Adult Time- ATL

Megan arranged for babysitters to come over 2 times while all the adults were in town.  We went out to dinner on Friday night and then to Sweet Water Brewery and The Vortex on Saturday.  So fun to be with my sisters too!  We missed Colleen and Ryan of course!

Bro in Laws

Book Ends.  Chris photo bombs.

*can't fix my wonky pictures... sorry!

Cousin Camp- ATL

With school quickly approaching, I am finding less time to look through pictures and create videos and lists like I did for our AZ trip.
 We have put more miles on our beautiful minivan since March than the average family does in a year!  I am so blessed to have 2 months off a year where it is possible for us as a family to do such fun things and see family etc.
We were home for a week in Dallas for 6 days and then we re-packed the car and drove to Atlanta.  Chris flew back to Dallas to work all week and then flew back to Atlanta to help me drive back to Dallas.
Megan and I had been scheming since our visit to ATL last year to come out and do some cousin camp.  I found a lot of stuff on pinterest and sort of themed the week "Dr. Seuss."
We read Green Eggs and Ham, and then made "green eggs and ham" using dyed green pudding and Nilla wafers.  Huge hit with the littles.

We read Red Fish Blue Fish and did a graphing project with rainbow goldfish.

We read The Lorax and did some sweet and condensed milk painting.  Very fun for the kiddos, but the painted papers stuck to themselves and got a little smelly by the next day.

Sorry this Bday card never got to you Uncle Ryan.  It was too sticky and smelly!

Aunt Shanny's genius Shark-Nado picture.

Another thing we did was put white roses in different colored food dye (I couldn't find carnations) and after 3 days, 3 roses were dead, 1 was very light pink and 1 was very light green.  Sort of a flop.  Don't always believe pins from pinterest!  This is a lie!

We did Christmas in July and read The Grinch that day. 

We skyped Grandma and she read them some Christmas stories.

We read Fox in Socks as well but I had no pictures for that.  It was nice to put a little structure in the cousin's mornings.  We re-read a lot of Dr. Seuss at night too.  What a fun week!

StL Weekend Surprise

All of the sisters COMPLETELY surprised my mom this weekend for her birthday.  Megan and I flew up to St. Louis.  She left the boys at home and brought sweet baby Anna.

On Saturday, we had brunch at Aunt Shanny's, and even did a craft. 

A Valentine Wreath

Then we went and saw Les Mis and out to dinner. 

It was wonderful, and the first weekend in a while I have been away from the girls in a while.  It was good to kiss their sweet faces when I got home.  Lovely Weekend.

St. Louis: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

After a lovely brunch at Aunt Shanny's house, a nap and church, we were all ready for the presents to begin!  First up, matching jammies for all the cousins.

Sunday Best

Doesnt everyone just look so happy here? 

The cousins also opened presents from their aunts and uncles. 

Hello Kitty Toe socks- good for the feet or your hands!

Probably the most favorite game- Angry Birds.  Both Gianna and Colin have their game faces on.

I love love love this picture.  Aunt Colleen and Uncle Bobby found Gabby Douglas Corn Flakes.  She was so excited.

After they were finally in bed, the siblings opened presents.  Then we put out the Santa presesnts.  This year instead of hauling EVERYTHING back and forth, we only brought stocking stuffers and a joint present for the girls from Santa.  Matt and Sarah were dog-sitting back in Dallas, so they made sure to put out the larger santa presents for us to come home to.

Annual fireplace and milk and cookies picture. 



Past 3 years!

Chirstmas day was spent opening presesnts, playing with presents, eating yummy food, and Santa even stopped by for a quick visit.

He gave out little presents to the oldest 4.

 

 

G was toooooo excited here

Merry Christmas!

Baptism/Atlanta trip Photo Dump

It took us 14 hours to get to AtL.  We ended up stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner 12 hours in.

The star of the weekend: Anna

Dad and Anna

Bath-tism dresses as Elia called them.

Uncle Ryan showing off his skills.

Grandma and Anna

God-Parents and God- Child

Gettin baptized.

Love this one.  Its like a family with 2 sets if twins and a baby!

The McHugh side

Sweet Uncle Ry holding back the hair.

I made bubbles for all the kids at the Baptism reception.  A pinterest find.  Bubble solution was great but the pipe cleaner wands didn't do as well as I hoped. 

Slippered cousins

G, as usual, always helping when a baby is around!

How cute is her swim suit!

Sweet action shot.

Skyping with Aunt Shanny and Baby Brendan.  All 4 cousins were pushing and shoving to be front and center.

It was a fabulous trip!  Plans are in the works for a 2 week stay at Aunt Megan's house next summer.  It is the perfect hosue for cousin camp.  Miss those crazy boys and sweet Anna too!