I have decided the following

1) When you have a lot of cooking to do for what is, let's face it, people eating for fifteen minutes and leaving a messy table, a new apron makes a world of difference in your outlook. Thanks Linda for starting a new tradition. Angelia, Brooke, we missed you and hope next year all four of us can be matching! (This is the only picture taken before the battery on my camera died.)
2) For our family Signing Time! DVDs are the very best thing for in the car. Every time I looked back at the boys they were totally engaged and doing sign language from their car seats. I always check these DVDs out from the library but I just may have to buy a few. Look out bilingual Italian cousins, we are learning a second language as well.
3) Scout will travel with us as much as possible. Yes, we took our German shepherd with us to Broken Arrow, then on to the Kansas City area. And she did great! I was so proud of her, she stayed with us the whole time and just laid in the back seat for the five and a half hour drive home.
In fact, last week when I took her to the vet she was much more well behaved than Drew. Which is why she AND Drew were on a leash. Actually Drew wasn't too bad, David led him around on his Elmo leash/harness thing that I had never used. Drew acted like a cat much to the amusement of the vet and staff but it all worked out. Scout got her exam and David got a kitten to parade around.