My Big Big Loud American Family Part One.

We're not greek or italian but we are huge. I mean there's a lot of us not that we weigh a lot. Though, like the greek and italians we do love to eat and make huge inordinate amounts of food for all of our gatherings (I call it the "Alice Curse" a need to feed every one and make way more food then necessary).  Let me start at the beginning. My Grandparents Alice and Vern Kempton got married and decided they wanted a big family so they had six kids, three girls and three boys and boy oh boy did they end up with a BIG family.  They have sixteen grandkids and eight natural great grandkids plus a lot of cute married in great grandkids. We like to cut up, eat, laugh and generally be pretty loud.

My mom and dad work for my uncle on his pre-civil war horse farm/Bed and Breakfast in Maryland. My sister works there along with whatever cousin is going through a needs-a-job or finding-themselves type of phase. Mom and Dad have also been married for thirty years and decided to renew their vows out under the Maryland sun so every one in the family was invited to make the trek from Michigan to Maryland and celebrate their love.  So it became a sort of weeks long family reunion.

I hadn't been involved in any of the larger-than-life family gatherings since the flue Christmas of 2006.  I see them to be sure not just all at once and for days in a row, I mean it's pretty hard to coordinate 40 some schedules so you just see who you see when you see them... Did any of that make sense?  I wasn't sure how it would go. The noise, the little children under foot. I'm in the older tier of cousins and wasn't sure what it would be like to interact with now grown younger cousins; who have they turned out to be? Face Book is great but it's not the same as actual face to face.

Turns out it was super fun and crazy and loud and full of food and silly and fun. Just like the old days when we were kids except I didn't end up as dirty and no one told me when to go do bed.  I have so much to say and I want you all to know how cool my family is so it's going to have to be a series because well there's a lot of us plus my camera wasn't working so I got no photos I'm hoping to round some up.

This is the summer kitchen and that little creek runs right through the building.
It's spring fed so it's always the same cool temp and they would use
it like a refrigerator. 

Let me finish this introduction with a description of the farm and how beautiful it is. There is an old awesome house that is the Bed and Breakfast (Stoney Creek Farm) and it was filled to the brim with relatives by the end of the week. My mom and dad live on the property in a smaller but very quant home (it was filled with me and my family and a few others) There is a ton of rolling hills and green lawns One of which had a Big tent filled with relatives, and a small free standing office which was also filled with relatives. My sister's home in West Virginia was filled by the end of the week as well.  There are horses and barn cats and lots and lots of dogs. There is a spring fed creek that actually runs through an old summer kitchen and out the other side. There are ponds and the Antitem river right there.  It's lovely and green and the best place in the world for a two year old and four year old to get dirty pet dirty animals see bunnies and turtles and get some well needed sun after our Michigan winter.

I've got the flue

Oh I should have added a bottle of Canadian Dry to this picture.

I've got the flue, or something broncial/ fever/ my hips are aching sooo bad.  Plus of course if I'm sick (or tired, or thirsty, or have watched too much tv) I also have a headache.  Please don't feel too bad for me, I feel a lot better then I did yesterday and I'm hoping I'll feel even better tomorrow.  Really the worst thing with being sick is the paranoia that every one else in the house is going to catch it.  I hate hate having sick children, it makes me feel so completely helpless and super on edge because they aren't old enough to get to the bathroom on time, or tell me what's wrong.  Then there's the problem of wondering "should I take them to the doctors?" it's just horrible.  I would rather be sick ten times then have my kids get sick.  I don't like it when Brian's sick either, he's hard to take care of and then I get tired from dealing with the kids (isn't that horrible to say?) all by myself.  All this to say that I know a lot of women who's husbands aren't that good at managing the house with out them or realizing when they're wives really are ill but my husband is so good at taking care of me, which is probably not that easy because I am a baby when I'm sick (our roles must be reversed in this area) I am a winer when I don't feel good, and if I'm running a fever I cry a lot, it's like my body temperature is directly related to my tear ducts.

Today we had planned a youth event that we were going to take Hunter too and already had a babysitter lined up for conner, so that ended up working out as well as it could.  I get to be at home a lone with a big pile of christmas movies.  I'm hoping that they'll finally get me motivated to decorate and sew (I love christmas but it's been so warm here I keep forgetting that it's already November).  And Conner's babysitter, a friend of mine from church just called to say she's making us dinner isn't that so sweet?  I mean for someone that's not even your mom or grandma to take care of you like that?  That's the church family in action.

So now, after sanitizing all the toys, books, door knobs, and surfaces, after putting all the pacifiers, bottles, and sippy cups through the bottle sanitizer I have to decide what to watch.  I'll probably go with Irving Berlin's White Christmas because I can get Brian or the kids to watch the other ones with me but he really hates White Christmas and I love it.  I consider the movies in the above photo to be the best Christmas movies ever (I'm even having a hard time accepting that there is a new Christmas Carol coming out because I love the muppits so much).  What are your favorite christmas movies?  If you haven't tried The Muppits Christmas Carol, you really should it's brilliant and I think that It's a Wonderful Life is actually one of the best movies ever made.

Well I'm exhausted it's off to a cup of ginger ale and a nap, then a movie, I hope all your days are germ free!