We started the holiday with dinner at Jason's grandma's house. As always we had a good time sitting around talking, catching up. Julian and his cousin Samuel had a really good time together and they let Kathryn play along, although she had a good time with Kaitlyn too.
Kathryn is really the only one that will stand still when I ask her to, so I can get her picture.
All weekend, both of my kids ate ice. I don't know what started it, but anytime you saw either of them, they had a cup and a piece of ice in their hand licking it. Kinda weird...
There was a small battle going on between Samuel and Julian - Samuel was watching a football game of some kind and Julian wanted to watch Discovery channel.
Kaitlyn and Kathryn. They are both beautiful girls.
Friday we traveled to my parents' house to stay for a couple of days. We are normally so rushed to get from one place to another, and it was really nice to go and just hang out and not worry about what would happen next.
One thing that my kids love about Pappy and Nana's house is the stuff they get to eat and drink. There seems to be an unlimited supply of peanuts, barbecue potato chips and Coke (Nana does work for Coke, after all!). And Pappy is so much fun - he throws them in the air and swings them around and all the stuff we just don't do because they are SO heavy! :)
On Saturday evening, Uncle Randy had a great idea - to take Julian with him to his house to grab some stuff they needed. Well, what he didn't figure in was what to do with Kathryn, and it was a big to-do to figure something out so no one would be left out. What was decided in the end was that Julian and Randy would go for a walk and Kathryn would go to Randy's house to pet his dog. This is Kathryn waiting for Randy to get back from his walk with Julian - she was ready to go with coat and shoes on - but she was exhausted and was asleep within 5 minutes of sitting with Pappy.
This is what we did a lot of the time we were there - sitting in the den and talking. We did play some Scattegories Saturday night, but I didn't get any pictures of that. My niece Emileigh was REALLY good at it though, although none of us were as good as Pappy.
Ok, so the rest of my pictures were of our newest addition to the family, Vivian (Vivy).
Kathryn could not wait to get her hands on the baby. This is the first time holding her. When Randy and Emily first came over Friday night, Kathryn let everyone know she was Vivian's big sister. She told us she is a good big sister to Vivian. Poor thing - Vivian (and other soon to be cousins) are the closest she'll get to being a big sister. She will be an excellent big COUSIN!
Vivian seems to be going through some sort of growth spurt this week, and she spent a lot of time in feedings. Most of the time she nurses, so there was a little battle for who got to give her a bottle. Of course Pappy won, although aunt Ronda did get to give some of the bottle. Isn't she adorable?! She has such a pretty little face.
In this picture, I was holding Vivy and somehow scared her when I raised my arm to do something...I can't figure how exactly I did it, but it really scared her, and she wouldn't stop crying. I couldn't find her pacifier, so I just walked with her for a minute, and she just kept looking at me - probably realizing I was definitely not her Mommy. Even fussy and crying, she was adorable! Of course her Mommy came and fixed everything quickly enough - mommies can do that like no one else can.
These are some pictures Julian took:
Skittles
Sebastian (Sabby), who I think Sherri said is 17 this year.
And of course Lucy.
And this is how we ended the weekend. When we got home yesterday, after we had unpacked and relaxed for a few minutes, both kids came to sit with me and ended up falling asleep. Kathryn went first, and I think her snoring had some sort of hypnotizing effect on Julian, and he went shortly after; his snoring was almost as loud as hers.
These are ornaments my Mom made a long time ago...
Ok, just a cute picture, but the story behind it: Julian, Evan and Kathryn were playing pretend - Julian is 23 in this picture, Evan was 20 (but he was in Julian's room) and Kathryn was 1 month old, so she couldn't walk - of course. That's why Julian is carrying her. Every couple of minutes, he would come out and announce it was 10 years later - he was now 33, Evan was 30 and Kathryn was 10, and on and on. Until he was 103, Evan was 100 and Kathryn was 80. They came out walking on canes (made of Lincoln Logs taped together!).
