Goodbyes...and a call from the school nurse!

One of the things Kelli had hoped to accomplish this week was get some pictures taken to use for Anna's birth announcement...you know...while I was there to help distract and make a few preschool boys smile!!  For some reason, this didn't happen until the morning I was trying to get ready to leave.  Poor timing - but cutie pie little girl!!!

Neither of her boys were very interested in the photo shoot...they had the most adorable shirts that someone had made for them, but they were a bit on the grumpy side...perhaps they weren't happy about their cousins leaving either!  In the midst of all this drama, I get a phone call from the school nurse saying she has Callie who is wheezing and can't breathe!  What in the world!  David is on an all day field trip with Jacob's class, and I'm out of state!  Hello!  Called my friend Angela who said she would pick Callie up and take her to the pediatrician (she goes to the same one).  Felt so helpless!  Thankfully, it turned out to be bronchitis and Callie was fine, but it was a scary little bit there!

I can't TELL you how thankful I was to be able to make this trip.  Kelli was my total lifesaver when I had my first three kids.  She totally came and was SUCH a help to me - but then when she started having babies, I was having babies at the same time and felt TERRIBLE that I couldn't help HER!  So I was SO thrilled to get to come spend the week with her and get to help a little bit.  Love this sister of mine and love that our kids are SO close!!  If only I had a baby girl for Anna to play with!  :)

You girls better come see me soon!!!

Stopped at this Chick-fil-A on the way home...only in Florida do you see a bright yellow Chick-fil-A!!  :)  What a great week!

Outside in Florida!

 The weather this week has been absolutely perfect!!  Of course, it helps that they live just steps away from the intercoastal, so there's the nice breeze from the water - it's just so lovely!  But it really was the perfect time of year - gorgeous to be outside, and not so very hot that you are sweaty at 9 am!!

We took a LONG walk around the neighborhood in the morning to deliver invitations for an Easter Egg hunt that Kelli's church was organizing for the community.  Joe and Caleb were great deliverers!

Kelli's backyard is the perfect little oasis for the boys!  We played quite a bit of baseball back here!  Lost a few baseballs in the neighbors yards too...oops!  It was so great to be able to spend some sweet time with Sam and Joe while Kelli was taking care of Anna!  This is what I came for!!  :)

Snacks after a good rest time!  :)

Something else Joe had been asking about ALL week was going to 7-11!  We took a LONG bike ride/walk - about 1 mile each way - to their 7-11 and all got slurpees!  Yum!  We had to rescue Sam's crocs a few times along the way, but we came with all our shoes and happy tummies!  A fun treat before dinner - and all that exercise!

We were getting ready for dinner and I was playing with the boys outside.  I flipped the camera on my phone around so the boys could see themselves and they absolutely were dying laughing!  It was so funny!!  They LOVED seeing themselves!!  :)

 Say cheese Sammy!!

Look at that mouthful of TEETH!!

A night at the CLUB!

 Scott and Kelli belong to a sailing club in Palm Beach and on Wednesday nights, they serve dinner!  They often go down to the club to play at the water, go out for a boat ride, and eat dinner at the club there - such a gorgeous setting!  My kids have all been to "the club" but I never had been before, so I was SO excited to finally get to go!  Miss Anna got to change outfits (again!) and even had the perfect nautical one for her first appearance at the Sailing Club!

The junior sail club was just finishing up their class and the kids got to watch them bring their boats in. These kids were as young as 7 and 8!!

Joe and Sam jumped right in the water and LOVED it!

Aunt Kristen and Uncle Chris joined us for dinner - yay!  I was SO glad to have this day to get to see them a little bit!  My main objective for this trip was coming to help Kelli, but it was SUCH a bonus to get to see them, because I wasn't sure if it was going to work out or not.  I would have HATED to have been so close and not gotten to see them though, so YAY!

Judah just kept walking up and down in the water - he loved it!

We all think Anna looks just like her Aunt Kristen!  Certainly looks alot like Kristen did when she was a baby!

After playing in the water a bit, we came and got all changed and ready for dinner.  Caleb changed VERY quickly so he could hold Baby Anna again!

"The man that makes special drinks" brought Joe and Caleb these fun drinks :)  We had a fun dinner up on the patio, and then headed down for a quick boat ride!

We were able to go out and see Scott's boat - pi - on our ride.  It was a GORGEOUS ride!!

Wednesday morning

This is Sam's last week of swimming lessons and it has been so fun to watch him!  Kelli has a neighbor right down the street who teaches the infant survival swimming and both Joe and Sam have done the classes.  We loved watching Sammy show off all his tricks!  :)

 Another outfit for Miss Anna Sue!  After seeing her in this adorable onesie, I convinced Kelli to let me pack up her newborn clothes - the girl needs some room to wiggle around!  :)

Cousins are the BEST!

Aunt Kristen was going to come have lunch with us today (she works right up the street from Kelli's house!) so Iron Man and Iron Patriot came with me to pick up our lunch from one of Kelli's favorite places.  It was DELISH!  I had a roast beef and brie sandwich on a baguette...yum o!!

For rest time today, the big boys got to stay up and watch Planes.  Anna was supposed to be awake too, but got awfully comfy with her big brother!

I promptly woke her up to take her first selfie!

Judah could NOT get enough of her!

Yawning again...not screaming..I promise!

Trying to be SO gentle

LOVE!

Superheroes, Anna, and Sno-Cones!

These two are a RIOT together!!  It is SO much fun having kids close together in age!  So thankful!

I promise she's yawning...not crying in my lap!!

He TOTALLY loves Baby Anna (which sounds alot like "nana" when he says it...same word for banana...)

Caleb loved seeing Anna too...so gentle and always checking on her in the midst of whatever he was doing

Running errands is always more fun with cousins!

Anna is very well protected!  I got these costumes at Target in their after-Christmas sale!  Caleb has been playing dress up with his and he told me when we bought it that we should get the blue one (Iron Patriot) for Joseph - so they could be brothers!  I was going to save it for his birthday at the end of the month, but when we decided  to come visit, I HAD to give it to him early because I KNEW they would love playing in them together!  And I was right - he didn't hardly want to take it off all week!  :)

We had a great little routine down!  After lunch, the little boys would lay down for their nap.  Kelli would feed Anna and then hand her off to me and SHE would go lay down for a nap. The big boys got to stay up and have some play time by themselves and I got to have some Anna time before it was time for her nap!  We LOVED it!

Uh oh - this is how I found Judah after his nap.  Apparently he pulled over half of the bookshelf's contents into his pack and play.  The four boys were all sleeping in the same room...so sometimes it took more than a few minutes for them to get to sleep :)

After asking ALL morning about this, Aunt Kelli pulled out the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine for a fun afternoon snack.  Joseph and Uncle Scott had found this treasure at a yard sale recently and were so excited to try it out.  It was a lot of work, but the boys thought it was great. :)