Our Saturday is off to a good start so far... my husband got up early to head to the barber shop for a haircut, the fireflies are both in a good mood and the little ladybug is in her perpetual happy-go-lucky mood. Life is good.

This is going to be a crazy weekend for us. Today is a day full of cooking & baking for me in prep for the big family reunion for my Mom's side of the family in Palmyra, IL tomorrow. It is going to be a big potluck affair with some of the cousins providing the fried chicken and the rest of us are responsible for two side dishes per family. My folks cannot have fried chicken because of numerous health issues, so I am making a crockpot full of italian beef for them to take to make sandwiches. I am also going to make 2 big pans of brownies and 5 dozen chocolate chip cookies, too. I am toying with the idea of making some oatmeal cookies, too... we'll see how time & energy levels go though.

While my husband was getting sheared this morning (actually he didn't look that shaggy!), I got busy and made some of his favorite breakfast treats. I call them Cheesy Bacon Bites---super simple & super yummy. I will post the recipe later today if I have time. I made a double batch so that I can bake the rest for his Father's Day breakfast tomorrow morning, too. I wanted to do something special for him on "his" day since he made an extra effort to get up early on Mother's Day and make me breakfast in bed. For those who know my husband, that is a pretty big deal! Plus, Father's Day is going to be a lot different for our family this year because we are breaking with our 10 year tradition with the family reunion tomorrow.

For the past 10 years we've always gone to lunch at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate with my husband & my Dad and with my little brother. Our very first celebration there was when our oldest firefly was almost 3 months old... it was a lot of fun & so began our tradition. We've added another firefly & our little ladybug in the years since we started and my brother has gotten married and has two ladybugs of his own, too. It has become an unspoken understanding that we will be going there for Father's Day lunch... with the exception of this year. So.. this evening we are supposed to go to dinner with my husband's mother(I will divulge more about her in later posts.. too much drama for today!)--because she has to celebrate with him. (again.. don't get me started!!).

I am looking forward to the big reunion tomorrow though. I have many cousins who I have never met before and now that I am older and have my own children I feel the need to connect with the rest of the family tree. We are all strewn across the country--I worked with my Mom to compile a "Cousin's Contact Information Book" with current address/phone/email information on all the cousins. We made copies for folks to take with them... hopefully it will help us to all stay better connected. My Mom said that she hadn't seen or spoken with some of the cousins since they were all little kids together back in the 1940s! I don't want that for my kids and I, so began the adventure of compiling the information.. thank goodness for the internet!

I have very vague memories of going to a family reunion with my Grandma when I was 4 or 5 years old. In a way it is a way to connect with folks that knew her and get a chance to listen to stories about when she was a child & the cousins played together. She passed away when I was in 4th grade and although we were really close... I just didn't have enough time to hear & truly appreciate all of those neat stories. We named our little ladybug after my Grandma & I am looking forward to showing her off to the few older cousins who are still left. My oldest firefly is starting to appreciate his connection to other generations a bit, too.

Well, I had better get busy with all the baking & cooking! We also have to make a trip to the library this morning, too.