Weekend Whirlwind

This past weekend Lucy and I headed down to Iowa to help my grandpa celebrate his 80th birthday, and also to see my dad’s side of the family since our Christmas with them got snowed out this year. We arrived in Storm Lake by about 1:00 on Saturday, and for the rest of the day Lucy got to play with her cousins, who were also staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the weekend. It was crazy but fun; I enjoyed the time with my nephews as well. D is all over the place, and Little E is just as chill as can be. We did get him to giggle quite a bit that night – it was so cute even though he should have been sleeping!

Sunday the day started early…church at 8AM, followed by breakfast, pseudo-Christmas at Grandpa’s house, a brief break to load my car, then off to the Knights of Columbus Hall for a surprise cake reception for Grandpa’s birthday. Getting the Overmohle clan together is always a feat in itself, and makes me realize how deep our roots run, and how the branches of our family tree continue to grow. There are 34 grandchildren on this side of the family (no, that is not a typo), and we are well on our way to upping the ante with great-grandchildren. There was a mini baby boom in 2009 with six babies born, bringing the total to 20 great-grandbabies. The youngest is just days old and also made an appearance at Grandpa’s party. Over the course of the weekend, we discovered there are five more babies due in 2010! As the years pass this legacy will certainly continue to grow.

How satisfying it must be for Grandpa to look across that room and see all those little ones, some bearing his last name; others wearing Overmohle traits all over their sweet faces. It makes me smile just thinking about it.