I love it!

I love it when my sisters and I hang out. We're all so busy, and with 2 of them living clear across the country, it's a rare thing nowadays. I'm the eldest (not oldest, Mom!) daughter in the family. Michelle (daughter #2) had her first baby in December, and she and her baby got to come visit us this week. She's going back to work next week so we're excited to spend this time with her. Amy (daughter #3) and I are the only ones who don't work full-time. When she lived here we could trade babysitting whenever we needed to. She and Michelle decided that they needed to live on the East coast. We're hoping to get them back someday. Christine (daughter #4) just sold her salon in Maricopa, but she's still working there. I went there for the first time yesterday (Saturday) to get my hair done. I took Natalie with me and while my hair was processing Christine curled Natalie's hair with a flat iron. She LOVED it, and wants me to do it every day. (Add one small flat iron to the shopping list...) Katie (daughter #5/child #6) works full time and is attending ASU. We get to hang out with Katie and her daughter Melia a few times a month. (Melia might actually be taller than Natalie when she's older.)

So yesterday after Michelle and baby Varick arrived, we all got together at my mom's house to hang out together. (All the siblings were there except Amy because she couldn't come out this time.) Allan, our only brother (child #5), was there for a while until he left for a hot date. (We love to talk girl talk in front of him and see him squirm. It's so fun! I don't really think we usually get to him because if you're the only boy with 5 sisters you'd get used to it eventually, right? We think we're just preparing him for his future wife.)

For dinner we ate a really yummy gourmet mac and cheese meal that Katie made. Then our little girls played with each other and we got to talk. Christine is about to have her 2nd baby/1st boy so we got to watch him perform acrobatics in her tummy. Natalie was pretty intrigued by that because she doesn't remember seeing that when I was pregnant with Drew.

Tonight we had everyone over for dinner and dessert. I made a roast, barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and the desserts. Michelle made a really good salad, and Kent bought some French bread. I made my Perfect Chocolate Cake and a New York style cheesecake with sliced strawberries. Then Katie and Allan took turns playing Guitar Hero, and then Trevor and Justin decided to get Cody (Christine's husband) to sing while they played Rock Band. When I saw them Katie was on drums, Cody was on vocals and Allan and Justin were on guitar. It was pretty funny. Evelyn, Christine's daughter, is so cute, and she cracks me up. She follows her dad everywhere.