Cousin time, take 2

Back in the beginning of the month, my nephew Gabe stayed with us for several days. I shared a quick post when he first got here, but I wanted to share the rest! The cousins had a great time together!

Gabe was here for 9 days before his parents came over from St. Louis. We crammed in lots of fun!

The park

Gabe got to join us on our weekly pilgrimage to McDonalds with Great Grandpa. 

 

The boys slept peacefully together and never ever fought over the same toy. {ha, yeah right! They did good sharing a bed. Sharing toys, eh, not so much}

We got pretty good at getting three kid plates together at meal times!

And loading up three kiddos to go places. 

Like, to Burger King on a certain day when I realized that taking care of three kiddos is hard work—let along preparing a meal to feed five people. Whew. Thank goodness for that BK giftcard! {and seriously, this is the face Jackson gives me when I said, “say cheese!”.}

Then, Aunt Mary and Uncle Brad came over to Kansas City to visit. And they brought this guy! He’s saying, “Hi Aunt Amy!” Isn’t he cute!?

We got all the cousins together to take a picture—which was not an easy task, but we did it!

Apparently, I need to do a better job of actually taking pictures of Brad and Mary—not just their kiddos. Though I only have one picture to show for it, Jackson and Belle loved playing tackle with Uncle Brad.

We celebrated Gabe’s third birthday

And we had a big family get together at Ryan’s—like 20 of us! 

It was a crammed-packed two weeks full of lots of fun and playing! The boys loved riding bikes together and throwing year old “popper” fireworks in the garage. And it's really nice to visit with Brad and Mary when they come visit. I’m working really hard to nag them to death convince them to move to Kansas City. Maybe someday!

IGYLHTTBIDKHTPTP

My title was way to long so I had to abbreviate. This is what it stands for:
“I’m glad you learned how to tackle because I don’t know how to play tea party.”

Yes it’s true. Belle has learned the joy in tackling Daddy. It makes her giggle and it is SO CUTE! She's even figured out a method—it’s the same everytime:

1. Look all sweet and innocent
2. Ready or not, here I come
3. I’m not quite big enough to actually fall on top when I tackle, so be patient as I climb
4. I’m on top! But, not quite in position yet…
5. Yes, this is the spot! I think I’m just gonna lay here for a minute.
6. Yup, still hanging out. Oh, smile for Mommy!

Haha. She’s so funny. I love this girl. Too bad these photos don’t capture the giggles, but I assure you there were LOTS. I have a video, but it’s over 5 minutes long and I know the attentions span of a you-tube watcher is like 15 seconds, so I didn’t hassle.

Anyway, last night was filled with lots of laughter, tackles, and hi-yahs as Derek was spending lots of quality time with the kids before he took off for his two weeks of army duty this morning. He’s taking a training course the is required for his next promotion, whenever that comes along.

These days, Jackson’s tackles consist of a running headstart with a last minute jump—if you’re unprepared, it can knock the wind out of you. Thankfully, Derek was prepared for this one!

Derek and Jackson have been watching The Power Rangers together and consequently there has been an influx in "hi-ya" activity going on in my house. Jackson couldn’t hold still for a millisecond to get a picture of his "hi-ya" hands!

This is a quick glimpse of what my bed looked like at 10:30pm last night as Derek began packing his gear. You know that this looks like to me: a giant velcroed-together-ball of camouflage that will soon occupy this same location when he gets back in a couple of weeks after it goes through the laundry. I HATE VELCRO.

This morning, we had a big family breakfast, which was a special treat! The menu: Mickey Mouse waffles, scrambled-cheesy eggs, cantaloupe, and orange juice. Spiral straw optional. 

Jackson got some last minute Daddy-hugs. Jackson is such a trooper. I know he doesn’t understand why Derek has to leave, but he copes pretty well. In the one year that Derek has been home after doing nine-months of Basic and AIT training  this makes a total of fives week of active duty {one week in June, two in September}. On top of the weekends, many which have been three day exercises. Unfortunately, Jackson is no stranger to the process and tomorrow or Sunday he’ll really realize Daddy is gone and he’ll say something like, “My tummy hurts when Daddy is at army work.” It really makes him sad… which of course makes me super sad for him. So, we always end up cuddling a lot when Daddy is away, which is totally okay with me.

I talked to Derek this evening and he made it to wherever he is in Nebraska. Fortunately he has cell phone access, so whenever his schedule allows, we’ll at least get to talk with him some. Derek will always have my complete support regarding his army duties and one day I know that Jackson and Belle will grow to understand their sacrifice.  For now, we just have several things planned to hopefully make the next two weeks just fly by!