The Relatives Came

Anyone ever read the Children's Book, "The Relatives Came?" When I was teaching 3rd grade, it was one of my favorites to read and MANY lessons could be taught and extended with it! Every time I have relatives that come for a visit, I think of this book. Well, this past weekend, we had relatives come :) Technically they are not relatives, BUT I will always consider them family! Tony, Brooke and Sydney drove over from Mississippi to visit Brenlee and Cadence, an Uncle, an old friend, to see a Rangers game and to just get away from home while on Summer Break.  Tony was my step brother, while mom my was married to Rick O'Hair...although that marriage ended, the friendship that we have with Tony will always be. My Momma, Lolli, got to babysit Sydney (Tony and Brooke's daughter) on Friday night. They then came over Saturday morning to spend the day with us. I enjoyed watching Sydney and take note of how much she has changed over the past year. I can't believe that the twins will be that big in just 2.5 yeas from now! Brenlee and Cadence were mesmerized by her. She is beautiful and has such a SWEET personality! They played together some and stared at each other alot. It was great to watch!
Later on in the evening when it cooled down some, we played in the lil pool in our backyard. We had lots of fun sitting in the pool floaties and teething on blocks!

Sydney has just as much fun
with the blocks as we do!

Brenlee just hangin out ;)

Cadence was In The Zone!

Marie bought the floatie for Brenlee and Cadence

I got the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Sydney after my girls were in bed asleep and Tony and Brooke were attending the Rangers game. She told me that we are mean parents for letting Brenlee and Cadence cry in their cribs until they went to sleep. I tried to explain why I do that, but she just kept saying, "MEAN!" That made sleep training even a BIT harder, BUT sure not hard enough to quit! BTW, today I've successfully laid both girls down for two naps with the bare minimum of fussing---so I know my hard work is PAYING off :) So, as I was saying, we got to spend the night together. I really enjoyed being able to read a few books to her. She chose 3 books that she wanted to read. "A Bad Case of the Stripes," "The English Roses," and "Where the Wild Things Are." We read all of them. You've got to remember that she is only THREE! She was making connections with the characters, inferencing, and predicting already when I'd ask her questions. Many times, she'd chime in and tell me something that she noticed about one of the characters that reminded her of something....I am amazed. Tony and Brooke are great parents and the Day Care she goes to must be amazing, too! After an hour of reading, (I honestly thought she'd fall asleep while I was reading) I decided that it was "Forty."

That's what time Sydney told me she needed to go to bed, because at Forty the Monsters come. We brushed our teeth, changed into pajamas, got a drink of water and put some vicks on our lips.  Yes, she did, too..... (Reason why I put Vicks on my lips is a whole other blog in itself!) We then said our prayers and hugged each other goodnight. She was seriously in a deep slumber within 5 minutes of laying her head down on her pillow!

The next day, my mom came over to fix some Meat and Bean Burritos, per request of Tony. It's been a LOOOONG time since any of us have had those! She also fried up some okra, squash and potatoes. It was all very good, Lolli is an excellent cook! That afternoon, Brent's Mother and Step-Dad dropped by on their way home from Galveston. They happened to catch the girls right before a nap and had the privilege of rocking them to sleep....anyone who has been following me in my sleep training knows that we don't rock them to sleep anymore, so this was a HUGE privilege!

Marie with Brenlee and Cadence

Greg with Brenlee

Marie rocking Brenlee

Cadence Rocking Greg! LOL!

After a busy weekend, we were all exhausted! Brenlee and Cadence were in bed by 6:00----after cleaning up a bit, Brent and I laied down at 8:00 and starting reading "Live a Thousand Years" by Giovanni Livera. This is a book that my Daddy gave me and I hope that I can start living life by experiences and stop living by minutes, hours, days, years, etc....I don't want life to slip though my fingers and look back one day wanting it all back. I desire to love life now and live each moment to it's fullest, just as a young child! After we finish with our reading, I'll post some tips :))
That's all for now, have a great afternoon!