Cousin Time

During Spring Break the kids and I visited my parents.  We had a great time.  

Playing in the sandbox with Laura.





Emily on the slide



The older cousins helped organize an outside Easter egg hung for Emily, Megan and Tyler.  Then they helped them find the eggs.







Pizza-yum!



Lunch time in the lovely, warm sun



The kids LOVED going on four-wheeler rides with Grandpa.





Grandpa, Tyler and Teddy Bear one night after prayers.



Daniel celebrated his 7th birthday early so we could be at his party.





Greg ("Grape" as Tyler calls him) playing "Blanket Monster" with the kids.  He is such a fun uncle.



My mom and I worked on skirts for the girls.  I don't have any pictures of the skirts in progress, but here are some "after shots."

Megan loved twirling and making the skirt spin out (even over her pajamas)



The girls wore their skirts to church today and then wanted to try my high heels on.





We made 4 skirts for Emily and Megan.  We did the purple ones first and then went and bought material for 3-tiered skirts for all of the girl cousins.  We finished Emily and Megan's skirts, but we ran out of time to finish the ones for Laura, Aubrey and Olivia.  Aubrey's and Olivia's will match Emily and Megan's.  Laura's will coordinate with all of them, but be a little different.  It had been a long time since I'd made any type of clothing and it was a lot of fun.



We had such a great time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  The time went by WAY to fast.

Since this post is called "Cousin Time," I thought I'd include these pictures too, even though they were just taken this past weekend.

My dad's sister Carol has suffered from multiple sclerosis for years.  She has also battled fibromyalgia and scoliosis the last few years and has been in so much pain.  She passed away last Monday and her funeral was held yesterday.  My mom and dad, Greg and his kids (except Nathaniel), and Kimberly and her kids came down to attend the funeral.

We all stayed at a hotel.  Emily, Megan and Tyler enjoyed seeing their cousins again.

Swimming at the hotel



Lunch time.





Darrell took the kids home and I went with the rest of my family to Aunt Carol's funeral, to the cemetery and to the luncheon afterward.  My aunt Carol is such a classy, beautiful woman.  She was always kind, soft-spoken and had a twinkle in her eye.  I admire her strength and positive attitude as she battled her illnesses the last several years.  She never complained and she always had a smile on her face.

Although it was sad to attend her funeral, I was reminded how important families are.  I loved seeing my cousins and I am grateful for my own "cousin time" that I have had (and hope to continue to have) with my cousins throughout my life.  Those bonds and memories are so special and I'm so grateful for the efforts my parents have always made to make sure that we knew our aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents even though we lived far away from them.