A 3-Picnic Weekend

This past weekend I employed some good tips for easy and fun entertaining:

1.) Plan large group gatherings at our house back-to-back, so we only have to prepare/buy cups, etc., once.
2.) Let other people bring food! Instead of running around trying to get things hot/cold/ready, I could just sit back, relax and make sure Miles didn't eat too much dirt.
3.) If some people are supposed to arrive at 3 pm on Friday, write on the calendar that they are coming at 4 pm. This causes a few minutes of confusion and slight panic when everyone shows up "early," but it also eliminates the last hour of whirlwind cleaning that would have happened! (Letting friends see all my dirt just paves the way for greater connection in the relationships, right? I hope so.)

We had our TFC group over on Friday night.... always fun.

Our second picnic of the weekend was not at our house, and I, sadly, did not get any pictures. Some families from Classical Conversations met at the Prevosts' house- - a perfect spot for a picnic. Highlights were: getting soaking wet "swimming" in the creek for Strider, and holding a baby chick for Rayna.

Then our third picnic was back at our house- - the youth group came over. The youth in our church are amazing -- so mature and kind! We loved watching them interact with our kids, too.

Even Miles and Colsen jumped right in with everyone... sometimes with the guys....

... and sometimes with the girls (smart boy)!

It was a fun weekend... Besides the picnics, we also had a couple over for dinner Saturday night, played with Katie and Graham on Saturday, went to Strider's baseball game, went to church, and did some gardening. So by 10:00 last night, this was how the little guys looked:

... and I think the rest of us felt the same way!