Reunited, family style

We spent an unexpected long weekend with my family last weekend, and let.me.tell.you. We had a good time. (Warning: this post contains a lot of pictures and is most likely going to be relevant to my family only... but there are some good pictures of the girls if you don't know the other family members!)

The girls and I headed out first, planning to stay overnight and come back the next day. My aunt, cousin and wife and three sons were here for the first time. He grew up in Florida (now living in Texas) and we only saw him and his family a few times throughout our childhood. Needless to say, we felt like it was a big deal to get to see them (and really, to get to know them). 

We had so much fun with them that we decided to extend our weekend (even though I had prior plans that I had to cancel that would have also been pretty awesome...it was worth it). Hubby and my sister came down after they got done working on Friday and the lake house was at maximum capacity. Amazingly, even though the forecast said it was going to rain the whole weekend, it barely rained at all! We couldn't have asked for better weather. 

Grammy had the girls help make rice krispy bars, something that these Texans had never had before (hear our gasps?? Who's never had rice krispy bars before?)

Josie was thrilled to meet her "cousins" and talked about the boys nonstop. The baby was easy to play with and the bigger boys fascinated her. She did a lot of watching at first before jumping in to play with them.

My grandma loves holding babies, and Audrey indulged her just a little bit before running off. Those days are coming to an end I'm afraid! Audrey is hardly a baby anymore. :(

This guy (my cousin) enamored the girls. He managed to somehow get shy Audrey to sit on his lap and stay there for almost an hour. That's unheard of. Then, later, he got Josie wrapped around his finger by letting her fly their remote controlled helicopters. She couldn't get enough of him, and thankfully, he was very patient and sweet with her when she got nervous and silly. I so remember acting like that, and it was entertaining to watch to say the least.

Here is a typical Audrey expression, saying, "Hands!" I'll always say yes to that request because there is nothing sweeter than holding that little hand (and going at the slowest speed possible).

We got to go out on Papa's boat and as always, Josie was loving it. She even got to go fishing with Papa and Daddy the next day and told me allll about it in great detail later. She's been needing some serious one-on-one time lately and she didn't know what to do with herself when she got two-on-one attention for the entire morning while on the boat.

Most of my cousin's family on the tiny boat... we had to squeeze to all fit but the good news is we didn't sink it. :)

This snoopy life jacket was mine as a kid! You've just got to love second generation things like this.

After fishing with Papa and Daddy, Josie konked out on the way to the cemetery. We wanted to go and honor my Grandpa one last time since my cousin was up here. The coolest thing is that my cousin is in the army, like my Grandpa who was in WWII, and he has just been promoted to Sergeant. He wore his dress blues and it was just a cool tribute to this man we loved so much.

My grandparents' headstone:

 

My great-grandparents' headstone:

My cousin's older boys, who despite looking silly in this picture, were very respectful the whole time we were there:

My cousin and his family with my grandma:

This next picture was a keeper because of the oldest boy's face. I mean really. He thought he was so sneaky.

We had a moment of prayer, led by my cousin. Again, a great tribute.

A few of the cousins (missing a bunch though, we are never really all together):

Honored for Memorial Day with the flag and flowers, still looking fresh and beautiful.

This one is random, but I couldn't help but be touched by this one of a child that died at just one years old or slightly younger right by my grandpa's grave. It just broke my heart to imagine this family burying their baby. I know it was common, but this one stuck out to me.

It was so neat to see where the headstone was placed in the cemetery. There weren't a lot of trees in the cemetery, but of course his headstone was right under one of the bigger trees, with a perfect canopy above it. He would have loved it.

After we visited the cemetery, we all headed back to a family member's farm and spent the afternoon visiting, nature walking, shooting guns, and having a huge "burn pile" fire. The girls hardly slept that day but all the excitement and people kept them behaving and we were able to enjoy our time with family we hardly get to see.

I'm so thankful for my family, and so hope that we don't go so long without seeing them again!

Just call me Auntie

Guess what! I'm an aunt! My sis-in-law had her baby yesterday and we are SO EXCITED about this little guy. They didn't know what they were having, so it was a surprise for all of us. I was secretly hoping for a boy, just because we will have two girls and it's fun to have a bit of both in the family, and he is just the sweetest little guy! 

Even though I was okay with not getting a long turn holding him, I was so glad I got a little time. There is nothing like a tiny newborn that just completely softens the heart. It's fun to think that we'll have another one in just 4 1/2 months. He was 9 lbs 3 oz, so just 4 oz smaller than Josie was, but he was so tiny compared to Josie who was running around the room like the big toddler she is. It's crazy how much they grow in just one year.

 "Uncle Mike" loving on his nephew... it was pretty easy

Doesn't she just look HUGE next to him? She was so fascinated with him and just stared and stared.

Proud parents opening their gift from us (now that we know it's a boy we had to get some real boy clothes!)

Doesn't she look beautiful? So proud of her and can't wait to watch her in action as the mom she has always been meant to be!

Congratulations Elizabeth and Greg! And welcome Dean(o)! You are perfect.

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