HI!! GiGi's Place has MOVED!!

I moved over to another place thats beautiful and perfect and waiting for YOU!

Some COME ON OVER and Say Hi!!!

www.Gigisplace9.com

XoXo

GiGI

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

HELLO DEAR FRIENDS....

Please hang in there for a couple of days... While my blog visits the salon for a complete makeover!!

I am working quickly to get her up and ready for this weekend!!!!

Well. as quick as I can with 7 kids and a travel business... HA!

But, I PROMISE ....

IT WILL BE WORTH IT...

COME BACK SOON AND STAY TUNED...

XOXO

GIGI

Wing night.

**This is NOT an advertisement or review post. All opinions are my own and I was not reimbursed  by Tyson in any way!**

Every Saturday night, after the little kids are tucked in bed, our oven is turned on to precisely 375 degrees. Our screen door is unlocked and the night is ready to begin. By 8 pm, Cuncle Neal walks in and wing night begins!

Wing night is a tradition in our house. It's Facebook famous. Everyone knows, that on Saturday night, our little red house is ALIVE with laughter and the smell of WINGS!

But what people don't know is WHY we have it or how its started... And many would never guess in a million years WHAT type of wings we use.

Over the years, I have received private messages asking about our night... Or when friends realize we made other plans, our Facebook blows UP with friendly reminders of what we were SUPPOSED to be doing....

But for the most part, Saturday night is ALWAYS wing night.

It started almost 3 years ago. Neal was going through some tumultuous time in his life and would swing by our house to just relax and talk. His week was filled with late nights at the office, so after errands on Saturday, he would come by...

I would dig thru our freezer and pop anything we could in the oven and we would just hang out... Sometimes not ending the night till 2 in the morning...

The next week, my phone would ring and it was Neal...

" Hey, you guys doing anything this Saturday night?"

" nothing why..."

"Well, wanna hang out again? Last week was so much fun.."

YES. 

Every week my phone would ring and the same conversation would go on. Hubby had recently discovered that Tyson made a great buffalo style wing, so he bought a bag and we made it. We all agreed it was great BUT, THE CONSISTENCY was off. So Neal suggested we just cook it longer...

And we did.

And out came the most perfect wing. Crispy on the outside and soft chicken on the inside. We oohed and ahhed and ate it all. With a generous side of ranch and sour cream.

3 years later and wing night has become our thing. We exchange funny family stories, tell jokes and chat about the week we had. We laugh at the most stupidest things and then in the next breath, serious topics are thrown around.

While always... always eating our wings!

Our theology discussions are the best. We are all so strong in our faith and love to study the bible and analyze Moses and Abraham.... Around Easter we discussed the disciples. Creation, evolution, rapture, pre-mid-post trib, politics, parables, theories... You name it, we have discussed it... And always leave the table in complete awe of who God is.

Over the years we have perfected the exact crispy crunch of the wings outer layer. Spray Pam works the best on a cookie sheet and by the time the smell carries thru the house, its time to flip them.

Different seasons in our life sometimes brings wing night gaps but before long, one of us gears the other back on track...right where we are supposed to be.

When we are mad or sad or having a bad day, we know we need a wing night. A night to blow off steam, get things off our chest and relax. It's great to reconnect after a long week to re-connect over some perfectly cooked Tyson wings.

I'm not sure where life will lead all of us. Will we always live in our Little Red House? Or live around the corner from our cousin? One day Neal will get married and have a family and wing night just might not make the cut.... But for now we will cherish each and every night together. And make memories that I hold dear in my heart. But for now A bag if wings always remains in my freezer.... And at 7:30, as the littles make their way up the stairs, they know to unlock the screen door to let Cuncle Neal in for Wing night!

An OLD Wing Night Post...

XoXo,

GiGi

Our Easter Story...

HAPPY EASTER

I can't believe its already April. I just got used to writing March on the schoolboard.  My calendar is still on March.. but its April...

And that means WARM weather!

And since today is Monday... and its Spring break...

We will celebrate by playing outside in the 70 degree weather. What better way right??

A nice quiet Monday to recover from a crazy hectic Easter weekend.

Good Friday we had off of co-op, so I spent the day grocery shopping and buying items for our big Easter dinner. We invited hubby's parents over, Cuncle Neal and for dessert, Michelle and her crew.

Plus the fact that my cubbards are bare... made for a very very busy day of shopping, unloading, unpacking and cleaning.

Then that evening, I took the oldest 3 girls out to finish all those little things that I forgot to buy, which led to a trip to Walgreens... and for some reason, we tend to LIVE at Walgreens. Seriously.

They really should give us our own parking space...

Right near the red box preferably.

Afterwords, after the kids went to bed, and the teens took over the tv, we snuck to Neals house to hang out at his home recording studio. I tried to refrain myself from wanting to record the next record breaking hit!!

But knew the world wasn't ready for this amount of awesome-ness yet

*wink*

( I really can't sing a lick!)

But soon Saturday approached and the cooking commenced. Meat sauce, lasagna, jello, pudding pie, string bean casserole and a whole lotta mess!

But once I got the kitchen back to looking presentable, we headed outdoors to enjoy the warm day. Our kids were already running amuck up and down the block so it only made sense to join them!

Which led to an impromptu street party with Michelle and John and the in-laws who rode in on a very shiny Harley...

And made all the babies cry...

But that's another story!

We followed them back to their house for a BBQ dinner of burgers and hot dogs...

And the evening was perfect. Crickets in the woods behind their house...

Kids laughing in the sunset...

Yeah, it was good!

But time to go home where Neal awaited us with 2 bags of wings!!

( Have I mentioned that I am desperate for another girl to come to wing night?? As in a wife for Neal?? Hanging with 2 guys and being outnumbered is killin me!!!)

Easter baskets were assembled while the wings cooked and eggs dyed all sorts of pastel colors. My father-in-law joined in on the fun for a while until it was way past his bedtime and he headed home...

Five minutes later we lost power...

completely! The whole neighborhood did. After the sirens went off, we knew it was an accident. My teenagers came downstairs to hang out with me while hubby and Neal went out exploring...

Freaking each other out with weird faces

But 20 minutes later, the excitement ended and the lights went on.

Easter was filled with even more excitement.

Easter baskets were opened, egg hunt accomplished and candy was eaten for breakfast (yuck.)

Then off to church half of us went...

(Noah and the babies stayed home with hubby due to a sour tummy.)

I loved the feeling in the air at church. The anticipation of celebrating the most important event in Christian history...

Our Easter play was fabulous. Even my older girls commented that this was the best.one.yet!

Then our Little Red House started filling up with family. Kids ran in and out and we ate ourselves sick...

Then cleared the table and added dessert...

and ate some more.

I don't think we ever left our big wooden table for very long. We all just sat around and laughed and laughed and enjoyed the day.

It was perfect. Celebrating Jesus's ultimate sacrifice of LOVE

By loving others and serving them in our home.

Exactly what life is about....

And after a few rounds of Zumba on the Wii...

I collapsed into bed...

Utterly and purely exhausted.

But it was GOOD!

How was yours?

XoXo

GiGi