little stinkers!

Melissa's plane just landed in Salt Lake a few minutes ago. She hasn't been to my house in over 2 years, so her visit this week was completely overdue and very exciting for both of us. I'm so proud of her that she dared get on a plane with her kids all by herself. Good job Lissie! Hope your flight home wasn't too rough...

David is gone on business this week, so it was just the two of us and our little stinkers. The biggest little stinkers are namely, Sean and Hattie. I don't know what the 4 year-olds have against peace and harmony, but their conviction is strong! Despite the cousin rivalry, we had so much fun. We spent lots of time in the playroom just laying on the floor and talking while the kids played. The weather was luckily pretty nice so we tried to do as much outside as we could too. I pulled them to the park in the wagon one day, and we played in our little yard.

Poor Gracie had to go to school and miss a lot of it. But, she did have an early release day yesterday so we jumped in the car right after lunch and went to the zoo and the aquarium during naptime - an epic outing for sure. When you go somewhere with Lissie, be prepared to make it snappy! I can't believe we did pretty much the whole zoo and then drove to the aquarium and finished it all in about 3 hours. It's great that our kids' favorite animals tend to be the same: polar bears, wolves, big cats, giraffes, and elephants.

(note the pouty face on Hattie)

(Grace and Sean are convinced if they chase the birds, they will eventually catch one.)

(do I get to vote for my favorite wild animal? It has to be the giraffe. It has been my favorite ever since I saw them running on a beach in Kenya. This is the little baby at the zoo. very sweet little family...)

But, Sean's favorite thing on Earth right now is a shark. The kid is pretty darn funny. I knew we had to make it to that shark tank before the end of the day! Oh my goodness sakes, what is that?!!!

On the way home from the zoo, we stopped to grab a pink birthday cake and some pizza for dinner. We had a cute little impromptu party for Hattie so that she could eat some birthday cake with her cousins. It is STILL not her birthday yet, and already, I have so many pictures of this kid blowing out candles to celebrate it. We're going to have to label these pics carefully so that in 20 years we can figure out why on Earth she had 4 different birthday cakes when she turned 4!

Grace and Sean probably have the best time with each other. They are both little science nerds and love all things informational about nature. Here they are reading "what sharks eat for dinner" as a bed-time story together.

Well, 3.5 days just flew by. I knew they would which is why I asked her to come while David was gone - so his trip didn't seem so long for us. I'm glad the kids have been able to spend lots of time with Sean and Kate and Melissa lately since it had been so long before this spring that they had seen each other. That is one thing I am REALLY loving about living here. We are so close to so many family members. I don't feel so disconnected and distant. I was starting to feel like I had to imagine everyone all the time. I really felt like I lived on another planet in MA.

Thanks Barnhisels for coming to see us Chapman girls. The house is sure quiet and empty today without you.