The Herbert Reunion

Jason is one of 7 children.  His family isn't close.  They don't seem to need each other the way other families do.  They are all very independent and left the house early and haven't felt a strong need to come back.  I have known Jason for 15 years now and in the 15 years have been with the "whole" family once or twice.  There are many members of the family who have never met other members of the family (like cousins).  They also live all over the country (and for a little while, the world).  

This summer Jason's only sister had her first baby.  Kasey is well loved by everyone and she has worked hard to maintain relationships with all of her brothers and is a wonderful aunt to her nieces and nephews.  I saw this as an opportunity.  I called Kasey and we hatched a plan.  I told her that if she emailed everyone and told them she was coming to Denver and that they could all come and meet her new baby - I bet they would all come.  Denver was a good half way point for everyone.  I was right.  They all came.  All of them.  All 28.  To our home.  For 5 days. (they weren't all there for 5 days - that was how long we were hosting).

Jason and I were very excited.  We had never hosted anything like this before.  We were grateful for a house that we felt like could handle it and for being in a financial situation where the thought of having one family over didn't make us cringe.  I prepared for months.  I am glad I did - it ended up resulting in a perfect storm of craziness.  You will find out in a few posts that Jason and I decided to have a 15 year old boy come live with us for the school year and he came with his whole family while Jason's family was here.  Then the kids first day of school got moved up and they had to start while they still have their cousins at our house.  It was unfortunate.  But we made it through and were grateful our children got to spend time with their cousins and we got to grow some bonds that have needed some attention.

The girls and I were beyond thrilled to have a little newborn in the house again.  This is Miles and I got to babysit him a lot while his parents went and explored Denver.

One day we rode our bikes to our local park and the boys fished.

And the girls played tennis.

Megan and Lelani.  They are just about a week apart.

I mostly fed the kids out on the deck.  Occasions like this make me grateful for my preschool because I have an endless supply of children chairs and tables.  I LOVED having these kids in our home for 5 days.  I wish we could do it every year.