February 16 COUSINS!

Tuesday:  We had a significant snowfall during the night last night--perhaps 5" of new white stuff that added to the already 8" on the ground--so the roads were NOT the kind I enjoy driving on ... but drive on them I did! I went across town to pick up Brendan, Aidan, and Erin. Today was going to be a very special day! You see, Kaity has the day off from school (due to an already planned day-off "winter break") and her mom is going to drop her by to play with us later this afternoon.

We didn't arrive back to my house until almost noon, so we ate our lunch almost immediately. Thankfully I had the mac 'n cheese made up ahead of time. We also had yummy hotdogs and chips. NOT Aidan, however. Aidan only eats Goldfish crackers (the rainbow ones are his ONLY choice) and cheesey chips (those are his favorite). Occasionally, Aidan will eat a bowl of sweetened cereal and milk--which he did do today for an afternoon snack. I fail miserably at getting Aidan to eat anything healthy.

After lunch we played and played ...

... I am unsure as to what terrible or morose thought has crossed Erin's mind ... but something tragic is written all over her face. I'm so sorry, little one! Trust me-I didn't tell her "no" or anything! I just walked in and there she was looking ... sorrowful. I did walk over and give her some warm hugs.

Here is Aidan playing with the PlayMobile treehouse. All of the children love this little set. It actually belongs to their cousin KAITY. We purchased it for her sixth birthday and keep it here at my house so that the pieces don't get lost. Kaity has given permission for us to play with it, even when she is not here.

But LOOK! Kaity IS here! Diana dropped her off to us at about 1:15 this afternoon.

When Kaity is here alone, she seems SO small and SO young ... but when she is with younger kids, her "mother" skills come right into action and she suddenly appears ... grown up almost!

Here are Kaity and Erin ... Erin absolutely adores Kaity and calls her "MY Kaity!"

Kaity proposed a game (or 20) of Hide 'n Seek. The kids were all enthused about that. Here is little Erin hiding her face ... gah! I could just eat this child alive ...

 And HERE is one of Kaity's very favorite hiding places--My mirrored closet--can you see Aidan's laughing reflection in the bottom left corner? He was SO surprised to find Kaity there ... you see, the little kids had nearly given up finding her so Kaity began making little noises within the closet until ... voila! We opened up the door and there she was.

Erin was conflicted about the whole hide 'n seek thing. She felt she needed some extra powers and used the binoculars ...

This child kills me ...

Here are the kiddos discovering Brendan's hiding place--under a blanket on my round chair!

Hey little cherub-girl ... I love this picture of you!

So thankful the kids could enjoy some cousin-time this afternoon at my house. It was a blessing to have Kaity here to help!