Auntie Z and Cousin G

Last week I got a call from sister. My nephew had about a week left of his summer vacation and they were hoping we would be in town because they wanted to take a road trip to Reno (they live along the Mendocino Coast). It was totally last minute, our house is still in 'unpacking' mode, the guest bedroom was still a collection of speaker wire, bed frame and a lamp shade or two. We also had two birthday parties and some moving chores to take care of during the weekend. I could have easily said no, but I said, "Yes, come. Come and visit"!

 

I mean, it's family after all and they are willing to look past the fact that there is still a ton of stuff in boxes around the house and that you might only have on roll of extra tp in the bathroom (well, that part is hard to over look, but we remedied it quickly! tee hee). They also had some things that they wanted to do on their own, so that left us the freedom to do what we needed and already had planned.

I have always know my nephew was going to be tall, but when he walked in the door and even Andy had to go up on his tip toes to give him a hug, it really hit me just how big he has gotten. He will be 15 on the 1st of September and one of the sweetest kids I have met.

 

Granted I am not around teenagers very often, but I didn't really expect G. to be so sweet with O. (G. hope I don't embarrass you too bad, but you are a great kid and it means a lot to me that you made such a nice effort to spend time with your cousin!) He showed him how to play new games on the ipod, held his hand on the way to the playground, and rode the Ferris wheel with him at Scheel's. Of course, O was so excited to have such a big kid in the house to hang out with. Watching these two spend time together was pretty cool.

 

O warmed up to both his Auntie Z and G right away. Fifi takes a lot longer to let you into the circle of trust. Finally, on Sunday afternoon she decided G was okay- needless to say, I didn't get any photos of her with them- oh well... such is the way of an almost 2 year old.  

sporting one of the bandades that they brought for the "kids". tee hee.

It was great to see my sister too. She hasn't come to visit in well over two or three years. We don't see each other often, but I always feels nice to get to know my Dad's side of the the family a little more each time I do... Pretty sure we had a good time, wouldn't you say?

So glad that we made room (physically and time-wise) to have these two sweeties in our house.

The I snapped from the last visit! look how much the boys have changed!!

 Thanks for the visit Z and G! We love you and hope it isn't another three years until we see you again!

Face Painting

The week before we headed up to the cabin for the pre-Fourth weekend, my Dad-in-law went over an itinerary he had in his head for Saturday.

He had it all planned out, down to the hour, what we would be up to and what the kids would be doing.

 

I giggled to myself at his ambition. Had he forgotten that there was going to be 6 kids (actually 7 with the addition of a cousin from my bro-in-law's family) under the age of six, plus 8 adults and 4 dogs wandering around the joint?
Keeping everyone on track can be a chore in and of itself. But I nodded along with his ideas.

I totally loved that he had so many fun plans smashed in for the one full day we would all be there. 

One of the things he had on his "bucket list" for the day was, "Face paining, I really want face painting.Would you mind doing that again this year?"

 

Needless to say, Grandpa Mike was the first in line when I pulled out the paints.

The rest just snowballed from there.

I was pretty bummed out when I opend my new fancy face paint kit to find that someone had stole the 6 stencils and one of the brushes from the box, but I made due with what I had.

 

Despite this sleep boy look on the boy's face here, O has asked to have his face painted nearly every day since last Saturday.

Face paint is officially a part of summer 2012!

164:366, the graduate

Let's just say I have officially entered the phase in life where a kindergarten graduation makes me get all choked up...
This girl is the oldest of the cousins and to think that she is heading into the first grade throws me for a loop. I distinctly remember holding her for the very first time. I remember it almost as clearly as I do holding my own two. I think it was so vivid because I had just lost our first pregnancy and then she was born. 

 I was full of hurt and anger and empty, but holding her, it filled me with hope and love and joy. Her tiny body in my arms set my mind straight that I really did want to be a mama.
E. is a beautiful, smart, girly-girl/tomboy who keeps all the other cousins in line and all of us laughing along the way.
We love you so much E and we can't wait to see who you become.

going to the chappel...

Or really more like the Danville Library and Community Center. Which sounds funny at first, but couldn't have been a more pretty and perfect place. Danville is a sweet little town, the down town is quaint and has a ton of great shops and places to eat. I wish I would have had a bit more time to wander. Word on the street is that there is a killer candy store, we avoided that for fear of a complete freakout session....

We checked into the hotel and then headed straight for the pool to cool off.
Last Friday was hot, hot, hot and we needed the dip.

A quick clean up after our swim, and we headed to the rehearsal. Neither of the girls would give the wagon the time of day, but we let them run around and get used to the area and the people. We crossed our fingers that tomorrow, they would get in and ride down the isle with smiles on their faces.
From there, we headed to the restaurant down town.

The kids did more running around and did their best to each spill at least one drink. 

Dinner was delish and the company was pretty sweet too.

I snuck up on the soon to be newly-weds as they were catching a quite moment alone...
aren't they adorable?

Saturday involved a really nice run with my SIL (she said we did 5+ miles! ahh, that low elevation stuff rocks) and swimming and then a quick nap for the kids. I didn't give Fifi much time to wake up, and totally didn't give her time to think about me putting a clip in her hair, fancy shoes and a pretty pink dress on her, all of which she had been fighting me on back at home.

I think she was adorable in all that pink.
Her cousin, was equally as sweet in her pink too!
The girls got in (I think the flower petals helped) and rode down the isle perfectly.

B and the oldest of the cousins E, enjoying the wagon post-ceremony

The ceremony was short, but sweet and then it was on to the party!
I really enjoyed watching the two photographers do their work. Since we had to hang around for Fifi to be in the photos, I got to be in the mix a little more than I normally would have for that part and not feel like a creeper doing so.

Can you handle that veil?! If I would have worn something like that in Reno I would have been halfway across town before the end of the ceremony because of the wind!
I can hardly wait to see the end result of the shot the photographer was getting in the last shot here.

I was teary eyed all afternoon with how sweet the wedding was.
Their first dance about put me over the edge.

Good thing she dance with her dad to "Sweet Child of Mine"- set the party going just right!!

JT and Lo, we thank you for having us be a part of your special day.
You have something magical between you.
Hold it, care for it and may you have a beautiful and long life together!

153:366, flower girl

 There was a wedding in the family over the weekend.

My little Fifi got to be one the flower girls.
She and her cousin rode down the isle in a wagon filled with rose petals...

 

After the ceremony the wagon was a big hit with all the other cousins.

Funny how we could hardly get the two girls in the wagon for the ceremony, but afterward we could hardly get them, or the other cousins, out of it!

holiday crafting

Over the weekend in Greagle the kids (and adults) got to craft, holiday style.








It's really fun that the kids are old enough now to all participate in the making of gingerbread houses and puff ball pine cone trees.

Thanks Aunt Ra and Aunt Lo for getting all the supplies-
These are traditions in the making, I love it.

crossing the bridge

On Friday Fifi and I piled into the car with my sister-in-laws, their girls and my mom-in-law. We headed over the summit, over the bay bridge and into Redwood City to meet up with family and help celebrate some very important milestones that are happening in the family right now.

These are some photos from the wedding shower we attended.

We did all the things you do at a shower, ate, drank bubbly, played games, and joked about the appropriate attire for vacuuming the house as a newly-wed...

(one of those cute little aprons you received as a shower gift, and not lot else. a-hem.)

It was a lovely party and we are so excited for K. She looks like a princess already, I can't even imagine what she will look like come the end of the summer in her wedding dress!