Family Weekend

My brother, Amy, and the kids came down for the weekend. They live about two hours from my parents' house. They arrived Friday evening and left Sunday. I stayed both nights as well, so it was a full house this weekend, which was a nice feeling. The kids are adorable, but their noise output is definitely above my usual comfort level. Cassidy (7 months) is very vocal in the mornings and appears particularly enchanted with the echo she can create in the two-story family room. The other two like to imitate her. Triple the screaming, yippee!

Layne (almost four) has a very active imagination: a stuffed Christmas tree pillow became her "baby," and a wooden serving tray became the baby's "crib." A dish towel was the "blanket," and at one point the tree baby was put on the time out chair in the corner for misbehaving. Now Prestin (almost three), he's becoming more and more of a pill. If I had not witnessed Layne's transformation, recovering from the terrible two's and morphing into a docile three-year-old, I would fret over Prestin's unmanageable behavior. Touchy does not begin to describe it! But it makes his happy moments all the more precious. His smile is a real heart melter. He's also going through potty training, which makes life difficult for him, I'm sure. Poor little guy.

Seeing as Christmas was only 15 days away, we decided it was time to do some decorating. The outside of the house had already been decked by the wreath and garland fairies, and was looking quite festive.


Sunday we decked the inside. Prestin and Layne helped put ornaments on the tree, or at least on one three-square-foot patch of the tree. :)


Even the dogs could not escape the Christmas touch.


Recognize the scarf? :)


Further evidence to prove the theory that kids can endlessly entertain themselves with a simple cardboard box:


And lastly, a daddy and his little girl: