Such a fun visit!

Ja, Laura, Macy, Anna, and baby Owen visited this week! We have been so excited for their arrival because I was very sad to not take Lily to Virginia to the sealing because I wanted her to see cousins. But how fortunate that the cousins are coming to us!

I had a whole list of things we could have done, but in the end the kids had a great time just hanging out together at home. They played, Ja did magic and juggled (when they left Ryan said, "I wish you could juggle cars too Mommy"), we went to story time at the library, shopping in Fort Collins, and the park.

Library story time fun!

Don't they all look like siblings? And I love their matching headbands thanks to their art project earlier that morning. 

Life size connect four was fun.

The girls named him Oliver, like their cousin. Only this Olive is bigger than their cousin they said. 

Lily talked with him for awhile and asked what he was reading. She said it was "The Pauper" (like the Prince and the Pauper). She was pretty funny in her conversation and Macy said Lily talking with the statue was her favorite part of the shopping trip. 

They all wanted to show me which mermaids they wanted. 

But the best part was when Ja helped them make a kiwi crate. The craft was to make a little pretend lemonade stand. But this got them thinking about a real lemonade stand. They made a sign, we bought cookie dough and lemonade, and stood on the sidewalk selling cookies.

The girls yelled out, "lemonade and cookies, fifty cents!" They were so excited when a car came by, "I can't believe we got our first customer!" and even more excited to see the money they raked in: $24! I woke Ryan up near the end so he could come sell too, so they each got $6. It's funny because if we were to have done that on our own without cousins, I would have felt like I needed to all all sorts of preparation. But in this case, we decided to do it and just did it. It was fun having cousins to do it with and I appreciated having Ja as another adult to sit on the grass with as our kids tried to make money.

"Our first customer!"

They loved waving to all the cars. 

Selling time is over, now they get to eat what's left. 

Laura handing out the money. 

Laura was very official as the banker. 

Jeff was able to come home one night to see them, which was fun. He came back Friday night, then had to leave again on Saturday. Friday night though he realized he booked a ticket for a red eye, rather than 11 a.m. He had to re-book another flight so was up late doing that. It was a bit stressful but luckily he got everything taken care of. The next morning I took Lily and Ryan to do service at the charter school for our ward for Colorado Cares Day. We worked in the garden pulling weeds, though the kids were more interested in the free cookies they got. But the gardner was very nice and let us eat some edible flowers, showed us some lamb's wool leaves, and other fun things that the kids enjoyed. We got back and I hurried to mow the lawn before saying goodbye to Jeff for two weeks. Lily cried and cried, but was somewhat pacified when Jeff offered to bring her back a surprise.

Sunday was the first time I have had all three kids at church. We lasted until just into the first talk, then we were out in the hall. I was out in the hall for all of Sunday School with Max (we lasted about 2 minutes in there) and then I taught Young Women's. Right when the lesson was just about over, he fell asleep on the floor. Luckily he was so tired he transferred to the car and the house easily and we all got a nap. Let's just say that I'm really looking forward to the 18-month nursery milestone!

Back Home

Coming back after a wonderful weekend away is always good and yet a little hard. But I was rejuvenated and happy to see my family again. Poor Max still seemed sick Sunday night so I planned on taking him to the doctor the next day. He seemed better, but I still went in and learned it was just a virus and sometimes those can manifest with spots. So that was a relief. The kids did great at the office and we had to wait longer than normal. Because of that, the nurse was extremely nice and gave us lots of coupons and three new books for all the kids. I will happily wait again if it means getting lots of free stuff!

We made a plan this week to have a "no watching week." This meant no watching Netflix, which Lily will often do for some of nap time. So instead, she actually took some naps! She most enjoyed sleeping in the hall on a mess of blankets and she put the chairs there to block her from people walking by. I reminded her that everyone would be sleeping, but it was "just in case." She wanted to sleep there every day/night, but luckily there wasn't too much complaining when we cleaned it up. She told me to come get her when I woke up from my nap. "Wake me up when you wake up. If my eyes are open, that means I'm already awake."

Since there is no tv the kids have gotten creative in their boredom. The shower became a spaceship and they did a lot of role playing. Lily wanted Ryan to be the dad, but he didn't want to so she got the stuffed Superman. After awhile I heard her calling him "son" so I asked why he changed. She said that he can't really do anything (since he's a stuffed Superman), so he became the son.

We got invited over for Family Home Evening to Bishop and Amber Hopkins' house. There were several other families there as well and the big kids were so nice to let the little kids play volleyball. Lily and Ryan loved it and really want a net in our yard too. 

Listening to the lesson. 

Ryan got his little excavator and had fun digging while Lily played some more volleyball. 

I'm always impressed with people who host things. It was so much fun and Jeff was gone so it was a great way to spend my first night home. 

A family in the ward has a garden, but was out of town so they offered to let people come pick veggies. We had a great time gardening and it was fun for the kids to see where food comes from!

First we have to watch the chickens.

Isn't this beautiful?! My dream is to have a garden someday. 

Picking peas. 

Jeff said I look like a super mom gardening with my baby on my back. 

Cutting the lettuce. 

 After gardening we went to the park and splash pad with friends from church. Everyone was in heaven. Ryan found a bucket and filled it up and emptied it (sometimes pouring it on people's heads) over and over. Lily had fun with friends and Max loved splashing in the water.

Ryan is in the blue hat and Thomas suit and Lily is behind him. 

Max loves climbing. 

It's always a fun surprise when the water shoots up!

Tristan Chapman is always so helpful and was happy to play with Max and the other kids. 

Lily's new favorite book to read is a French word book. I feel like I'm making my mom proud when I teach my kids a little French. 

Lily and Ryan were so excited to go to the garden that they had to draw what they imagined the garden to look like before we went.  

We went to story time at the library and the Ryan went to one side of the room and Lily to the other. Can you tell which child likes making friends right away?

I asked if the kids could help Miss Andrea and Ryan right away started lifting up the benches. Then other kids joined in, but I was so proud of him for getting to work helping right away. 

Since Lily has been taking naps, she has consequently been going to bed later. One night she came out of her room to find me cleaning the fridge. So she jumped right in to help and I must say it was nice having her. That fridge was so dirty before that it felt great cleaning it out!

Lily always loves having friends over to play. She and Kalissa are making bracelets, their favorite activity. 

Max got a haircut! He sat on my lap while Lily and Ryan pretended to give each other haircuts.

 We went to the model train museum in Greeley and the kids had a wonderful time. It was a little hard for Ryan since even on the stools provided he was still short, but for several days after we went he kept asking to go back, so he still loved it. For a quarter you could watch the Thomas trains move quickly around the track. The kids watched this for a long time (luckily there was always enough kids around that we only had to put in one quarter). There were buttons to press on the side that made lights go on or barricades move or horns honk. 

Max was so close to climbing on the table. He had a great time throwing things on the floor.

This stand in the middle of the floor was so nice because it allowed them to see better than even with the stool.

 Lily got to attend her friend Lyla's birthday tea party. All the girls dressed up and Lyla's Mom Brianna went all out. It was a beautiful party! Unfortunately the actual part where they sat down to eat was rained out, but the girls still had a great time. And Lily even came home with a beautiful tea cup and tea pot.