Family Celebration

We had a Bellah family get together last week. We were celebrating Mother's 85th birthday, my great-nephew Justin's 15th, and a visit from my sister and brother-in-law. We all met down at Mother's which really made her happy. For the first time in a long time she had all three of her children, plus their spouses, and most of the grandchildren, and great grand-kids under one roof.

I took some photos with my phone and I'm telling you right now these photos aren't the best. I'm just making do with what I've got.

 Here's the birthday girl.

She is NOT going to be happy with me for posting her photo. Sorry Mom, it's the only way to show you were really there, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! That's my Aunt Ree sitting in the background. She was married to my father's brother. How  cool is it that in their widowhood the sister's-in-law live minutes apart. We were all so happy that Aunt Ree joined us in our celebration.

Here's the birthday boy 
true to his Bellah blood, he did NOT want his photo taken. This was the best I could get. Too bad I didn't get a shot of him standing up. I think he is already taller than both my boys and at 15 is probably still growing. Meanwhile I feel it's my duty to warn everyone there's another new teen driver testing the roads. If you live down south of Atlanta - BEWARE! This kid drives race cars. We can only hope and pray he knows the difference between a racetrack and the road.

His sister, Kelsey  wasn't being cooperative either. She would not look at me even when I tried the guilt trip of "remember that time I drove all the way up to your school to take you to the emergency room 'cause you fell and bumped your noggin'?" My bro, David and nephew-in-law, Jay are lurking in the background. Jay knew I was shooting and was trying to be invisible. David was too intent on the conversation across the room to notice his wacky sister with the camera.

Younger brother Andy didn't mind so much having his photo taken,  though he couldn't take his eyes off whatever toy that was in his hand. Andy is a recent kindergarten graduate (even though he swore up and down to me he did NOT graduate!). He's such a little stinker. Also note his grandparents sitting behind him ... in all it's blurriness, it's the only shot I got of my SIL, Jerri.

Here's my Sweetie and my BIL (brother-in-law if you don't speak message board lingo) 
I just love the angelic aura surrounding my husband. That and Ian's flip-flop foot make the shot. We haven't seen BIL aka Corky in a couple of years so it was really good to have him here. Everyone throw in good thoughts, prayers, etc that he can follow through with retirement plans at the end of the year. Maybe then we can see more of him? At the very least my sister will welcome having him home in South Dakota full time.

My sister Carol   is sporting a sassy new 'do and isn't she cute with her glasses that match her top? I think she's looking pretty good for someone who recently had her thyroid zapped with radiation and has endured nine falls and two (or was it three?) visits to the ER in the last month. MS has not been kind to her but we're hoping and praying for a remission that sticks around for awhile. Please note that no matter what is going on in her life she's still chugging that nasty caffeine-free Diet Coke. Ewwww that stuff is gross, so no worries sis, no one is gonna take off with your drink!

Here's my recent grad (and he's totally not denying his achievements, Andy take note) 
Ian's still jobless and contemplating what to do with life. Oh, to be at that stage of life again (NOT!). The clock is ticking on when mom caves and has a hissy fit. Pray for us.

This would have been a great photo of Karyn Jean and Andrew IF I'd taken it with a real camera.  

Andrew doesn't look too bad after just finishing up a week of VBS. He told me pre-schoolers are ok, middle-schoolers are tolerable, but elementary kids are HORRIBLE! "Mom, they're so disrespectful and have such attitudes. I never acted like that at that age!"  It's so fun and gratifying seeing your kid acting in the role of an adult. Karyn teaches at a pre-school and has two elementary kid of her own. ( Ethan and Madelyn, were off with their Dad this weekend.) I wonder if she agrees with Andrew's assessment?


Here's the birthday girl harassing her great-great nephew Carlos trying to get him to dance. He was doing his best to ignore her. And while his Dad, Robert, is mother's great-nephew he and his sister, Karyn (and Paul who lives out of state), are really like Mother's grandchildren. It's a long story but what really matters is we're one big, happy (yes, we're happy dang it!) family. Robert is also the family's computer guru and the official family photographer. Ahemmm, if you're reading this Robert - where are the photos you took??

Meet my niece Melissa and her dad, my brother, David. To be honest I don't think they knew I was taking this photo and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be happy to see it here on the blog. Sorry guys, I have to document you were present. And while we're at it, has anyone noticed how many photos David shows up in the background of? Maybe he secretly likes having his picture taken??

That pretty much wraps it up for who attended the shindig EXCEPT for Kelsey's boyfriend Kevin who I would not (yes, I do have boundaries) subject to the dastardly photo taking. I guess if we didn't run him off after meeting all the family he might be a keeper. Time will tell.

We were sad that Kiley, Shelley, and Hayden weren't with us. Poor guys are stuck over in HAWAII ... imagine the travesty of it all ... living in paradise while the rest of us are schlepping it here in Hot 'Lanta. They did call Nonnie earlier in the week and sang Happy Birthday to her. It totally made up for their absence. Way to go Kiley, sucking up to be the favorite grandson are ya?

Also missing were the aforementioned Paul and his lovely-still-a-bride-til-you-produce-children, Regina. Rumor has it they're soon to move here from Virginia so count on them being in the photos of the next family get together. Are you SURE you want to subject yourselves to this nonsense?

Robert's wife Susana was missing too. She's in Chile taking care of business. Lucky her. This party would have probably driven her crazy, too many people talking at one time. I can relate 'cause there were moments when I wanted to run screaming from the house.

And of course, there's my cousin Louise who's like a big sister but isn't. She was home resting before a grueling day at work. We missed you.

So, there you have it. We had lot's of people in a pretty small confined area. There was lot's of food, yummy birthday cake, and really loud and boisterous conversations. It was so nice to have us all together under one roof. Melissa, I'm sorry I flaked out on you when it came to cleaning up the kitchen. I was laying on the bed with my sister catching up life. I promise on the next go-round I'll do ALL the clean up. You have my word on it and now all of blogdom is your witness.

And last but not least ... for all you family members who are sure to complain about the crappy photos I posted on here ... feel free to chip in and buy me a decent new camera and I promise next time around we'll all look great.  

Love you all!