March Vistors

Life has been pretty crazy for the past couple of weeks.  My brother's 3 month old triplet boys have all been diagnosed with a rare eye cancer.  To follow their story (updated frequently) click here.  If you would like to donate to their family to help with expenses, click here.  The bad news about all of them having cancer came to us on Thursday - the day before my parents and sister were going to fly out to see us.  They decided to make the trip down to Texas anyway, and we enjoyed the time we were able to spend together.

Mom, Dad, and Julie + her girls got in late Friday night.  When Claire got to the house, Jaxson immediately said "Claire, do you want to go upstairs and play?" and they walked hand in hand upstairs and played forever.  It was cute that they got along so well.  

Saturday morning, we got up and went to the zoo.  The kids all loved the animals and had fun being with their cousins. 

 Zebras

 Elephants

 Big smiles! Yes, Claire is a big taller than Jaxson.

 Avery and Annie both loved the elephant.

 Outside of the zoo is a shallow road that cars can drive across.  Jaxson and Ryan love walking across the cement path.  Claire and Julie had fun walking across too.

 After the zoo we were really hungry and heard there was a good BBQ place close by. Avery loved the pink and yellow (her 2 fav colors) car out front.

 There was also this bright pink pig walking around that all of the kids LOVED.  After sitting down to eat, we even lost Faye (for a couple of seconds) when she ran off trying to find the pink pig.

 I ordered a bacon cheese burger - yum. It was huge!

These kiddos were so excited to be in their OWN photo with the pig.  Claire may or may not have photo bombed 2 other photos with the pink pig and other customers.

 Riding home from the zoo - long day for the kids!

 We grabbed the famous giant cinnamon roll after leaving the BBQ place.

 Size reference to a regular fork.

Jaxson and Claire had fun dressing up as super hero's.

 Avery joined in too with her pink cape.

 We tried to get all of the kids together for a photo (if you can see above, it didn't work.  Avery walked towards the camera and the kids wouldn't scoot together.) At least these 2 cute girls looked at the camera!

 This was a common scene at our house.  The kids all loved the ipad, but Avery had a hard time sharing.  She kept saying "Babba" meaning Bamba (ice cream and burger - she loves those games).

 Jaxson and Claire eating breakfast and playing with stickers.

 We met up with my missionary cousin Mary for lunch one day. If you want to learn more about my church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click here.

 Faye managed to get into the restricted area in the play room.  She needed some privacy to fill up her diaper.

 The kids also loved sitting on Grandma's lap to play games.

 We all found it slightly ironic that when my family came to Texas, it was actually fairly cool outside.  We decided to bundle up the kids anyway and go to the park.  The kids loved the swings and enjoyed the walking trails.

 It was fun watching these three amigo's laugh and mimic each other.  There were many times they were all doing the same thing and laughing.  Wish we had Addi (the 4th cousin their age - all born within a month of each other) here to play with these cousins.

 We celebrated Claire's 4th birthday (and my birthday which was yesterday) with pink cupcakes and pink n' purple streamers.  We also went out for a delicious steak dinner with the adults that night :)

 Last day with family in town - sad!

 Jumping on the tramp before the cousins leave.

 Mom bought all the kids some matching "I love Grandpa hugs" t-shirts.

 We tried to get a photo of them all with Dad, but the kids screamed the whole time.  It was actually quite amusing trying to take the photo.  Here are the best ones I got.

 Cute photo of Avery and Papa.

Thanks for the fun visit guys - come anytime!!