A Visit from Cousin B!

Wow, were the boys surprised to see Bryan! It's been about 4 years and they all agree, he has certainly GROWN! We really enjoyed catching up during the 12 short hours we had him last Friday night, between 10 pm and 10 am! The boys were excited to show him their bedrooms, the kitchen addition and the dog, but his show and tell was the best and Peter and I loved watching them all pass around his DRIVER'S LICENSE! I think they stayed up until 4 am goofing around in the basement (Connor and Graeme go live on B's facebook) before a quick pancake breakfast and he was out the door again.

BUT, six days later, he came back... for 30 more whirlwind hours of fun! It was a great excuse for the middle schoolers to stay up late on a school night (although this time they showed some restraint and went to bed at 2 am) and then I got him to myself for the day! (Boo! Hiss! What a mean mom to send the boys to school Friday, but they all had TESTS!) I fed Bryan and Pierce McDonald's breakfast (you know I love ya B) en route to the world's weirdest Walmart location where Bryan helped me load the rug I'd ordered and had delivered site to store. (Try it, girls; I saved $17.99 in shipping!) We then went nuts on local fast food you can't get in Texas like Popeye's chicken and Dunkin' Donuts (and we got some for him to take home and share, too!) Now Bryan owes me a Sonic cherry limeade slush.

With about 3 hours left until the boys came home, Bryan found the perfect opportunity to indoctrinate me into the world of Twilight, which I had never read. He sucked me right in and on the way home we decided we had to stop at Blockbuster and rent the movie. Pierce tucked himself in for a long nap and Bryan and I turned off all the lights, shut the front door and watched the whole movie uninterrupted (how did I get so lucky?!?) ... and when is New Moon coming out? I'm hooked.

Then the boys came home! Luck was on our side again and at Bryan's suggestion, we were able to catch the Orioles at home at Camden Yards, facing the Red Sox. We'd never seen the Red Sox before, it's usually a "prime" game and tickets are hard to come by since Boston is close enough and their fans crazy enough to sell out our stadium reguarly when they play here. BUT with the O's stinking like the AL East basement dwellers they are, the stadium was all but empty of O's fans so after our traditional Chick-Fil-A dinner, we were able to walk up to the gate and get tickets for $6 each and join the Sox Nation to watch the home team.... from the 16th row, just beyond 1st base!! Of course, they lost, but the weather was perfect, Luke Scott hit a home run and Reilly even got his photo with The Bird.
We got home around 11 pm and Owen, Reilly and I went to bed, but what else was there for B and the big boys to do since he was leaving at 4 AM (?!@*!)... other than just stay up all night again. More Facebook and fantasy football and baseball, I think? And then to the airport, so sad. Thanks for coming Cousin B! We love you!
.... I think I'll go take a nap now.

Back in Action

With the addition of protective headgear, Connor is 100% back in action again, although you can hardly tell from these boring photos. He and his team play at such a highly competitive level now that my little camera just can't keep up anymore. It is amazing to see Connor able to play soccer again with all his old intensity, speed and strength. The Lord has been so good to us.
P.S. And not to be greedy or anything, but do you think the Lord could make Connor grow a little, too?*! See the top of his head behind the blonde boy bending over? Just remember, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!