There is nothing like family bonds...

First off, I have had the hardest time getting my camera to download photos which is why I didn't post anything yesterday and why it is taking so long today! Sheesh. I am not sure why my camera is not cooperating, just makes me wanna scream!!!!


So anyway, let me first say that our dinner Friday night was so fun! We had good food and good conversation! My mom's best friends are really my surrogate mom/dad since my mom and dad do not live close. Anne and Bill are always there for me. When we delivered our still born, I called Anne to come hold my hand. They are the nicest people you could ever meet! I love them, we just don't get together as often as we should. I don't want to call her ONLY when I need some hand holding. We made a deal to get together more often and are talking about doing a picnic at their house soon.


Saturday was spent running errands, cleaning and yard work. Sunday was the "big day" when my sister and her family was coming over! My kids were beside themselves with excitement. They stared at the clock and stared out the window waiting. They hardly ate lunch because they didn't want to be eating when their cousins showed up! Once the cousins got to our house the chaos began! There was laughing, running, screaming and a little bit of fighting among the older ones to the younger ones. Altogether we had a 9 yo boy, 8 yo boy, 7 yo boy, 5 yo boy, 4 yo girl and a 2 1/2 yo girl. That's a lot of kids!



We visited and let the kids play for a couple hours, then my sister and I ran out to get some dinner for all of us. We brought back the food and the kids gobbled it all up and back off to play while the adults sat and visited some more. My sister and I went through a box of old photos from when we were both just little and that was a lot of fun!! Then she had to head back to the place they were staying at.


The two boys (the 9 yo and the 5 yo) were able to spend the night with us, which of course upset the two little girls a great deal that they didn't get in on the "party" too. Anyway, we got the boys all settled down by 10:30 pm and I am pretty sure they were all asleep by 10:45 or 11:00 and BACK UP at 7:00 am!!


I made waffles and bacon for breakfast, the kids once again scarfed it all down so they could go play again. The older boys and Mr. Man went on a bike ride while the littler ones then I loaded all the kids up and Mr. Man went to work, I met my sister and her husband and their little girl at the Museum of Nature and Science. We spent a couple hours there and then went out to eat.


I had two very sad little boys after we had to part ways. They really wanted to spend more time with their cousins, Lefty told me "They are my best pals!"



It was fun to watch the kids bond. There is something special about being cousins, even if you live hundreds of miles apart and only see each other once, maybe twice a year. The older boys discovered they had lots in common and both collect a trading card series so they spent hours (and hours) going through them looking for the duplicates he could share - and apparently there were lots of them! The younger boys enjoyed playing video games together, playing outside and playing with Lefty's train sets. The girls were a whole different story...they are at the age where they don't really play together. They may have been playing the same thing, but really they didn't play anything TOGETHER, they also bickered a lot and bossed each other around!


The boys are already pleading with their dad to take a trip to visit their cousins in Seattle this summer -- and Mr. Man is already trying to figure out if they could do that. With my vacation time (or lack there of) it may end up being just the boys go visit --which would make me sad not being able to see my sister -- but I know they'd have a blast!