Visit with The Alabamaws

I'm thinking I'll just tackle this all at once. May as well, right?

Let's get to it! The boys were very excited for G-Ma and July to arrive. They were set to come after lunch. So, here they are in their festive chairs eating while they wait:


And Dalton never did end up napping. The boys were watching a movie in our bedroom when Daddy came to let us know they had pulled up (poor Maws had to rent a car since we're maxed out with passenegers nowadays). They greeted the boys and then we rememebered we had another kid...she was sleeping in the swing so I went to snag her to introduce her to her grandma:


The Maws most definitely came bearing gifts. Lots of 'em! Autumn scored a personalized "name poem" for her room. Each of the boys have one as well. The Maws wrote this (and Dalton's) themselves!


And several co-workers of July's even sent gifts for our baby girl as well...this "My First Photo" frame was one of them:

(No, that's not Autumn in there yet.)
There were clothes too but she hasn't worn any of them yet. :)

Not to be left out, the boys opened up some new Transformers:

That kept them happily occupied for quite some time. Especially Eastie!

They also brought the boys some new costumes:





Dalton is Cobra from GI Joe (I wouldn't have known, either). It also could double as many other costumes. I think we've been calling it a ninja. Or Muslim woman. Whatever.

Hanging out:






Not only do we not have room in our car for guests, we also don't have much room in our house so The Maws stayed at a nearby hotel like last time. When the boys woke up (too early!) Monday morning I overheard them discussing how they were each their new Transfomer and instead of calling for me like usual they instead "honk"ed for me as they were Autobots. :) Easton had school that morning so after J dropped him off we hung out at home while we waited on The Maws:








Once Easton got home from school we all hung out, Jason and The Maws went out shopping for a bit, and eventually we all made it to TGI Friday's for dinner. Autumn on the way:

The waiter complimented our well-behaved children. Yay!

Tuesday we met The Maws at Krispy Kreme. Easton ended up needing some major disciplinary actions probably from having low blood sugar but eventually we all ended up enjoying our doughnuts before heading back home. Jason and his mom had plans for a little mother-son time. Shortly after breakfast Jason and Georgette took a scenic drive up to Golden Gate State Park:








Meanwhile, the kids, July and I went on a secret shopping trip to KMart. The boys got to take turns riding with July on the scooter. We came home for some lunch and began quiet time and naps before G and J got home.

Miss Autumn Tuesday night:


I like to think in this one (Wednesday morning) that she's telling me, "No more photos, please":


Easton's teachers had conferences the rest of this week so Wednesday and Friday he didn't have school. Nice timing with The Maws visit. At some point on Wednesday we headed up to the mall for some browsing. Autumn got hungry right after we arrived (I knew she would) and so we headed off to the play area so I could nurse her and the boys could play while Georgette and July shopped a bit more. Once Autumn came out from under the blanket where she was nursing she was sporting an amusing 'do:


Simultaneous scooting!


The Alabamaws then offered to treat the kids to something from the Disney store. Easton picked a really cool (and not cheap!) RC and Woody (from Toy Story). Dalton picked out a fun Handy Manny toy. They were most excited!


When we got home it was bedtime so we had to save any new toy playing till the morning. They were very okay with that, suprisingly.

Thursday morning was when I discovered Autumn had lost her cord. Here she is modeling her new belly button:


And digging inside to see that little bit leftover. Yum!


But Thursday held more than just belly button excitment. We had secret plans (with July) to celebrate G-Ma's birthday. She'll be celebrating her 60th birthday next month and we wanted to celebrate with her while they were here.


We dug into some coconut cake after lunch:






Presents too!




Then it was back to more hanging out. Autumn looked especially lovely in this hand-me-down of Kaiya's. However, the pants were already getting a little short on her...they're even more hiked up here from her squirming around but I guess the girl is starting to outgrow some "NB" sized things:


See, her belly hangs out too. :) Seriously I think most clothes for babies should snap in the crotch somewhere so they look more put together. Tops are always doing this on her:


Dalton wanted to hold her but laid down like a dork:


Using his new Handy Manny tools to "fix" Easton's non-broken new RC car:


Autumn eyeing her biggest brother before bathtime:


And my little Dalton so excited to show off his brand new Buzz jammies...see the wings?




Looking for her brothers again:


Here's the kids hanging out the next morning while we fixed breakfast:


And here is Easton doing some reading:

He has known all his "letter sounds" for about a year now but never had much interest in trying to put it all together to read. Which is fine. He was only 3.5 then. Well, now he's 4.5 and many of the kids I know of that are his age are already reading and writing! So, I was thrilled the other day when Easton--all on his own--sounded out the "-izer" and "Max" parts of a pack of batteries at Target. I was so excited and the next day I wanted to see what he could do. I only gave him short phonetic words but still...he's able to read those! We even wrote a short story..."Max hit the cat. Cat mad. Max pat the cat. The cat pat Max." Easton worked on illustrating it after he read it:


I've been trying to get him to pull out "Hop on Pop" but he's currently uninterested again. He'd rather do math with Daddy. Seriously.


Or play Transformers with G-Ma:


That was our last day with The Maws. As a birthday gift, we'd scheduled a "generations" photo session at our favorite Target and G-Ma, her son, and her grandkids posed for a few special photos. Then after Autumn and Dalton woke up from their naps they bid us adieu until who knows when? They had a very early flight the next day and needed to get back to their hotel to pack and rest up for their early morning (up at 3:30 a.m.!)

It was great to get to visit with them and show off our little prides and joys. :) Looking forward to next time, Maws!!!