What a weekend

We are still recovering from a really busy but fun weekend. We kicked it off Friday night with a Fish Fry at the Legion. We were definitely the young folk at the dinner, and I swear, if one more friendly old man came by and told my kids to just go ahead and pick out whatever dessert they wanted despite our repeated insistence that they had to eat some dinner first, I was going to take him down. I think they just get really excited to see little ones.

Saturday we went to Jacks "Dirty Car Race" with the Scouts. Also known as Derby Car Race unless you are Luke. We were novices to this whole thing, and unfortunately, it showed in our finish. As in, the car didn't finish. Didn't even make the finish line. That's Jack's blue car third from the left. Apparently, when they tell you the weight can be up to 5 ounces, you should actually try to get it as close to the 5 ounces as possible without going over. Otherwise, if your car weighs in at, say, 2.4 ounces, and is racing all of those 4.999999 ounce cars, it really doesn't have a chance. Though we tried to stress the importance of just "finishing the race", and "gee, we really learned a great lesson to apply next year!", the disappointment is clear (sort of) if you read Jack's email to his grandparents today.

Hi Grandma and Pappy at the Derby My car was the worst. i closesd My eies i was not happy. i was kinda happy from Jack.

Sorry buddy. Live and learn.

Saturday night, we hosted a St. Patrick's Day party. Now, you must know, I am the biggest Irish wannabe that there is. My grandpa said he was 25% Irish, so once that trickles down to me, I don't think I can claim much of the heritage, but I wish I was. I just love the Irish and their culture. We were lucky enough to visit Ireland almost two years ago and it was an amazing trip. So, right now, the closest we can get is to have a party and play Irish music.

My friend Claudine asked me a good question when I mentioned we were having a party. So, seeing as how you just moved to Iowa last summer, where you had no friends or family, who are you going to invite to a party?

The answer is, anyone with whom I've had a five minute conversation. How else? And, I must say, it seemed to work! We had 25 people come, the biggest party we've had in a very long time. We got a keg of Smithwicks and almost finished it. It was really fun, and it sure helps you feel a lot less alone in a new place when you can fill your home with laughter and new friends. So after seeing the two pictures I managed to take below around 3 a.m., you will just have to take my word for it that there really were people here. Real, breathing, people. I swear.