A Weekend of Jollification

April 8, 2007

"Jollification" has become a favorite addition to our lingo this week. Laurel and I encountered it while reading Christy and have decided to incorporate this mountain term into our daily conversation. This has, indeed, been a weekend of jollification, as we celebrated our mother's 80th birthday and our Lord's resurrection.

The party was not exactly a surprise to my mother, but the day still held some surprises. My brother Stephen drove in from New York. Here he is in the backyard, explaining the rules of Ladder Golf to my mother. He made her a Ladder Golf game for her birthday, and we all had a blast playing. This is a great family game. You can see what it looks like here, but my brother made his with PVC pipe, electrical tape, and golf balls.

Uncle Max, my mother's older brother, drove down from Illinois for the party; Ellen and her husband Justus came down from Kentucky. The rest of us are local, but Mom is always at her happiest when we are all together. Of course it wouldn't be a family gathering without a rousing game of basketball. This time our brother John broke--or dislocated--his finger for some added excitement. Duncan and Laurel go wild with excitement when my niece April and her husband Jeremy bring Jeremy's kids, who are just the ages of Duncan and Laurel. Here are Laurel and Carena enjoying being cousins. (No doubt Duncan and Xavier were off running loudly through the house at the time of this picture.)

After an afternoon of games and food, we presented Mom with the photo album we made for her through Winkflash.com. This awesome 100-page album spanned all 80 years, from 1927 to last week. Watching Mom and Dad revisit all these years through photos was precious. (I highly recommend these Winkflash books, by the way. Easy to do and look fabulous.)

We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but I know Mom had a wonderful celebration. I was amazed that they made it to Sunrise Service this morning. We, however, did not. We were even late for Sunday School, which is very unusual. After church, we invited our friends the Freenys home for left-over party fare and a last-minute Easter egg hunt. We enjoyed an afternoon of good conversation, and the kids enjoyed a few hours of good, solid playtime.

Laurel's an old pro at finding eggs...

Duncan's yelling, "Come on up, Emmy!"

Emily, in her beautiful Easter dress, is trying to climb up the rusty old ladder to where Duncan is high in the tree, but as she says, "This dress keeps getting in my way!"

And so the weekend comes to a close. For the rest of last week's events, check out the photos as my Project 365 Blog. Tomorrow is a break from our enrichment classes, and I am glad, as it is my parents' last day here. Tuesday their car will be loaded down with boxes and suitcases, and they'll head back up to New York until next November.