Friends Are Friends Forever

Oh man, we love our friends in Chicago. We're so thankful for having such a wonderful group of people around who are ready to throw a party and feed us dinner at almost anytime. These are photos from a going-away party held for our friend, Jacob, who has traveled to Russia to teach el American language. This is from a week ago but as today is labor day we had the exact same party, minus Jacob, Josh & Jennie, plus Christine & Isaac, Kendra, Brian & baby Maximus and my hard working husband, Clay. Let's get started, shall we...

Jacob makes some kind of Russian gesture towards James that is also, no surprise here, frightening.

Well, maybe he was just trying to get James to eat his food, which would also explain the frightened facial expressions.

Jennie & Carina try a different tactic with "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Here you can see that the sun is coming out.

Miss Josephine has recently developed the strangest fear of men. We just can't explain it--so strange because she's always surrounded by such kind and undemonlike men. Just goes to show that kids can be preeetty dumb. (this joke courtesy of Chris)

I'm only kidding, of all kids I've ever met who definitely are dumb, Josephine is not one of them. In fact, just the other day she said to Lynn, "I love you, Mama." Wow. I really try to be happy for Lynn, even though James continues to hit me in the face and call me Dada.

The latest craze among our friends is a new game called "Ladder Golf."  It's where you throw two golf balls, tied together by a string at a ladder and hope for the best, which would be the balls landing on a level of the ladder. No please, don't hold back, even as what I thought were grown adults, many a player has trouble holding back the giggles when a person refers to throwing or retrieving their balls.

We've noticed that James is most content when he gets to do what the big people are doing. He's a great imitator and learns quickly. He almost acts like he's trying to keep up with older siblings and I don't know what that says about our parenting skills. Here he joins in on Ladder Golf.

Fun Lynn was our hostess

Josh & Chris

Chris, in an effort to imply that I make people uncomfortable with my photo taking, borrowed my camera to take some comedic close-ups of the party guests. Granted, having your picture taken can be uncomfortable but now we have a permanent way of remembering that discomfort forever.

James gets some attention from Auntie Miriam

Even Chris & Christine's dog Rodger came out to play. Here, Roger has a heart attack at the thought of getting to play with that soccer ball. Too bad, fun dog.

A few days later, James and I went back for a pool party with Josephine & Lynn. Don't worry folks, this is what they call an "optical illusion."

Although, this is probably the same look James would have given Josephine if he really had been hit in the face with water. I can tell he's thinking about it, he's pretty cautious.

James decided he wouldn't take his chances.

Back at home with the real Dada, James likes to play a game where he pulls Clay back to crush him on the sofa. It was going well but I guess by the time I got the camera out he didn't enjoy being crushed for that long.

Happy Labor Day!