Bassett Reunion

At the beginning of August we went to the Bassett family reunion at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They did a lot of work to make the stay fun.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the tent town that we set up on their lawn - 6 tents all set up in a little area, one for each family.  It was beautiful weather and the boys enjoyed sleeping outside.  Brooklyn and I claimed a bedroom and we slept inside. 

On Friday the adult boys went golfing in the morning.  Then the boys watched the kids while the girls went into town and threw me a baby shower.  We had a yummy chicken and avacodo salad and chocolate covered strawberries.  I got some cute clothes and it was fun to just visit with everyone.  We also tied a quilt for Brooklyn.  I didn't get any pictures of the gathering, which makes me think I need to do better about remembering my camera!

Most of these pictures are from Saturday.

G-ma and G-pa set up a zip line for the kids.  It attached to the porch and went to the swing set.  The kids had a blast.  Reed helping Micah go on the zip line:

Conner getting ready to go:

Alan zooming down the line:

Jordan really enjoyed holding Brooklyn.  She took very good care of her:

Kids playing on the swing set.  L to R Alan, Becky, James and in the front is Ava

Conner and Caden playing

Reed helping Micah go down the slip and slide:

Saturday afternoon we did the Bassett olympics.  Here is Uncle Andrew showing the kids how to get a high score on the slip and slide:

Here is Alan doing the slip and slide:

Conner was extremely grumpy and refused to participate in any of the events so this is the only picture I got of him:

Alan walking across the balance beam...

And he stuck the landing!

Aunt Kristie holding Brooklyn. 

Micah was a little young to compete so he mostly played in the pool.  Here is Ava, Micah and Chase playing in the water:

Micah loved this pool noodle and carried it around for a while:

Afterward everyone got a certificate and a candy for participating.  It was a lot of fun!

 

The next day was Sunday.  We all got up early and headed over to the church for Kyla's baptism.  It was nice to see her get baptized.  Then we blessed Brooklyn.  We decided to do it there since all of Reed's family was there and my parents drove down so they were there too.  I absolutely love to hear my babies get blessed.  Reed gave Brooklyn a wonderful blessing.  Here is Brooklyn being held by her dad, with Grandma P. admiring her: 

About 3 1/2 weeks old.  She was so pretty in her blessing dress.  It is the same dress that her mom was blessed in, kind of a neat tradition:

No matter how many times I rotate this picture it always gets posted upside down.

Here is our family afterward:

A 3 generation photo, Brooklyn, Mom and Grandma Pitcher

Brooklyn, me and Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa Bassett:

 The Basset Clan.  This was the first time in a long time that we were all together.  Mom and Dad Bassett were there with all six of their children, and their spouses, and all 20 grandchildren (ranging in age from 9 years old to 3 weeks).  Pretty impressive sight!

The big group picture with the Pitchers and Eddingtons in it:

 

It was wonderful to see everyone.  I absolutely love watching my kids get to know their cousins and play with them.  I wish we could do this more often!

Brooklyn's first 2 weeks

After the boys left to spend a week with my parents it was very quiet.  It was nice to just spend time with Reed and get to know Brooklyn a little better.  I also got a lot of painting done in the boys' room, which was really nice! 

3 days old and not very happy

3 days old and much happier snuggling with dad.  She looks so tiny!

This is the outfit she came home in.  I forgot to mention earlier that when she was born her left foot was kind of curled in.  The nurse mentioned that it might be club foot but when the pediatrician checked her out she said it was just turned like that from being squished in the uterus and that it would staighten out on its own since it had lots of space now.  

4 days old

6 days old:

Brooklyn's first sponge bath at home:

All clean!  She was a good sport about her bath - no crying.

1 week old and so cute!

8 days old.  I have found that she sleeps better when her head is covered.  I guess she just likes to be really warm.

Big yawn - 10 days old

All dressed up and ready for church with mom - 2 1/2 weeks old:

Brooklyn and her dad taking a Sunday afternoon nap:

Brooklyn had her days and nights mixed up at first.  She slept a lot during the day and then she wanted to stay up all night and eat.  Luckily that only lasted a couple of weeks.

 

When I took Brooklyn in for her 2 week check up she weighed 9 lbs and 2 oz and she was 21 1/4 inches long.  So she gained half a pound and grew 1 and a quarter inches in 2 weeks.  It always amazes me how fast they grow during the first couple of months.  

4th of July

We started off the day with Micah waking Reed and I up at 5:30 am.  We both came down stairs with him so that he wouldn't wake his brothers.  He was being so silly, running around in circles and falling down, until he fell face first into our entertainment center.  Ouch!  As soon as we picked him up we could see that he was going to have an impressive black eye - it swelled immediately.  The pictures really don't do it justice:

A couple of days later:



 

It was the most impressive black eye that any of our children have ever had:

Later that morning we took the kids to the parade down town.  We got there early so that we could set up in the shade but it turned out to be kind of cool, so the sun would have felt nice.  Anyway the kids enjoyed the parade.  It was kind of long though and the first hour was just different kinds of military vehicles.  The kids enjoyed getting some candy and they liked seeing the helicopter flying right down the street.  I didn't take my camera so no pictures.

That evening we hung out with our friends down the street, the Porters.  We had bought a small bag of fire works and they had a bunch of fireworks so we enjoyed watching our own little firework show.   

Alan and Conner watching a black snake firework:

Micah was kind of wary of the fireworks.  He preferred to keep his distance and eat some red, white and blue trifle:

Setting up for the big tank battle: 

All the little tanks fought the big tank.  I am not sure who won, they all ended up in a big burning heap:

Micah and Josh, keeping well back from the pyro technics:

Then we took the kids to the city's firework show over the river.  We arrived just as it was starting so I dropped everyone off and went and found a parking spot.  I didn't meet up with everyone until after it was over, but that worked out.  It was really good, we might do that next year instead of doing our own thing.  I want to go earlier so that we can find a spot and watch it as a family.  It was a great 4th of July!