Harper and Auden Visit

Well, the long anticipated visit of Harper and Auden has come and gone.  I can honestly say that Josiah LOVED every minute of it.  He woke up Thursday morning wanting to know when Harper was coming.  Then at nap time, he didn't want to go to sleep because he wanted to see Harper.  That afternoon, when the doorbell rang, he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the front door while yelling Harper's name.  As soon as Harper came inside, they were off to playing.  That night, they both went to sleep without any problems.  Friday morning was pretty laid back.  We headed to the Metro station to pick up Jacinda (Harper and Auden's nanny).  We added our 8th seat to the van so we would have enough room for everyone and headed out.  Josiah got into his car seat which was in the way back, and he kept saying, "This is gonna be fun!"  We listened to the "train song" quite a few times while Harper and Josiah drummed along with their hands.  Auden slept most of the time and Sophie just took it all in.  After picking up Jacinda, we headed to Greek restaurant for lunch, then headed home for some naps.  After nap time, we went for a walk to down town and stopped at the bakery for a slice of bread and got a couple of cookies for the kids.  On our way back home, we stopped at the caboose so Harper and Josiah could climb around.  Once again, when it came time for bed, there wasn't a peep out of either one of them.  Saturday morning we got up and  played in the backyard for a little while.  While we were outside, Lin-Lin and Lola came over for a visit. After playing outside, we came inside to make some hibernation cupcakes.  Josiah and I had been learning about hibernation during our school, so I thought this would be a fun activity to do with them.  We took Teddy Grahams and placed them in the cupcake batter so they were hiding and then cooked the cupcakes. We visited for a little while, then headed out for some lunch.  After lunch, the kids came home to take a nap and went right to sleep.  After nap time, we went to the park and played.  The kids had so much fun going down the slide, swinging and rolling down the hill.  It was so great to see them playing so nicely together.  We came home and ate some dinner, then the kids played some more before bed time.  On Sunday, we headed to church.  We stayed at the church and ate lunch with some of the youth before they headed to a dance recital.  We came home and put the kids down for a nap and once again, they went right to sleep.  After their nap, we went for a walk on the W&OD trail before taking the gang to the airport.  I was dreading this time because I knew it would be hard for Josiah.  He did pretty well until we were sitting at the dinner table.  He put his head down on the table and told me, "I sad, Momma."  I asked him why he was sad and he told me, "Harper not in her chair at the table."  My heart just hurt for him, but I explained to him that she needed to go back to England do see Uncle Si, her daddy, because she hadn't seen him for a really long time.  He seemed fine with it, but I knew he was missing his cousin. 

As for Sophie and Auden...well, they are the typical second child.  They just go along for the ride most of the time.  Auden was great--had LOTS of smiles and spent a lot of time sleeping.  Sophie had a great time trying to keep up with Josiah and Harper. 

As you can see, we had a great visit with my sister in law and nieces.  I was sad to see them go and didn't like the quiet house on Sunday night, but I know they needed to get back home.  We are just so thankful that they wanted to come spend a few days with us