Labor Day 2010 - Josh and Carrie visiting

Dave and I hosted Josh and Carrie and their family this past weekend. Carrie and I had talked about them coming to visit a few times over the summer and we threw out some dates that might work. She called me a couple weeks ago and said "If it works for us to Labor Day weekend then let's do it." We had the weekend open so it was planned. The night they arrived (around 10 pm on Friday night), Dave and I got the house prepared for their visit. They preferred to set up their whole family in the basement, so Dave and I moved the queen size mattress to the basement floor for J&C to sleep on. THAT was a feat! We switched out the square table for a round one that we borrowed from the chapel for the main eating table, blew up two twin air mattresses for Austin (age 5) and Renee (3), and set up a pack and play crib for Wesley (9 months) and put it under the stairs in the storage closet. I didn't tell Violet they were coming until Thursday of last week, because she had a week full of new things: First week of preschool started Monday, and continued Wed and Thurs, and a play date scheduled on Tues at a friend's house. She was very excited when I told her, and knew that her cousins would be at her house when she woke up on Saturday morning. When J&C arrived, V&C were in bed, and their family quickly moved to the basement to get their kids settled into their beds. We talked for a little while and went to bed "early" around 11:00 pm. Everybody was tired. Saturday morning all the kids were awake before the adults - we got ourselves out of bed cuz they were all hungry. They were all happily playing with the train toys downstairs. Dave had gotten a call the night before from his cousin Jeff who informed us he and his wife Denise would be stopping by on their way through town and 8 am. They were going to St. Louis for someone's wedding. So Jeff and Denise joined us for breakfast. I scrambled 18 eggs, cooked a pound of bacon, and served the zucchini bread Carrie brought. It was polished off quickly. We had plans to go swimming in the neighbor's pool. The Patterson family on the north end of Briarwood Drive let us come swim for a couple hours. I had asked them the week before if it would work out to swim after he graciously let all the kids in the neighborhood swim in the pool after the annual Briarwood block party that they host. I took Vanessa with me and made a separate trip to Bethany Bible Chapel to practice my flute music with the rest of those who were practicing for the music on Sunday. I played through my song a few times and made some changes with the piano and all in all, it took about 20 minutes. I went to the neighbor's pool to meet the rest of the family. It was a tad bit chilly but we went ahead with it so we could get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine. The kids had a lot of fun - Carrie and Dave got in with them, Josh and I sat out and held the babies. Violet swam on her own with the life jacket, Austin was tall enough to walk around the shallow end, Calvin wore his life jacket but just sat around the steps and got his feet wet, and Renee wore her floaty swim suit and I think just stayed near the steps. Josh showed Dave some brotherly love by pushing him in the water. :D Everyone swam for about an hour and a half, and then those in the water got pretty cold and we decided to go back home for lunch. We had a sandwich buffet with three different kind of meat, broccoli salad and chips. We all worked to get the kids down for a nap, and Josh and Dave took off for a coffee shop to get some 1-1 relaxing time together. Carrie and I stayed in the kitchen and made chocolate chip cookies and talked. The rest of the day was pretty random. The kids woke up rested and ran around and played. After supper (BBQ chicken made by Dave on the grill, mac and cheese and green beans), we all took a walk and went to "the little playground" and let them run around outside. Bed time couldn't come soon enough! J&C and Dave and I played a couple rounds of Yahtzee then called it a night. We were ALL tired! Sunday morning was a feat - a big effort made to get everyone up early enough, fed (cold cereal for all), and in the vans by 8:45, but we did it. Remembrance meeting went pretty well, all the kids seemed pretty entertained by the activity books and crayons we brought. Austin and Renee were happy to go to Violet's Sunday School class. Josh joined Dave in his classroom (he teaches 4th grade) so Carrie and I got to sit together child-free for the teaching meeting after the music. My flute song went well and was over quick. Our plan was to go out to eat for lunch on Sunday - we ended up at Toad's on Main St. We were hoping that either My Verona or the Soho Sushi and Deli place would be open but they were both closed on Sundays. Toads turned out great, we had a big table by ourselves, and everyone enjoyed their food. Once we all got home and got the kids down the naps, Carrie and I took off for the mall to get some coffee, pedicures and shop for a little bit. Vanessa joined us, since I knew I'd have to feed her at some point when we were out. She fell asleep right as we started our pedis so that was perfect timing. We scrapped our supper plans (grilling burgers) because everyone was so full from our huge lunch and chose to pack the strollers with snacky items, and we all walked over to "the big park" (Southdale Elementary). Austin, Violet and Renee rode trikes, and Calvin, Wesley and Vanessa got pushed in strollers. I brought along Violet's butterfly kite and it turned out to be the perfect day for flying a kite. There is a huge open field there and Dave had the kite flying WAY high in the air - Violet was grinning from ear to ear while holding the handle on the kite. She has been begging me to fly a kite all summer but none of the days she thought of it were anywhere near windy, so it was perfect she got to do it. The kids ended up swarming the stroller and snacking on whatever they could get their hands on - many granola bars got eaten, many bags of chips got devoured, and lots of apple juice was consumed. Not the healthiest of dinners, but oh well. It was relaxing and easy...they can eat broccoli tomorrow. :) We took a more direct path home from the park since it was starting to get cold. The kids were all so dirty, so it was bath time that night. We hurried to get them all bathed and in bed, and by 9:10 pm, the house was quiet. Whew!! Wow....I am really starting to appreciate MY parents so much more now going through the same things they did when we were little! We popped some popcorn and played the New York Cartoon Caption game for a couple hours...and went to bed. Monday morning I got to sleep in til 8:30...although I was awake a couple times dealing with Vanessa in the middle of the night. I made some oatmeal for the kids, Dave made fried eggs and toast for the adults. Carrie did a couple loads of laundry before packing up, I took the older 4 kids to the swing set in the neighbor's yard and occupied them while they got packed up. We took a few family pictures in the house and on the front porch...and then Dave grilled burgers for lunch (it was our dinner plan Sunday night that was scrapped) and finished up leftover broccoli salad and mac and cheese. They had their van packed and ready to go by 2:30 pm - and after many rounds of hugging, they took off. Our kids went to take naps immediately, and they slept hard. Calvin slept from 2:30-5, Violet slept 2:30-6! Vanessa and I fell asleep on the couch too, and I got up at 5 when Calvin woke up. It was so nice to get a nap - I was exhasuted. Even though it seems like a huge effort to get together, it is always worth it. The kids had a GREAT time with their cousins and they all got along pretty well for the most part. We got to catch up with Josh and Carrie and had some time to relax in the evening time.