Thanks A Lot

I would like to say a big THANKS to my  sister and her family for letting us stay with her this past week.  Crazy, hectic, insane, exhausting are just a few of the words that would describe our visit.  Dealing with 5 kids ages 12 to 2 was challenging but with the two of us it was a blast.  We enjoyed watching our kids play and listening to them giggle. 

 

Mark and Ian became best buddies.  Ian idolized Mark and Jack often referring to them as one person, Markjack in his toddler-isms.  Mark was super helpful and was a great babysitter.  I enjoyed watching them interact.  It was great to see while Mark was the older of the 2, Ian was definitely the boss!  

Jack was slightly interested in Ian and attempted to play trains and the Wii with him.  If you haven't played with a two year old give it a try sometime, I guarantee you will either  come away smiling or gritting your teeth.  Oh, the two's!  What a crazy age.  

It was great to see Kaela and Emma together.  They did lots of girl stuff and had a blast telling secrets and giggling.  It was interesting to watch the girls ask for things. They figured out easily who was the pushover (Danielle)  and would always start there.  Finally they would say, "Emma's mom said it was OK."  of course I knew nothing about it.  The true tale was at dinner one night.  We all went to a very nice restaurant on Virginia Beach called Catch 31.  We dined on the outdoor patio, with the beach and ocean in the background.  Everyone had gotten dressed up and the moms were trying desperately not to get ketchup on us.  The girls got together and decided they wanted to go down to the beach.  They discussed strategy in hushed whispers.  Then it was decided they would each ask their mom separately.  I am not sure what they anticipated but I said,"No"  even though I was assured they would not get dirty or wet.  Dani however said  "sure. After dinner."  Okay they were stuck.  They discussed it further and tried asking again changing some of their qualifiers.  Emma pleaded saying, "don't you believe me."  Again I said 'NO'  At this point Emma said, "Why do you always say no and Kaela's mom always says yes."  I tried logic and explained that I did not always say "NO."  I even sited examples.  Apparently she was unimpressed because she said, "I wish Aunt Nell was my mom!"  Thanks-a-lot!

While the weather was overcast and gray the smiles and laughs had our days sunny.  We spent only one day at the beach and as you can see the weather was not cooperating.  But how can you be sad at the beach?