Jay is nowhere near being done and for that I'm grateful, as I'm not nearly done either.
We had all the kids, outlaws and grandkids over for brats on Father's Day. The deck is gorgeous, the flowers are blooming and the grills are ready so of course, it rained for the first time in six weeks. Rained all day and evening. No worries: everyone fit in the house. Tyler slow roasted a beef loin for sandwiches and all the kids brought side dishes. The food was fabulous. After dinner, the grand kids discovered the basement and played down there for the first time ever. The grand kids and I played a game of Yahtzee after dinner. I help all of them with their strategy and keep score. Kitten won. She can't count but she loves to roll those dice and she's the only one who got a yahtzee. Halfway through the game, Jay brought them a big bowl of potato chips, which they ate while they played. After the party was over, I had to soak the cup and dice in a bowl of soapy water. If you've never washed your Yahtzee game it's only because you never played with a bunch of little kids eating potato chips.
Grandma Punkin and JP came over in time to have dessert with us and watch the end of whatever golf tournament was on TV. JP had gotten into town the day before. He's staying with Mom and chauffeuring her around town. I think we were their third and final stop of the day. JP is in town not just for Father's Day but for Zack and Sara's wedding which was fast approaching.
Jay and Tyler have spent the last couple of months doing much of the logistical work for the wedding, the reception for which will be at Ty's place. They were in charge of renting the tents, tables and chairs, the sound system, the drinks, parking and transportation. It was a lot and even though they complained about the load, I think they rather enjoyed it.
I was in charge of some of the dessert. My niece Meg, who is an extraordinary baker, is doing a gluten free cake for the bridal couple. The bride and groom and I had discussed the idea of cupcakes, like we had for Katie and Adam's wedding 7 years ago but further thought revealed several problems with that plan. We nixed cupcakes in the end because we simply had no place to store them. Sara said she'd prefer cookies, anyway. So...I ordered a full sheet cake from Sam's Club and baked 30 dozen chocolate chip cookies.
That probably sounds like a lot of cookies but I grew up baking that many cookies every other day. I can do that in my sleep and practically did. Three evenings this week, I baked a quadruple batch (10 dozen) after dinner. To prevent myself from eating them, I baked them late in the day because if I eat chocolate after 8 I can't sleep. Turns out, a good night's sleep is the one thing I like more than chocolate.
As soon as they cooled down, I packed them away in the freezer in the garage so they were too far away to eat for breakfast. Voila! 30 dozen cookies on wedding day.
We had rootbeer floats and brownies on Father's Day. It was great fun.