Of course, one of the main reason that we make such an effort to get down to Alabama so much is so that our kids can see their cousins all the way across the country! They love them so much and we want them to know each other and love one another; and they do! So we plan lots of fun activities for them to do together;
Like go to the park; Taylor and Kaiya are only a few months apart and are finally getting to the age where they enjoy playing together and Taylor still talks about her all the time and they talk on the phone, it's so cute! :)
There is never a want for toys at grandma's house! Her attic is full of all the toys that Ben and his siblings had when they were growing up, along with new ones that grandma is always picking up, and we bring them down in waves and the kids still love them!
Unless they get bored with the toys, like Elijah here who decided he would rather play in the fireplace!
Cute Elijah:
Grandpa bought a sandbox for the little kids this summer and the big boys were the ones who enjoyed it the most!
Of course, there is always a naked baby to be found somewhere at grandma's house! :)
The girls decided to jump right in, clothes and all!
Grandma always has fun activities planned for them. Even indoors for when it's too hot to go outside. Like Fishing inside for treasures:
The kids get to throw the fishing pole into the pond and get a surprise!
Just little trinkets that of course, the kids love to play with all week...
This looks like the remnants of a really great summer day:
There are always insects or bugs of some sort to be found:
And the kids love helping grandma clean out her pond and feed the fish
And catch frogs:
Once we were FOR SURE in the clear of the sickness, we let the cousins start sleeping together again, so we had Jonah in our room a few nights. I came in and they were reading a book about rocks in bed with the flashlight. I snapped a picture of them without them knowing.
Of course, many afternoons are spent on the porch blowing bubbles, eating Popsicles, painting faces, reading, playing games, anything and everything...
I guess the noise in the car got a little too much for Elijah to handle, this is how he fell asleep:
When it was too hot to go outside, the ipad's were always a big hit with the big boys. Angry birds is, of course, their favorite still!
Oh, and here's a close up of Tuckers legs. The poor boy gets eaten alive down there. Every year. Even after I douse him in bug spray every time he goes outside! I think we counted 36 on his legs at one point, but I know it went up from there!
And when we absolutely run out of ideas around the house (which is rare) a dollar store run is always a fun go to for the kids. Here is Jonah with his dollar store magnetic things (?) on his ear! :)
Ben's other sister finally came down to visit us after she was sure we were all healthy and we were so happy to have even more cousins to play with! Elijah and Lynna are so cute!!!
Everett and Taylor became fast friends, so cute!!! :)
All the kids could earn some cold hard cash by helping grandma remove this tree that fell over her driveway during a storm. Well, she hired a guy to come and cut it up, but then we had to haul the pieces up to the house so they can use them for firewood this winter. Here is Taylor with said tree:
All of the kids thinking they are pretty strong. The big boys were actually really good workers, it was the younger ones who just whined and complained and got distracted by bugs etc... I apparently need to work with Tucker on his work ethic a bit more, as he was one of the worst ones! The stinker!
The girlys all hot and sweaty after working hard...
I had the boys take off their shirts to show me their muscles:
The kids just had to load the trailer with all the wood they could carry, and then this is how we got it all back up to the house. Going back down for another load, they love to ride with grandma!
The girls eating apples while getting their faces painted:
I am always in shock at the lack of public pools and water play areas in Montgomery. Since there are so many here in Spokane, you would think that somewhere with warmer weather would be better, but there is hardly any. So, rather than pay $20,000 for a pool that would only get used while their grandkids are in town, my in-laws invested in some other water toys. I walked around a corner and saw Tucker like this with the sprinkler:
And this awesome blow up pool that lasted about 2 days until it got so dirty and gross that the kids didn't want to go in it anymore! :)
This boy loves to be naked! :)
Stories on the Ipad for beditme, the kids (and adults) love it!
Forts are usually constructed at some point during our stay at grandma's house. I can't tell you how many times I walked into our room to find our sheets like this:
Delicious treats are usually always consumed at grandma's house:
Other chores could be done to earn some money. This is one that we actually started one morning, cleaning the rug for grandma. It was an all day process let me tell you, and the kids had fun dancing in the soap suds all over it!
Touchdown??
Pinterst is awesome and has only fueled my sister in law's obsession with glow in the dark ideas. Glow in the dark baths were the big hit this summer:
The big boys, who usually showered wanted to try it, too bad they can't even all fit in the bathtub together anymore!!!
And last but not least, a nap here and there, believe it or not was achieved every now and then. I locked Taylor in our room one day so she would actually get a nap in. She cried and cried for a while, but finally went down. I went in to check on her a few hours later, just as she was waking up, and she was totally on the floor by the door! :)
We sure do love our Alabama Family!
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