Happy Holidaze

I had a lot of family in town for the holidays. By alot I mean my mom, 2 sisters, 2 brothers in laws and 4 nieces & nephews aged 11-21, and 2 dogs. On top of that we also belended Terry's two grown sons. We had a household. We had actually planned to get together two years ago when my mom had an emergency apendetimy a day before her flight. We are a loud bunch, especially the Sloan girls. I'm pretty sure we could all do public speaking with out the use of a microphone. So loud I managed to loose my voice (which Terry called a Christmas miracle) trying to keep up. It was great seeing everyone. I had the dishwasher set on repeat trying to keep up. Some of the highlight were taking all my nieces & nephews to the mall with Andrew. My sisters were shocked I stayed with them the whole time. Also Terry's sons gave me & planted a lime & orange tree. I am creating a little tropical orchard in my backyard and was very toched by their gift. Yesterday when everyone left the house was so quiet. It reminded me of when I first moved out. I used to turn on the TV to eat because I was so used to the noise and chaos of a large family that I couldn't eat in quiet.