Friday, November 15, 2013

Visitors - the Pre-game

Joe's parents drove over to visit us for a few days, and we had lots of fun! For one, they always bring us lots of stuff. Exhibit A:
Cutest dollhouse ever! They acquired it from a garage sale in anticipation of Caroline's birthday, but since they won't be here for her actual birthday they wanted to enjoy the gift of giving and see her play with it while they were here. Caroline was very please. Eli, though, was over the MOON, he was far more enthusiastic! It was fun to have the two of them open it together (Patrick was at school and Ethan was napping).

Exhibit B:
Bikes! Bikes! And MORE bikes! Patrick's new one looks like a dirt bike, but is really pedal power.
 
Check out the enthusiasm!
 
Patrick's new red bike meant Eli could use Patrick's old yellow bike, though he's back to insisting he needs training wheels. Oh well, soon enough... in the meantime, he goes 200 mph!
 
Caroline's bike was brought down last time and she's put a few thousand miles on it since then, but they DID bring a 3-wheel scooter and a smaller bicycle for when Ethan grows a bit! So many modes of transportation in one garage...


For another thing, Debbie and I went shopping and I got 2 cute pairs of shoes, a nice skirt, about 5 adorable shirts, and enough books that it took 3 grocery sacks to carry them. The only place you can shop like that and still get out for under $75 bucks was Goodwill, one of my favorite haunts! Secondhand stores are the best - get a sink, get Halloween costumes, get materials for gifts to make, expand your library, and get some really adorable stuff. By adorable stuff I mean I got shirts from Charlotte Russe and Old Navy for $3 apiece, and I would be shocked if the shoes were not brand spanking' new - there's not a scuff mark on the outside or toe indent on the inside! It's not regular outfit-your-whole-wardrobe shopping, of course, but sometimes (like this time) you can get some serious steals.

 For a final thing, we had a very nice time just being together. Ethan loves to play peek-a-boo, and grandma loves Ethan, so there was quite a bit of that going on.


 And finally we had to get some shots of the kids with the grandparents. They're getting so big!

Awww, look at that Joe! He's getting so big and grown up! I'm scared for the day my boys are taller than I am.


 And look at that grandma Debbie! She's getting thinner than ever. She's been on the Ideal Shape diet this past year and this amazing woman lost 105 pounds! More details o that later... but Holy cow, I get grumpy when I need to lose even 5.

 Now I call this the visitors pre-game because over Thanksgiving we'll have upwards of 20 people in our two houses, so this was a little practice run on getting things to run smoothly. Wish us luck!


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