Sisters/Cousins Weekend Days 3 & 4

As I said in the last post, Mike arrived home from California in time to visit with my sisters for a bit before they had to head home. I was so happy to have him back. I'm on my own with the 3 boys for much of the day every day, and we do fine, but it's nice to have another parent there to help out. My sisters helped, too, but they also had their own kids to take care of, so there was only so much they could do.

We decided that we would celebrate Drew's birthday with his cousins there by having some blueberry coffeecake (a Zinn family favorite- something we make often when we are together). We decided to put 3 candles in Drew's piece and sing Happy Birthday to him. He thought that was pretty cool.

Here are my sisters and all the kids except Jake. It was a lovely family breakfast.

After breakfast we let Drew open his presents from his cousins, aunts, and uncles. The best part about these next few pictures is definitely Anders' face. He may have been more excited about Drew's gifts than Drew was. In fact, in a couple of pictures Drew looks kind of mad. He really does like the games and other gifts he got. Oh, and notice the guitar is close by Anders (the one I mentioned in one of the previous posts). I had put tape over the speaker on it to dull the volume a little.

All the boys enjoyed wrestling with Mike. It's funny how true it is that dads play differently with their kids than moms do.

Here's a cute picture of Myles walking around with a magnifying glass.

Just before Sandy and Anders left, Drew and Anders started playing in this big box I'd gotten the day before and hadn't put away yet. Drew kept saying, "We're going to college!" so then Anders started saying it, too. I don't think Anders knew what they were playing, but I know Drew was thinking of Toy Story 3. Either way, it was cute to hear two 2 year-olds talking about going to college.

These next two pictures really don't do it justice, but with all those little boys around, there were toys all over the place.

After a delicious tilapia tostada lunch that Becky prepared for us, Sandy and Anders left, and then Myles and Drew napped while Mike too Cam and Zach to Zach's tennis lesson. I got some much needed quiet time with Jake. Once Becky was out of the shower, she got some snuggling done with Jake, too.

We went out for a pizza dinner and came home for some playtime, showers for the 3 big boys, and bedtime. Becky was the requested reader that night. I was very surprised to see Drew had climbed into Becky's lap all on his own. He can be sweet at times!

I considered not letting Cam and Zach sleep in the same room Sunday night. They'd had sleepovers every night and no naps, so I knew they had to be tired. Zach had school on Monday and I didn't want him to be too tired for that. But then Myles was coughing a lot, and there just wasn't a great place to put Cam, so I decided we'd let Cam and Zach try it out for one more night. I told them that if they weren't asleep by 8:30, Cam would be moving rooms. I put Jake in bed at 8:25 and could hear Cam snoring through Zach's door, so it was clear they were tired and went straight to sleep. Good boys!

While Zach was at school on Monday, Cam and Drew got some one-on-one playtime in, which was good. I think Drew really liked having Cam to himself for a little bit. They played with the Thomas set-up in the basement and with the cars. But Cam did ask me more than a couple of times how long it'd be until Zach was home, and he was only gone for about 3 hours! During that time I asked Cam if he was excited to get home to see his dad, and he said, "Yes, but I'm more excited for Zach to get home so we can play Star Wars some more." Cam, Drew, and Jake all went with me to pick Zach up from school because Cam wanted to see Zach's classroom. Becky stayed home and made some lunch for us all.

During lunch our new kitchen table was delivered, which wasn't great timing when you've got 4 little boys and 2 adults eating, but we managed. And the table's beautiful, so I was very happy to be getting it. It was about at lunch time that Becky and I realized Zach and Cam were trying to pull a fast one on us. Here's the story- that morning, Cam had said to Becky, "Mommy, the little suitcase is all packed!" I heard him say this and thought, "Hmm, that's weird that he took the initiative to pack that suitcase. I wonder if she asked him to do it? Good job, Cam," and I just went on with what I was doing. So at lunch time Becky said to Cam, "Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?" and after a confusing look from Cam, she continued, "I opened the suitcase." Suddenly it dawned on me, and I asked Becky, "What, is Zach's ship in there?" (Zach and Cam had asked us earlier in the weekend if they could trade Star Wars ships- Cam wanted Zach's $30 Obi Wan ship, and Zach wanted Cam's $80 X-Wing. We had told them that they could not trade.) Becky asked both boys, "Where is the X-Wing?" And their answer was, "I don't know..." Then the table got delivered and we were distracted. Later, while Cam and Zach were playing outside, I caught Becky looking under my bed. She's always been a snoop, but this was a whole new level! (Just kidding- there's nothing under there but dog hair and maybe dog toys anyway) She was looking for the X-wing. We looked all over and finally asked the boys, and found out they had hidden it behind the T.V. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had seen Cam come out from behind the T.V. (which sits in the corner of our living room) earlier in the day, and again, it struck me as a little weird, but I didn't think too much of it. Anyway, we got the ships back to their rightful owners, and the boys delighted in the fact that they almost got away with their big trick.

Now, the last few pictures.

Cam got some smiles from Jake.

I like this picture a lot. These boys had a lot of fun together.

And the two youngest cousins.

It was a chilly day, but Zach and Cam did some playing outside while Drew and Myles napped. Then Becky even took them up to the park for some more playing and to get out all their energy. Before we knew it, it was time to get to the airport. Cam fell asleep about 5 minutes after we got in the car- I think the whole trip had finally caught up with him. It was tough to say goodbye, since I have no idea when we will get to see them again. At times during this weekend I was definitely stressed out and overstimulated, and part of that came from having so many people in one house, and so much little-boy energy everywhere (my own boys are sometimes more energy than I can handle), but I really do cherish the time with my sisters and the time for the boys to be together, getting to know each other. I very much wish my sisters lived closer so we could hang out more often. I guess that makes it that much more important to enjoy the time that we do get to spend together. Thank you so much for coming to visit, sisters!! I love you guys!!!