Cousin Lovin'

My sister, Kate, and her sweet 6-month-old baby, Beau, flew all the way from Texas to visit us this week.  We were excited to do nothing but let the cousins play (and sneak in some sister chats and chocolate).

This post will contain few words and many pics (since it's really for grandma and the other sibs).

Baby Beau loves his Auntie Lauren.  He is a very active 6-month-old and taught the twins how to climb everything.

 

Three little mobile monkeys was a little too much.  So we loaded the van and headed for the playground.

 

That made everyone happy.

 

 

 

 

what do you do when there aren't enough swings?

share, of course.

Time to go home.

and take a bath.

the boys, having a heart-to-heart 

 Ryan offered to wash their hair.

Glorious

It was a glorious weekend!  Beautiful, sunny weather.  Dinner with sweet friends on Friday evening.  Kids playing nicely in the yard with new neighbor buddies.  The twins turned 10 months.  My entire house got cleaned (by me).  Date night with the hubby.  Sunday afternoon spent with Veggie Tales.  And Sunday evening spent in the ER.

Glorious!

Let's rewind.

The twinkies turned 10 months on Saturday, and they continue to be pure sweetness.  Miss Ryan is still my little squeally pink pig.  She sleeps like a champ.  Mr. Jack is loud and likes to get up very early with me to ensure I have my devotions.  (He is very spiritual.)

playing patty cake

These 2 are perfect.

Then there are these 2.

 

They are best buds (at times), and we make conscious efforts to give them some special time with (no babies) just mom and dad.  We got tickets to Veggie Tales Live for Sunday afternoon and anticipated a great time together.

I packed my purse with lollipops and granola bars.  It would be a fabulous afternoon.

The tomato and cucumber were a hit.

For the first half.

Then Eveley began whining for juice.  Darn.  I forgot the juice.

Caleb didn't make a peep.

Because he was sound asleep in my arms.

But I had fun.

Bob said I got an "A" for effort.

After the show, the kids just wanted to play outside.  We came home and I began playing hide-and-seek with the big kids.  Eveley was crouched down behind some bushes at the bottom of a hill, and Caleb was at the top of the hill holding a giant rock.

A few seconds later, I heard a loud bonk.  I instantly knew what had happened.  Caleb has an "issue" with throwing rocks.  He has a pretty good arm and pretty bad aim (or good, depending how you look at it).

When I got to Eveley, she had blood pouring down her back.  After an ice pack and a few Google searches, Eveley and I headed to the ER.

She was pretty mad at Caleb.  But very brave with the docs.  She kept asking where the treats were.

After some numbing medicine and 2 staples, we were on our way home.

Poor Caleb was pretty traumatized by the whole event.  I'm hoping he will never throw rocks again....but I'm not holding my breath.

Sheer Joy

It is March -- when did that happen?  And my kids were sure sad that Ole Man Winter had not come to visit them this year.  Well, he did make an appearance several weeks ago, but we were in Tennessee visiting family and missed out on the whole thing.  So that doesn't count.

We had our fingers crossed when the weather report indicated we would have some flurries Monday morning.  That morning, Bob and I were sitting in the family room around 5 a.m. drinking coffee.  We could see the green grass from the porch light and assumed it would be a typical day. 

It began snowing at 6 and, in just a few hours, this was my view from the dining room table.

Our cousin Mathers, who is still living with us, is from Alabama and has never seen (a respectable amount of) snow.  So as soon as I gave the okay, they all headed outside to play.  

Supposedly, we now own the neighborhood's prime sledding spot.

Sheer Joy!

The twins missed out but helped me make hot chocolate and blueberry muffins for the troops.

Better late than never.