After much anticipation and anxious counting of days, I finally got my family fix this weekend. Hoping it will hold me over until Thanksgiving when we get to see my side of the family again but no amount of time is ever quite enough. Having my older brother in from Nevada was an extra special treat, but it is always special to see the whole gang together. Everyone is so grown up which is kind of terrifying but kind of exciting as our sibling relationship starts to grow up too. The dynamic between the “grown children” of our family and my parents is a really enjoyable one at the moment, as we are all able to do new and different things together and have much different conversations than I was used to having as a “child”. Obviously this change has been happening for quite some time now, but it all kind of hit me at once this weekend while we were sitting around the table late at night playing a less than PG version of Scattegories.
It’s comforting to have my Mom take care of us. It’s reassuring to have my Dad step in as Mr. Fix it man. And it is indescribable to watch my own brothers interact with my children. Eric and Lilly sat on the couch playing a finger-swipe puzzle game on the ipad while Michael played with Lilly on the floor. Sammy indulged Lilly in her “camping trip” game while Nicholas let Gracie play pinch monster with his cheeks. Little mundane moments adding up to some quality family time that I’ll take over any regular but large quantity of family time any day of the week. The excitement in Lilly’s whole demeanor is felt by all as she thoroughly enjoys having these extra people in her house. Her mood is electric, touching everyone and making it impossible to be anything but happy.
We had a long standing date with the pumpkin patch (sans Nick unfortunately as he was attending an Engineering Conference downtown) and even though the weather called for cold and rain, we took the short drive up to Reilley’s and made the most out of a few hours of cold fall fun. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
Lilly was a little on edge because she couldn’t find her “blue square spookley” pumpkin (and trust me, she looked). My Mom and I had no idea that that darn book would backfire in such a way. Poor kid had to just settle for a regular old orange pumpkin.
Happy {early} Halloween 🙂
And Foster Makes 5 says
I can vouch for the fact that Lilly was SO excited to see your family. How amazing that they already mean so much to her at such a young age, and even separated by many miles. They must be some special people! 🙂
PS- Nice scarf 😉
Kelly says
Love these pics because you look so happy. The first 2 photos of Brandon kissing the girls are good enough to frame. Love!!