Cousins everywhere!

Its been a very busy few days! I am up late, I don't really feel like typing anything out, but I know I'll regret it if I don't, so I'm going to be brief and try remember what I can, because it all feels like a blur. Dave and Josh left to go hunting with their dad, Ted, in the UP on Thursday. They will be gone until Wednesday. Carrie decided to come out here and spend the time with me because we knew we'd both be really bored and the time would go really slowly if we didn't get together (especially over a weekend!). She drove out here on Friday by herself with Austin and Renee. She said the trip was a little crazy. My mom also came to spend Friday with us so all of us had dinner together (I made chicken enchiladas) and then my mom left. Saturday was an ambitious day! We took all 4 kids to Old Navy to get a little shopping done to use a 30% off coupon Carrie brought along. She had Austin and Renee in the double stroller. I had Violet in a small umbrella stroller, and Calvin in the Baby Bjorn carrier. I ended up getting Violet a pair of 3T comfy pajamas for winter because she only had 1 pair. We let the kids run around the play place at the mall for a half hour and go on the "horsies!" (the carousel). We got pretzel bites to munch on in the car and then drove back. The kids all took naps at home after lunch, and later that evening, we gave the kids baths and got them all warm in their jammies and then we got in the car and drove over to the flooded river house. Carrie just wanted to see it....so the kids just stayed in the car and we walked around the house with a flashlight (the power has been cut). She said it looked very scarey and very sad in the dark loomy state it was in. Sunday was a great day too! We got up early enough to get the kids all ready for church and we made it through the morning. The kids were all mostly behaved during remembrance meeting (Calvin screamed through most of it, he didn't nap at all), but other than that, they colored and played quietly. Renee sat in the little seat strapped to the chair. Austin attempted to be in Violet's SS class, but I ended up staying with him while he cried for his mom for 15 minutes. He ended up calming down and playing nicely until it was over. I guess Renee did well in the nursery - just a pinched finger. We decided to get McDonalds for lunch, so we drove to the nearest one on University and Main. The kids were excited to get Madagascar toys in their happy meals. Austin and Violet didn't eat much because they were too busy walking up and down the benches. Why do kids get so wound up before nap time!? Carrie mentioned after we got done eating that she had some Culver's kids' custard coupons for free ice cream - so we decided to make a Sunday drive out of it and get ice cream at the drive-thru in Waterloo. We indulged pumpkin shakes on the way home. Yum! They tasted like creamy pumpkin pies in a straw. We were fortunate to get all the kids sleeping right after we got home rather quickly. In fact, all thru the weekend, they all napped well, and for at least 2 hours during the days so we got some breaks. We just realized that we have kids ages 0, 1, 2, and 3. (Calvin is 10 months, Renee 20 months old, Violet is about 2 1/2, and Austin is 3 1/2). Sunday afternoon we relaxed, and then Sunday evening we got the kids fed, let them play a lot. Their favorite game to play with us is hide and seek. They always pick the same hiding spots, and don't really get the concept of the game. Closing their eyes to "not" find out where the other is hiding is just not clicking with them. They'll count but look, and then hide and scream "i'm over here!" not realizing that someone else is supposed to find them. LOL! Violet and Austin crack us up - they laugh a lot together, and always start the little word game "That's MY baby Calvin. No, that is MY baby Calvin!" and so on and so forth. The game ends whenever someone just gives up...but it always seems to start over again. ha! They also loved running from one end of the house to the other....saying "ready, set, GO!" and taking off. Renee even jumped in and was running back and forth with V and A. I told them to take their socks off so they wouldn't be slipping all over the place...and that concept seemed to make sense to Violet. Now if I try to get her to wear socks, she whines about them being too slippery. Austin is very gentle with Calvin. He likes to play with him and help him figure out toys. There were times he would get frustrated and scream, but that is just Austin and part of his personality. Violet is really affected when other kids get in trouble. For example, if Carrie tells one of her kids to not do something, and they go ahead and do it anyway, Violet will freak out AS they are in the act of disobeying. She cries and tries to prevent them from doing what they're doing because she knows they'll get disciplined for it. Such a little sensitive. We had all four kids in the big hot tub tonight...it was so cute. They were all playing independently until Austin pushed the button that turned on the jets. Violet then FREAKED out and wanted to get out right away. That was fine though...we got her PJs on and she just observed the rest of bath time. So now we're up late...Carrie took a bath in the hot tub and I tried journaling what we all did...so we could tell them how cute they used to be and how well they played together when they were just little squirts.