Cousins

July was full of cousin fun for the kids. Shelly and her kids actually arrived at the end of June and stayed for three weeks. Oh, the excitement!

If I'd taken video instead of this sorry picture, you would be hearing, "EEEEEE-than! Lauren! Shayne! Gracie! Hi Aubbers!" Sweet reunion. And then non-stop cousin action for the next three weeks. Playing, swimming, partying.

 

 Let's just say that there were many-a-day in those three weeks that ended in near or full-on meltdown resulting from sheer exhaustion.

In addition to Ethan, Lauren, and Simon, we had cousins Natalie and William from Cheyenne in town over the Fourth of July weekend. Our last visit with them was Thanksgiving 2007, but they were still fast friends as soon as they arrived. Aubrey and Natalie enjoyed some girl time doing each other's hair and nails, and there might have even been some talk about boys, too. (Well, their pesky brothers anyway...for now!)

Their visit was short, but very sweet. Thanks for coming down, y'all. Texas heat and all!

 

This picture reminds me so much of pictures we have of me and my cousins when we were little.

We didn't slow down after that, though. Mid-July brought second cousins Rachel and Andrew in to town. Their visit brought more swim time, more play time, more reminders not to run in the house, and just plain s'mores!

We also met little John, Shannon's newest babe. He is about six weeks older than Alex, though you wouldn't know it from looking at both of them next to each other.

John tried to give Alex a one-two punch to the jaw to show him who was boss.

Alex only looked at him with a sneer. "I could crush you, kid."

Ah, cousin fun! We love it!

(And, ah, a finished post! I've been working on this thing for darn near a week here and there as I get time. Don't hate me for it...I'm trying! Clearly not succeeding, but trying, anyway.)