A family visit and end of season soccer

What a great weekend at our house!!!

Kelsey (Chris' younger sister), her 4 kids and Gram all came out to visit for a couple days. As you know, they got in late Thursday night. (The kids didn't make it into bed until almost midnight that night; it just about killed me!!!) Aiden and Paige were so excited that they were beside themselves. "Where is Aunt Kelsey now, Mommy???" "Are they here yet???" As soon as they got there, Aiden pulled his I'm-going-to-hide-so-they-can't-see-me stunt..... silly kid... With the way the toys came out and the kids ran around the house, you would have thought it was the middle of the afternoon and not after 10 at night!

At bedtime, Aiden and Paige insisted on sleeping with their cousins. It was very sweet to see Paige squish herself into the sleeping bag with Ellie (and very nice of Ellie to share!), and Aiden wiggle himself in between Brogan and Asher. Although the kids ended up in bed with me and Chris that first night, they all slept in the same room after that.


There were 7 kids in the house this weekend, aged 6 and under. I thought it would be wild and chaotic, but really it was just a lot of fun. The kids kept each other busy, and it didn't seem like there were too many meltdowns- at least until the end of the weekend when they had been playing hard for 2 days. Aiden and Brogan are best friends, and spent the weekend playing school and singing songs in Spanish (which Aide is learning) and Chinese (Brogan's second language). Ellie and Paige retreated into pony land- when they weren't being recruited as "students" in the school games, and Asher entertained himself by entertaining me. At first Finn didn't quite know what to make of Everett, but I think he decided that it was pretty cool to have another baby around that was his size. They spent the weekend taking toys from one another, and trying to grab each others' binkis.




Saturday morning saw us all getting bundled into our coats and packing up to go to Aiden and Paige's last soccer games of the season. They were so excited that Gram and Aunt Kelsey were going to be there to see them play. Of course, no one was expecting it to be so cold.... The temperature read 46 degrees, but that didn't take the wind chill into consideration. We bundled the babies, got the kids running, and managed to make it through Aiden's game. He chose to play defense this week (of course), so Gram and Kels didn't get to see him do much but dance in front of the goal. He did get out into the field for a few minutes, though, and helped the team score.



I'm pretty sure were were all mostly frozen through after Aide's game, but we still had Paige's to go. She didn't get the whole fam on the sidelines at once..... We packed everyone into the cars, and parked where we could see the field- then took turns braving the cold to watch her play. Gram was out there when she kicked in the only goal her team scored for the game. I wish I had taken a picture of her in her soccer uniform and bright pink Eskimo coat.... Oh well. In the end, popsicles though we were, everyone had a great time.

(Pictures from the week before, when it was actually warm......)

We were sad to see everyone leave, and the kids are already bored again without their cousins. It's back to "life as normal" for them, and they're not too happy about it! We love having visitors at our place, but as Chris pointed out, it's our turn to travel to family next.