The Cousins Came To Visit!

It is spring break for the Helterbrand Cousins, and they opted to come spend it with us in the frozen north!

We prepared a bit before they arrived:

They came in midday Saturday, and we've had a full table and noisy house since then. = )

They played some in the leftover snow from last week, but we did get a little fresh stuff for them to enjoy on Monday! And, it was the best kind of snow, it came, they played, it melted. = )

My littlest ones have enjoyed having someone smaller around.

Coyt requested fancy, so I tired, but there is only so much you can do with chicken nuggets.

On Sunday, it was cold, but sunny and not windy, so we went to the park to take pictures with Avia. I managed to get a close up of everyone except for Cali.  She and Alice took turns crying at the park.

Avia with all of her Grandchildren:

These pictures were taken seconds apart, and show just how difficult it is to take pictures of all 5!

They are smiling, but Elizabeth looks like she does not trust me...

After pictures, we walked to get ice cream!  Our little shop in the village opened March 1st.

Avia took on all the cousins and non-school aged children, so that Haley and I could visit Sarah and go shopping!  Sarah was about to paint, so she hid from the camera.

Cali and Emily are the two crafters and they made a necklace worth of paper beads with this nifty contraption.

My kids still had school each day, but poor Emily has had a pattern of school/sick/school/sick all week. = (  The twins also had their usual speech appointment.

Emily and Cali were pretending to be little old ladies.

Juliet and Cali had some fun making optical illusions:

Dance party!

This picture is a bit misleading, Alice is actually just a smidge taller than Cali:

Bath time!

They were making "magic weight loss videos" for us. = )

Avia was in charge of entertaining the Helterbrands during the school day, and yesterday took the twins along too, so that I could bring this sick one to the doctor.

She tested negative for flu and strep, and perked up a bit during her appointment. She had me really concerned when she told me that she would probably just "open her present, and not skate" at her party. = (  Luckily, after a relaxing day, she had enough energy to enjoy her party, and managed to make it to school, if slowly, this morning.

we only have about 24 hours left with them, and they are awake*!

later days

*the combination of changing time zones, daylight savings and being on break, has us split on two different schedules!