Shane and Katie visit us

March 2017

James and I both have amazing families and we love when any of them come to visit us! That is one compelling reason to live in a cool place - people will come see you. In March, Shane and Katie and their kids came to stay with us and we had a blast despite the snow storm.

The babies were already five months old and it was their first time meeting Katie and her family. When we first started having kids, we were quick to visit each other but as more kids have come along, that just gets harder and harder. But we love to support each other at this important stage of life!

Hyrum, Katie and Heidi

Shane, Paisley and Audrianne

These girls are hilarious together and I love how excited they are to see each other!

Daphney and Abi

At one point we looked over and the four older kids were all lined up on the couch, not quite in birth order, but we still decided we had to get a picture with all six. So much fun! Too bad they won't all look and smile in sync. We'll work on that.

All the cousins

Our adorable NJ kitchen is barely big enough for our little family of five so we thought we would cram another five in. Haha! It worked. Totally successful.

Our NJ kitchen full of family

The snow storm dictated many of our sightseeing plans unfortunately, but we did make it to the Museum of Natural History in Central Park. This was a lot of fun! Katie had been prepping her kids by watching movies and cartoons set in NYC so they were all really ready to explore. We loved it!

The Museum of Natural History in NYC

These funny girls love Frozen and get spoiled by their extended family.

Matching girls

Audri snuggling with Daddy

So much snow

Katie and Hyrum

We tried to get a boy-cousins picture. Hyrum wasn't in favor but Demitri gave it some awesome effort!

Demitri and Hyrum

Demitri really tried hard!

Daphney and Audri

They still fit together, but barely

Shane was the fun uncle and made sure the kids managed to play in the Northeastern snowstorm. :)

Snow angels

Playing in the snow

Cardboard box sledding

Sledding

Getting warm under the blankets

Shane, Heidi, Katie

Heidi and James

Bedtime selfies with cousins

These girls were hilarious! They so badly wanted to sleep together but it's just too darn fun to sleep with your cousins. Each night was a little different in who was keeping the other awake, and who was crying because the other was leaving, and who wanted to be in which bed... it brought back so many memories!

So excited to sleep together

Pretending to sleep

Funny girls can't sleep

Abi loves having a buddy to emulate. Thankfully Daphney is a really great example for Abi. We love having them together!

Drinking their juice...

...Watching TV

Poor Paisley's ear drum ruptured while they were traveling so Katie and I took Paisley to the urgent care while James and Shane took the rest of the kids to the mall to play. Not really how we planned to spend our evening but we all made the best of it and had a blast!

Smoothies

Playing at the mall

Fun with the dads at the mall

We wanted to be sure our guests got some genuine NY/NJ donuts. :)

Donuts!

Ready to say prayers

Sleeping together still

Look at those big eyes!

So happy!

We also went to see the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Science Museum. See, when you come visit us, we make sure to show you a great time! Any takers?

Who is that?!

We trapped them

Hyrum

These kiddos were super cute playing together. I can't wait until they're older so they can be buddies at Granddad's farm!

Demitri and Hyrum playing

We spent a day walking around lower Manhattan checking out the financial district and the Twin Towers Memorial. Going anywhere with six kids five and under is an adventure but especially in NYC. Abi has seen it all several times and was exhausted from all the excitement, so she eventually gave up and went to sleep in the stroller. :)

Abi asleep in NYC

For weeks, Daphney was so excited to spend St. Patrick's Day with us. Katie hyped it up, especially the green dinner part. We made a super delicious meal - all green, of course - and Daphney couldn't wait. We knew she would love it but when it came down to it, the green was just too much for her and she couldn't eat the green Italian chicken with noodles. Haha! We get it. It was weird for me and I have had that meal many times and love it!

Girls eating green lunch

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hyrum's space outfit

Grrrrr!