Labor Day, Smirnoff Ice and Psychology Class

I don't know why, but it seems to be the most difficult thing in the world lately to remember my camera!!! So, I have all these stories about what's been going on and only Labor Day photos from my mother-in-law's camera! I will definately have to work on this one, if not for my future daughter-in-law (hee, hee).

Our Labor Day weekend was kicked off Saturday with a Smirnoff promotional party given by our new friend, Jesse and hosted by us. Let me tell you about this phenomenon. Smirnoff says you can have a party with either 15 or 50 of your closest friends (or anyone you'd like to invite) and they will provide all the alcohol (Smirnoff Ice) AND barbeque meat plus a few side dishes. So, basically all we had to do was send out invitations and dress up our backyard a little and they dropped off the drinks and pre-made bbq and said "see ya" (the representative stayed for about 10 minutes at the beginning, took some pictures, and then she was gone for the rest of the night). What's the catch, you may ask? This is the exact question that kept our conversations going during the party whenever we couldn't think of anything clever to say (or when we were just so amazingly suprised at how easy it was to have a party without spending a dime on food or drink). I believe 5 or 6 people of the 40 that came decided to look into having such a party at their place. So, maybe when I get invited to those I'll actually remember to take some pictures!

Early Sunday morning, as I slowly awoke from my sleep-deprived state, we got ourselves together, baby, dog and all, and headed for Kansas City to hang out with Brett and Rodney's parents. This was the first time we had visited Brett since he started med school and we had a great time. Nancy and Jerry graciously put us up in a very nice hotel within walking distance of the Plaza. We hung out at the pool, visited Brett's favorite local grocer, oohed and ahhed over his new $2500 laptop (included in his tuition), and ate great food. We left at about noon on Monday and I was sad to go. I don't know what it is but lately I've been feeling the need to be around family. Perhaps this is because my 94 yr. old grandfather was in the hospital this week and we were all scared that he may not make it. He's fine for now, but here's a funny story that Nancy (my mother-in-law) told us when we got to Kansas City:

Sometime last week Nancy got a phone call from my mom in Florida, which was bizarre because they rarely have occasion to talk (even though they have a fine relationship as far as it goes). My mother launches into an update on my grandfather without giving Nancy a second to say a word, besides "hello." Somewhere in between my mother's report on the lesion on grandpa's pancreas and the surgery that they were prepping him for to remove some blockage from his intestines to his stomach, Nancy is compelled to ask: "Now, how old is he again?" to which she recieved total and complete silence on the other end. After about a minute, my mother says, "Is this Nancy Malone???" Then they spend the remaining minutes of their conversation laughing over the fact that my mother meant to call my aunt Nancy in Michigan and dialed the wrong entry in her cell phone. Needless to say, we got an update on my Grandpa LaCroix from my mother-in-law Nancy Malone when we got to Kansas City and laughed over this hilarious interchange. If you know my mother, it makes the story even funnier (she's a bit eccentric).

My grandpa is doing fine for now. He had the surgery and has responded well in the first few days. They are keeping him for a week and a half to monitor his condition and will most likely release him to hospice care, which he has had before. Keep him in your prayers, as well as all the LaCroix fam in Michigan and Florida who care for him regularly.

Today William was Rodney's specimen in his Psychology class, and I'm the most upset about not taking any pictures of this particular event. I brought the baby into his class and sat in the back and watched while Rodney and his students discussed the stages of human and cognitive delelopemnt (Piaget and the like). Will was a picture of calmness and was so cute in his little blue romper that I dressed him in. Lately he has been so calm and it's been great. For instance, yesterday Marisa, Preston, Will and I were at the mall for a few hours and he slept for a little while but was up and happy for a good portion of it. I guess this means he's coming out of his colicky newborn stage. We can only hope!