A visit with Rosie and Austin!

I can't believe how fast the summer is flying. That feels strange to say, considering it's only the middle of June...but it is going fast. We fly out in 51 days (Miriam leaves for Utah in 31) and we have quite a lot left to do!

Rosie wanted to be sure to get one more visit with us, but her calendar is also rather packed with various grandparents coming out for visits (sometimes back-to-back). Our van is on its last legs and we're planning on selling it (for parts, mostly) so don't really want to fix its issues if we can manage. It's okay for getting around town but we really don't know that it has another long-distance trip left in it, especially through those mountains in Tennessee. 

So Rosie came to us! It was a quick overnight visit, but it was so fun to get to see Rosie and Austin and their kiddos! Here's Phoebe and Zoë saying hello to Dean (who was quite relieved to be allowed out of his car seat):

The little kids had started some art projects right as we were getting them ready for bed, so I told them that I would leave the supplies out for them to use in the morning. That way they could tip toe away from their parents and let them keep resting while they crafted—and that's more or less what they did.

At any rate, these four little ones (Phoebe, Oaklyn, Ireland, and Alex) were all in the dining room making letters for everyone they could think of, while everyone else was still in bed (and resting, if not sleeping). It was a bit of a rough night, with Dean waking everyone up all the time.

We wanted to get to the pool relatively early in the day so that it wasn't too hot and because our house is quickly running out of toys (at least in the quantity enough to keep three little girls of the same age sharing nicely). Rosie's kids like swimming about as much as mine do (which is quite a lot) so it worked out well.

I didn't take many pictures because I had to do my part to keep the adult-to-kid ratio even for our littlest quasi-swimmers, but here's a picture right before we left to come home:

And this time with Miriam:

When we got home the kids built a fort out of cushions (both ones Oaklyn and Ireland brought with them to sleep on as well as cushions from our couch).

I fully admit that rocked Dean to sleep...and then sat and held him for nearly two hours. But, listen...he...prefers contact napping...and I know that holding babies for hours on end (while lovely) can be exhausting. So I thought I'd give his parents' arms a rest...while soaking in all the baby snuggles I could possibly manage to get. 

Was it difficult to not pass out on the couch along with him? Absolutely! But I muscled through it!

When he woke up, he looked up at me with a, "Huh?!" look on his face. Evidently my face was not the first face he wanted to see. 

After dinner we had to say our goodbyes. Here are the little ones one the stairs (Alexander, Ireland, Zoë, and Phoebe, with Oaklyn in front):

They all look like they got quite a bit of sunshine at the pool...

And here they are with Dean added in. He did just fine until Ireland poked his cheek (which happened almost immediately upon being set in Zoë's lap...so he wasn't "just fine" for very long).

And then things kind of fell apart:

Here's Miriam giving these three girls a squeeze:

Guys—I was so enjoying and looking forward to having Phoebe grow up alongside these little cousins for, like, more than one measly little year. I'm very excited about this opportunity, but I'm kind of bummed to be moving so far away from cousins after finally getting some nearby enough to visit!

Here's Miriam with Oaklyn:

And here's a selfie that Phoebe took of herself and Ireland, yanking my camera out of my hands, proclaiming, "Let's take a selfie together!" and very fluently switching the camera direction and snapping this photo:

Kids these days! So technologically savvy!

Here's Phoebe crying a little while saying goodbye to Zoë, who went to Tennessee to be mother's helper for a week. She's having a blast at Rosie's house, chasing around little girls all day, and calling us every evening to check in.