Visitors

We've been lucky enough to have a lot of visitors this last month.  My parents came in the middle of January, and Pete's mom and sister Liz came at the end.  I always look forward to having people stay with us.  It's nice to have an extra pair of hands around the house, but even more, I love the company.  

Mom likes to take the kids to Build-A-Bear when they turn 3, so that was our first stop with Joe (it was a little belated due to distance).  She lets them pick out whatever they want.  After Dan brought home "Rainbow Vader" (a rainbow-colored bear dressed as Darth Vader) a couple years ago, I was a bit relieved when Joe chose a dark lab dressed as a ninja :)  For the sound in the paw, Joe chose a kissing sound (there had to be something a little bit different, of course).  So now whenever I kiss him goodnight, he has to squeeze his puppy's paw and I have to kiss him simultaneously.  Joe wouldn't smile for the camera, but I'm sure he was happy and excited on the inside :)

We braved the weather and went ice skating one night downtown.  It is really nice having a 1:1 parent to child ratio for things like this!

Mom helped me make this ice skating walker for the kids out of PVC pipes.  It worked great.

Wrestling with Grandpa... I'm pretty sure the kids would be happy doing this ALL DAY.

I don't recommend sledding when the wind chill is 1 degree.  We lasted 2 or 3 runs then ran back to the car as fast as we could.

We ended with dinner at Aubree's.  The kids were so good and we were even able to get in some adult conversation (that certainly doesn't happen every time).  Thank you so much for coming, we miss you already!

A week later, Pete's mom and sister Liz came to stay with us.  It's pretty unselfish for people to come visit Michigan in the dead of winter.  But a welcome visit for me and the kids and something for us all to look forward to.  We mostly kept busy indoors while they were here.  Playing games, reading many many books with Grandma Annie, going to the library, watching movies, the Children's Museum, hide-and-seek, and a fun treasure hunt that Liz made for the kids.  

Liz does a treasure hunt for the kids almost every time we're with her.  These kids have the sweetest aunt.  This time she strung yarn all over the house, and the kids had to follow it until they reached the treasure at the end.

Thank you so much for visiting mom and Lizzie!  We love you!