10 Million Strong...and Growing

Okay, so maybe the 10M is an exaggeration, but after a long weekend seeing essentially every member of both the Hoos' and my family it sure seems like it. Over a three day span, we saw:

• Our parents
• My grandparents
• All seven of our nieces and nephews at once
• All three of our siblings and their spouses (both at the same time and separately)
• All five sets of our collective Uncles and Aunts
• Nine of our 12 first cousins
• Two of our four first cousins once removed (including meeting little Mira for the first time
• And various and sundry other related folks

Saturday was Dee's naming. She was officially given her Hebrew name (Avia Elah) and welcomed into the Jewish community by family and friends. We had a naming for LP two years ago, but this time was really special because we were able to have much more family attend. As the rabbi pointed out, it it really unusual to have four generations on hand to celebrate a new addition and having my grandparents and the Hoos' Great Aunt in attendance meant a lot to us.

Sunday was my cousin's wedding. He and his bride both looked great and the event was much fun. My daughters were invited so we got to show off how cute and well-behaved their are. And they were fabulous (so were my nieces, J&K). Because the official "wedding hotel" was in the great village of Bohemia (my hometown), my mother had some of her relatives that were in town for the wedding back to the house that evening. It was really very nice to see everyone and catch up. Dee was passed around and kissed by dozens of folks and barely made a peep.

That day was also my anniversary. And my husband ended up sleeping with another woman. Fortunately, it was LP. We spent the night in the aforementioned hotel and the Hoos slept in one bed with LP and I slept in the other with Dee. I don't think either of us got a good night's sleep, but at least the girls did (once LP stopped screaming for no apparent reason, which is very unlike her. We think she must have been over-tired and overwhelmed).

Yesterday was all about my dad's side of the family. Every member of my paternal immediate family was in Bohemia. We had a neighbor take a photo of the whole gang: