Till We Meet Again My Friend

After spending a wonderful day in the mountains playing in the snow with all of Memaw and Papa's animals, we headed back to the city to enjoy the final days together.  Since discovering the Buck Recreation Center Lily has been beside herself to take everyone to it.  It has a zero entry pool which is perfect for the tiny swimmers in the bunch, a lazy river for the ambitious toddler (and her equally ambitious mother!), a slide and all manner of water fun.  Lily and Jancsi played and played while the two littles enjoyed the shallow end of the pool.  Grace and I enjoyed some wonderful conversation even it it was interspersed with the occasional splashing!

Saturday morning brought a blanket of white snow on our backyard.  Jancsi could not get out into it fast enough.  Grace and I were abundantly grateful that Bob was home.  He graciously took the big kids outside and helped them build a massive snow man while Grace and I sat in the living room with Evie and Laughter relishing the final few moments of cathartic spoken therapy.  It was wonderful.  Except for the occasional naughtiness for which Bob had to send one or the other of the big kids in for a time out, we had about 2 hours of blissful conversation!

Impressive snowman!  It was as big as Bob.

Our Saturday brought tickles with Bob, cuddles on the couch, play time and fun.  Our kids are simply wonderful to watch.  Boy I have missed the time of us all together! Even as I sit here writing the close to Grace's visit I have tears.  While 8 days may seem like a long time it was simply not long enough.  Texas seems so very far away right now.

The week was wonderful in every sense of the word.  To have my sister and friend back in the same room, sitting on the floor, surrounded by toys and chaos, watching kids and sharing life was a blessing.  Thank you Jesus for the time, thank you for her, thank you for our children and most of all, thank you for a friend to grow old with (and talk about our GMOs!). 

A Year Seems But a Day

I put Grace, Jancsi and Laugher on an airplane headed back to Texas a week ago to the day.  I was sure that I would have blogged and shared all of our adventures and stories by now, and yet here I sit, finally able to share our week.  I dealt with the awful let down after you have an amazing week and felt like I wanted to cry for at least the first 48 hours after she left.   Its been wonderful to take the time to go through all of the pictures and memories.  I am probably going to have to do a couple of posts to cover it all, but I'm ready to remember......

The day I picked up the threesome from the airport was like Christmas for me.  From the moment I saw Grace get off that airplane it was like every wonderful holiday and happiness wrapped up in one person.  Once I was hugging her it was as if the entire last year was only a day.  Its amazing how that happens.

Our first evening was spent meeting each other's new littles and watching the reunion between our oldest kiddos.  Lily and Jancsi were so excited to be back with each other. After hugs and "Hi Jancsi, you are at my house!" they just shared and played with everything they could find.  While we were hoping it would be different, they loved each other and played well with one another for exactly 1 evening.  Then it was right back to sibling mode.  On about Wednesday the consensus between us Moms was that our children each bring out the worst in each other.   It is so amazing how that one year together solidified forever their sibling status.  Boy were they naughty.  Laughter and Evie were content to just be around and watch the drama unfold between their older siblings.  I think they were as surprised at the naughtiness as we Moms were!

This describes the week with Laughter.  Into and under everything. Too cute.

Yeah, we eat dirt.  Whatever....they were getting along.

The conversation and fellowship with Grace was simply cathartic and therapeutic.  I am simply so grateful for her.  We were able to take a few runs while she was here and I know that for me, the time on the road was so nostalgic and blessed.  We even had my dear friend Sarah and her two boys join us for a run.  With 3 Moms and 6 kids, we were like an armada headed down the trail.

Jancsi was so very excited to see the snow and we had it aplenty while they were here.  In fact, the Jessup 3 got to experience Colorado and all of its multiple seasonal personalities.  We got snow one day, freezing temps the other mixed in with a few days of 60 degrees.  Yep they got it all.  I was so happy for Jancsi.  We spent a day or so up in the mountains with Memaw and Papa and he had a blast.  Laughter was simply beside herself with all of the animals and just loved the wildlife up there.  Evie just did whatever we all did in her little pink puff suit and Lily was content to do what she does best.....EVERYTHING.

Watching the doggies play in the snow!  Such delight

Helping Papa Feed the Horses! 

While Lily and Memaw rode horses and spent some time in the arena, the littles took naps inside and J-Man was only too happy to play with the big red wagon.  I had to work hard to get his little busy self to look at the camera and couldn't help but snuggle him up tight.  Gosh I missed this kid!

Laughter and Evie wore their matching Carhart pink overalls and Grace and I were simply delighted to watch their relationship begin to bloom.  Laughter is busy and super mobile, while Evie is still working on the crawl.  Once Evie gets moving, we are going to be in for it!  I see trouble written all over those two little girls faces!

Our mountain time was over too quickly and we headed back to the city for the final days of our visit.....