Always Better When We're Together

We love to have visitors. More than anything I love to have family around. So when we had 5 of Chris's family member staying with us there were smiles all around. (After the initial tears upon arrival)

Saturday Morning we went to Maymont so the kids could participate in the Easter egg hunt and so I could take Cassidie's Senior Pictures. The Easter Egg hunt was ridiculous, there were SO. MANY.CHILDREN. they had a 10 egg per child rule that was followed by about half of the people there. I have decided there is something about egg hunts that turns normal rational adults into ferocious scavengers. I couldn't believe the way some parents were scouring the earth for eggs for their children. Taycee ended up with only 5 eggs and the Tiger mom in me wanted to give the parents with 30 eggs in their basket a piece of my  mind. But I thought better of it and we moved on. We did score later however and received free Chick-fil-A sandwiches and even got to meet a very large Easter Bunny. 

We came home and colored our Easter Eggs. 

Easter Sunday

We had/have several big project to be completed outside. Kelly and Claudia were so great to dig in and help us get some things done. Kelly built my garden box and dug out the area where it will be planted. We also tackled this beast.

Our deck was built but never finished, not stained or painted or taken care of at all. It had taken on a greenish hue from the moss and algae. We spent the better part of two days sanding and painting and it still wasn't close to done but I refused to spend the last day of their visit working so I forced them to stop and we spent the evening at Pocahontas Park. 

Oh Taycee.... always ready for a picture.

We ended the night and their visit with ice cream at Dairy Queen. 

Brielle got her first taste of ice cream, and then threw fits because I wouldn't allow more. 

Grandma and Grandpa had to leave in the wee hours of the next morning so they were gone when the kids woke up. It was a sad sad morning full of many tears. It is so hard to have family leave, especially now that the kids understand that we are far away from family and won't get to see them again for awhile. Kaden started having panic attacks every night he went to bed 3 days before they even left. He would ask over and over "you are going to be here in the morning, right?"

It was the quickest 6 days of our Virginia existence. But we were so so grateful to have them come and spend some time with us. Next time I will find a way to squeeze us all back in their suitcases.