Cousins came quickly!

 J's cousin and her family came to visit for a quick overnight stay on their way from WI to SC.  We are so glad they were able to come.  The boys played really well together last night... well, B and S did.  They built towers with some blocks.  The little guy is not quite big enough to play with the big kids yet.  Here are some photos from their visit:

an unwelcome guest

Hannah was playing in our room when she let out a small shriek and exclaimed, "Mommy, there's a lizard in there!" First she said it ran behind the bookshelf. Then she said it went under the dresser. She also said it was very tiny and then changed her story to very long. She also thought it was beautiful rainbow colored. I looked and did not see anything, jostled the shelf and the dresser, to no avail. I told her to tell Daddy about it when we got home, but was beginning to doubt her story. She has really gotten into imaginative play, and she likes watching dinosaur train on pbs, so could she have imagined it. "It ran away because it was scared that I am so much bigger," she said.

Daddy came home. After the cuddle fest in the living room, the kids climbing all over him in sheer joy, he went to our room. I had Hannah tell him what she saw, and sure enough, peeking out from the doorway to the bathroom, was an ugly lizard, 4-6 inch lizard with creepy eyes.


I had caught a lizard OUTSIDE for Bear last Spring, but the thought of having one in my own bedroom FREAKED me out. It HAD to be caught. I retrieved the canning jar that once held homemade canned tomatoes from a dear friend (thankfully we were able to used them up before the lizard came and it was clean). Sensing the jar alone would not do the trick, J went and got the broom and dustpan. The goal, to sweep the lizard into the jar. We got Bear to go to the other room in case we had to kill it, but I really did not want lizard innards in my bathroom or bedroom, or to explain to our tenderhearted girl why it had to die. I pushed a box into the doorframe to try to block it in the bathroom. J tried to sweep it into the jar. It escaped onto the carpet. Thankfully, he stopped it by catching it by the tail with one of his tools, scraped/swept it into the jar, and I got the lid on. Whew. Crisis averted.

Bear named it Alexa, after one of the Barbie Princesses. I hardly think the name fits. I did not want it anywhere near our apartment, so I do hope it was just a common salamander/lizard and not another tenant's exotic escapee, because Daddy and Bear set it free among the landscaping outside. I hope a cat or some other animal finds it for a snack.

visitors

last night: bathtime buddies
hannah and juliana shared a room last night! hannah slept in her twin bed, and juliana slept in the toddler bed, which will soon be our baby boy's crib

tonight:

sharing goldfish

good night hugs

making sure kimberly has her paci

caroline and her daddy

Hannah- not setting a good example for Caroline

tiffany and kimberly

bubble fun with "aunt" anna

more bubble fun

sweet dreams

grandparent time

no pics, unless grandaddy got some today. while mommy was at her doctor's appointment making sure her boo-boo is all better (actually, hearing baby's heartbeat, but the first thing hannah said when i walked in the door was "mommy's boo-boo all better!"), granwendy and grandaddy came to see me. i was so excited about them coming! i talked about it all day. and i didn't cry when mommy and daddy left this time! we played outside a little, i tried to talk granwendy into giving me lots of milk and juice, but we were almost completely out. she told me mommy would be bringing some more when she came home, and she was right!

they stayed for dinner. i loved the 5-grain italian bread from publix- mommy thinks i hate 3 or 4 pieces. i was also very excited about eating mommy's homemade beef and veggie soup. i wore one of her old t-shirts instead of a bib; she says there are some battles that aren't worth fighting. but i was on my best behavior and did a pretty good job of using my spoon.

toward the end of the meal, i got a kick out of continuously calling my parents by their first names.

"that's war-en!"
"that's joel!"

i was doing pretty well with grandma wendy and grandpa tom's first name's, too... then i pointed to grandaddy/grandpa tom and said, "that's grandpa thomas!" it might get a little confusing when both grandpa's are in the same room, since one's first name and one's last name sound the same.