mailbox like what you'd find at a wedding reception and put "[Graduate]'s Dowry" on it, which was pretty funny. He's working construction with a family friend and got mostly construction-related stuff, but he was pretty excited so that was cool. Even more amusing, my aunt grew up with a number of brothers and is way more handy than my uncle; she was really excited about some things, including a nice level he received. And then there was my uncle, who had to ask how to sharpen the "man pencils" (the rectangular carpenter's pencils) my cousin received. I told my uncle even I knew how they got sharpened--with a knife--and that he'd have to turn in his man card.
The party actually started at 2, but I'd had plans already and actually had to cut them short. Well, at least I got to do both. We arrived after dinner was served but we at least got some food and it was fine. My uncle, ever the food patrol, still made us walk around the proper way (he likes to have a specific route around the table when serving...and you thought *I* was anal-retentive), and when I went looking for silverware he said I'd missed his announcement and it was in the kitchen. See, most people put it by the plates. You're ruining the natural flow of things, man.
Before I sat down to eat--inside--I did go out to the yard and greet the missing family members. Both my male cousins were out at tables with their friends, and my grandfather (whom I barely saw) was deep in conversation with one of the family friends. This is the religious family, you might recall, and my grandfather is pretty much anti-religion, so to see this happening was pretty amazing. He honestly enjoyed himself, as he's mentioned said conversations multiple times since he left--he will talk about it for weeks, because that's how he is.
We got to see the baby again; she's nearly three months old and already a character. She's very much mommy's girl, and my cousin and her husband are great with her. The baby is way attached to her mom, though; my cousin would give the baby to someone else to hold, and she'd be fine, but as soon as she realized that the person holding her wasn't her mom, she'd start to give off this fake cry. As soon as her mom picked her up? Totally fine. You are such a little faker. But she's cute, and while one picture in her birth announcement showed her looking like her one grandfather (not my uncle), I can now see my cousin when I look at her--they have the same eyes. It's weird to see in a way, to look at this baby and see her mother from way back when, but yes, she has her mother's eyes.
My cousin went back to work today, and on Tuesday my aunt will watch the baby; she's so nervous. I don't know why, as she had three kids of her own and they turned out just fine. I guess she's concerned the baby will cry the whole time with her mom gone, as my aunt kept saying, we'll cry together! The rest of us think she'll be fine, especially since the baby will surely nap for part of the time. She was totally out for the first hour or so I was there.
It ended up being a surprisingly long night; mom kept saying she didn't want to be the last ones there, and what happens? We're there until 9 o'clock and we left with the last big group. The only people left were my cousins' friends who were going to spend the night. (They were hiding in the basement playing video games.) But before he went downstairs, the graduate did open the few gifts he got. I felt kind of bad for him since he didn't get much, but I guess he got a lot of cards, so someone brought him a mailbox like what you'd find at a wedding reception and put "[Graduate]'s Dowry" on it, which was pretty funny. He's working construction with a family friend and got mostly construction-related stuff, but he was pretty excited so that was cool. Even more amusing, my aunt grew up with a number of brothers and is way more handy than my uncle; she was really excited about some things, including a nice level he received. And then there was my uncle, who had to ask how to sharpen the "man pencils" (the rectangular carpenter's pencils) my cousin received. I told my uncle even I knew how they got sharpened--with a knife--and that he'd have to turn in his man card.