A Weekend of Visitors

We had a great time seeing some of our favorite people this weekend.

On Saturday morning, Debi and Chloe came by for a visit. The twins were quite thrilled. Chloe didn't know what to think of them at first. She took most of the morning to warm up to them, but seemed to enjoy watching. Finger painting was the first thing to get her moving (and talking!). She did a great job and Thomas and Veronica enjoyed it as well. (Thomas was sure it should taste as good as it looked.)

We enjoyed some lunch followed by birthday cake and ice cream for Debi. The sugar must be a bonding agent, because the three of them didn't need Moms after that. Debi and I enjoyed some quality time until our presence was requested in the playroom to see the train they had all built together.

The train

Debi and Christen 30 years ago?

After a late nap, Mak and Pa showed up. (Unfortunately they had to be in town for Great Aunt Frances York's funeral.) They send Mommy and Daddy out on the town. We got to go to Murphy's Steakhouse and Borders. Ah, the good ol' days. (But I have to admit, the good ol' days only get better!) When we returned, we found out that Veronica had been lining up all the Little People to "sing at church" and that Thomas had "coerced" Grandpa into YouTubing Peter Pan.

Sunday we finally made it back to our home parish, Little Flower. Veronica and Thomas were excited to see "Bob" (our priest) again.

• "What Bob doin'?"
• "Why Bob sit down?"
• "Where the boy (altar server) going? Come back boy!"
• "That man sleepin', Mommy." (Whenever the man behind us would close his eyes to play while kneeling.)
• "Bob doin' the dishes?" (Cleaning up after communion)
• "Light candles!"
• "Cheese! Drink!"

All in all, they were very good. It's great to know they are so inquisitive and interested in the service. The wife of the "man who was sleeping" stopped me after Mass. "My mother was wondering if those are the twins everyone was praying for." When I affirmed this, she had many questions, so I got to tell her all about their beginning. Her mother then scooted over and we introduced ourselves. I was so happy to be able to thank yet another person who's prayers brought my family to the place it is today.

After some yummy French Toast, we all settled in for another nap to prepare for our next visitor... Aunt Peggy! Aunt Peggy had told me my birthday present this year was some time to myself (or alone with Judson). So, Judson and I tried to go to a great Greek restaurant, Santorini's. It was closed on Sunday. Next stop? The Claddaugh - not smoke free! We finally made it to AJ's (Acapulco Joe's). It was a pleasant experience. The place was cleaner than we ever remembered and the staff was great! We enjoyed our meals while reading about Joe's history. He tried to enter the country at least 7 times. Imprisoned once, anyway, which is how he learned that you could enter the country easier if you married a citizen... (He ended up divorced.) We called Aunt Peggy to check in and she graciously insisted we stay out longer. We headed to Starbucks and poured over the East Side Herald together. That is when we discovered that Jim Jones had raised money for a new church by selling MONKEYS door-to-door in Indianapolis!

After all that excitement, we returned home to find Veronica, Peggy, and Thomas all coloring and having a ball!

Here Come the Acrobats!

We were feeling a little claustrophobic today, so we invaded a neighbor's house. We had a good time at Kasey's, but didn't quite settled in a that nap afterward.

After about an hour, I went to check on the chatterboxes (they'd been pleasant). They'd removed the end of the blind and T was CHEWING the inside rod. Chewed the tip of it right off. Looked like he was chewing gum! He spit it out for me.

After an hour and a half, I went in after hearing a thud. Figured V climbed out of bed (since she'd climbed out of her pack-n-play at Mak's yesterday). I was greeted at the door by Thomas... followed by Veronica. I picked up the crying Veronica to console her (yet teach her "that's what you get for climbing out of bed"). All the while, Thomas was doing his football drills trying get around me and out the door. I put them back in bed. Thomas calmed down immediately, and Veronica took a little time to calm down. They did nap 2.5 hours after that though!

Snowed in NV

My parents bought me a massage for my birthday. How wonderful! We scooted ourselves down to NV on Tuesday and the kids stayed with my folks. It was very snowy on Wednesday, so I decided to stay another night! The twins had a lot of fun playing the guitar and signing Jingle Bells.



Thursday afternoon we finally headed home. The kids were exhausted after NOT napping and CLIMBING out of their pack-n-plays. They demanded a snack before we left town and didn't even get to take a bite of it...

Happy Birdie Daddy!

Today was Judson's birthday, but also the first-day-back-to-work-after-the-holiday-and-before-session. So, I wasn't surprised to find out he was extremely busy and wouldn't have time to lunch with us. I baked a cake and took it to him. It seemed to brighten his day. He smiled and took us for a grand tour of the State House (or at least the offices of co-workers). We left him behind to work while we skipped over to the mall for a quick bite and brought him back something.

After work, we decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner. I've never seen the kids quite so excited about food. And believe me, they do get excited about food. They squealed when the hostess brought their high chairs over; made happy comments about all the food being delivered to tables around us; cried "MILK!" when their drinks appeared. They were psyched to get their own plate with some salad on it - and even more thrilled to see spaghetti come their way. All in all a great night!

Daddy, too?

The twins were so thrilled when they learned we were all spending the day together again. With each activity, they'd say, "Daddy, too?"

Kring Christmas

Wes's family came to southern Indiana for the post-New Year's portion of the holiday. So, Gayla & Dave opened their home again for us.

Fortunately, Veronica and Thomas opened up fairly well when they saw their buddies, Madeline, Julia, and Jaclyn. That way they were nice and warmed up when Wes's family arrived.

Brad gave Mikiah pointers on pool in the basement. It was wonderful to see what good friends Kahanna and Katavah are... and how much the younger kids want to be friends with them, too! Haniah was quiet, but he opened up to me with enthusiasm talking about his new Lego set.

We had a fabulous time. It's never quite long enough, but we do have to sleep sometime!

Happy New Near!!

Yes, I spelled that correctly - that is how V&T were ringing in the New Year! We called a few close relatives and let them ring it in with them... around 8pm.



Prior to that they did party most of the day. We went to Carolyn & Robert's house where we were joined with Robert's cousins (and our friends). It was a wonderful day!!