A special visit

We had a special weekend! Thursday afternoon we had some out-of-town visitors; our friends who had moved to back to Nebraska came and spent the weekend with us! Pat and Katie brought the kids (they left with two and came back with three!) and the 10 of us (11, actually, since Katie brought her cousin) had a wonderful visit.

Thursday evening we had takeout and let the kids play in our playroom. When they left, Luke wasn't even walking yet! Now, Colin is two and Luke is nearly two, and the boys had a really great time playing together. There wasn't nearly as much fighting as we thought there would be! Beth and Grace picked up where they left off, playing house, dress up and talking a LOT.

the special girl's table

This was our first time to meet their newest addition, baby Hannah, who is 6 weeks older than Jack. Katie and I had fun planning the wedding. ;-)

their first meeting, neither seem very interested!

Ryan took off work on Friday and we took the kids to play in the fountains. They had a blast, but considering how hot it was for the rest of us it might not have been the best idea! I got a few good pictures though. We grilled burgers that night and had a birthday party for Grace since it was her 4th birthday. We had huge ice cream sundaes, with Blue Bell of course since they don't have it in Nebraska!





On Saturday, Beth and Luke had Soccer Tots, and the coach allowed Grace to come and participate in Beth's class. We all went out to eat at "our" favorite restaurant afterward, a Mexican place near our old neighborhood. We'd go nearly every Sunday after mass, and the waiters knew who we were (and I think dreaded our table since we had so many kids). This time we had two more kids, plus Katie's cousin, so we had to upgrade to the biggest table in the restaurant!

dribbling

beth scored a goal! look at that action shot!

I made gumbo for an early dinner and then they left, hitting the road so that the kids would (hopefully) sleep for the first leg of their looooong drive. That night, as I was putting Beth to sleep, she was so genuinely sad. It was hard to explain to her- again- that they lived so far away and we wouldn't see them again for a long time. I think this was the first time she expressed this sincere sadness, and we had to talk for a few minutes about the emotion she was feeling since it was very new. She nearly cried.


We all had such a wonderful time, and we were all sad to see them go! But we're already making plans for another visit, hopefully we'll be able to enjoy their company again soon.