Grama Marty's Visit

Grama Marty flew in from Montana to stay with us from March 4 to 8, in order to spend a little time with her new grandbaby, Ryan. She brought gifts for the kids, including handmade blankets for Kevin and Ryan, and some princess accessories for Andrea. She also brought over a "princess dress" that Aunt Donna got for an unbelievable 32 cents while on vacation in Mexico. Andrea wants to wear this stuff every day now. Here she is, doing a twirl in her new outfit.


On Friday afternoon, after school, Andrea helped Grama Marty make a "dump cake." Basically, you just "dump" all the ingredients in the pan, and bake it. It tastes great hot out of the oven, served with ice cream. Yum!

That night, we gave the kids a bath, and got them all snuggled up for bed. Daddy gives them a horsey ride every night now, and they go around saying good night to everyone and everything: "Good night, Mommy; good night, clock; good night picture of Andrea and Kevin . . ." etc.

Ryan was a little cold after his bath, so Grama bundled him up in the new blanket she brought for him. Here he is, snuggled with Mommy in the rocking chair.

Once he had warmed up a bit, Ryan and Grama Marty got a chance to sit down and get know each other better.***

On Saturday morning, Mommy and Grama Marty went over to Michigan to visit Aunt Donna. We went to her friend Brenda's to get out hair cut, and then we drove out to Grosse Ile High School to watch my niece Caitlin perform in a symphonic band competition. Caitlin plays the flute. I was very impressed--and so were the judges--they get to go to the State competition!

***

On Sunday, we went to Aunt Claire's house for dinner. We had planned this for a while, to get all the babies together again while my Mom was here. Aunt Claire has her hands full with the two littlest babies, Taylor (her granddaughter) and Ryan (her great-nephew).

Because there were so many little babies around, we thought it would to fun to try and fool Rodney. We wrapped Taylor up in a blue blanket and had my mom carry her into the living room and give her to Rodney, to see if he'd know it wasn't Ryan. He took her without comment, but as soon as he looked down, he knew it wasn't his baby. Good job, Daddy!

"This one isn't mine!"

It's funny: the ones who were the babies during my mom's visit last summer are now big sisters and a big brother. Here's a before pic from last summer, and an updated one of our Toddler Group.

Addison, Kevin, and Morgan
I have no idea why, but the toddlers were really interested in the steam coming from the dishwasher. They kept wanting to play in it. (?)
Mother of Three: I actually don't look too bad here. It's probably because I was enjoying my first margarita in about a year.

We tried to get a nice picture of me with my children. Operative word: tried.

Ryan was quiet the whole time we were there. I think he liked being cuddled up in his car seat. Nathen seemed comfy in his car seat, too.

Grama Marty has the fruit platter, so she is now Kevin's best friend.

The littlest ones sleep a lot. That's okay with us mommies. They are precious.

(Taylor, Ryan, and Nathen)

Here's our babies: four within four months of each other!

(Taylor: 1.5 weeks; Ryan: 6 weeks; Nathen: 7 weeks; Mikenna: 3.5 months)
Mommies and Babies Posing Together--Cousins! (and the three ladies are sisters!)
Patricia and Mikenna, Me and Ryan, Pauline and Nathen, Joanna and Taylor

It's a baby train--with one more added since Super Bowl!

They are ready for their close-up (well, Ryan and Taylor are sleeping).

***

Before Grama Marty left on Monday, Andrea drew her a picture to take back to Montana. Grama Marty liked her picture so much that she drew one for Andrea, and left it as a surprise for her when she got home from school. Andrea was thrilled: she knew right away that it was a picture of her dancing in a princess dress, with a "Rose" for her middle name, and a happy sun in the sky!