A Memorial Service

My Uncle Pat (Mom's brother) passed away in September and his Memorial Service was on Sunday.  It has been a very long time since we have seen many in Mom's family so it was very nice to be together for a few hours.

The night before the service was Halloween.  We hung out with our friends Matt and Sally and had a little 'party.'  Sally is the ultimate party planner and had 'Pin the Face on the Jackolantern', Spider Tossing and Halloween themed art projects for the kids.  But I think their favorite was the 'jam session.'

Matt and Sally have all sorts of noise making instruments and it was NOISY!  I'm sure the neighbors heard too!  Hopefully they even enjoyed it?  That might be wishful thinking!(:

The one group photo that sort of turned out.  These kids had fun together and Dorian didn't seem to mind having his space overrun by three much bigger hooligans.

The next day we gathered to say good-bye to Uncle Pat.  It was a very informal gathering and was very nice to spend some time catching up with my cousins and aunties and uncles.  Growing up we always had to line up on the couch and get cousins pictures.  We had a makeshift 'couch' for old times sake and stuck our parents on it.  The uncles weren't sure why they needed to be included since it was the aunts who were responsible for the photo sessions.(:

Mom's siblings and their spouses.

Of course we still got our turn.  We were missing Adam, Chad, and Lisa who all live on the East Coast, and Molly (who passed away in 1999).

And the second cousins were not let off the hook either.  There are 3 more who are not pictured.  Everyone commented that Mom is the youngest of the 6 siblings and she is the one with 12 grandchildren!