Aunt Christy is our Hero!

Aunt Christy (Christina Joy) came to visit from Texas last weekend - without her husband or five daughters! And Joseph was out of town for part of the time, so it was like a girl's weekend ... with my four kids. :-)


She played wiffle ball, threw the baseball, chased the pirates, read books, drew pictures, cheered for the Cardinals, braved the heights of the YUM center, folded laundry, ate Chinese, watched for Joseph on TV, cleaned the kitchen, bought breakfast happy meals, worshipped at our church, stayed up late, encouraged me in the Lord ... and more!

Texas Cousins!

We just enjoyed a very fun visit with my brother Jonathan and Christy and their girls - Anna (6), Abby (5), Aubrey(3) and Ashlyn (1). Our boys Daniel (4) and David (2) fit right in the age line up! Their family slept in our newly finished basement, and we squeezed 10 around our kitchen table - 4 kids shared 2 chairs and it worked just fine! They left this afternoon after almost a week.

Jonathan went to class at Southern Seminary each day, Joseph worked some and wished he was working some more (we are getting the hang of securing substitute teaching jobs!), and Christy and I grew the babies in our "tummies!"

The kids played and played and played! They played much more wildly than the girls are used to - our boys encouraged them to spy, and our boys talked them into "manly" wrestling (and then we explained that you can't "manly" wrestle with girls!!)! The kids also played more calmly than the boys are used to - lots of playing "house," and David is pretty attached to Aubrey's doll that she accidentally left behind! Good times together!

One funny moment (among many!) was when David really surprised two of the girls! They were pretty shocked when they were taking a bath, and David not only let himself in the bathroom, but took off his clothes and got in the tub with them ... and then proceeded to pee in the tub!!

We played Wii, ate sushi, went swimming, got a flat tire fixed, watched videos for rest time, played with Bonura/Bitner cousins, watched football, ate more junk than usual, had good conversations and thanked God for our time together!

By the way, as you can see, it is a near miracle to get six kids to hold still and look at a camera at the same time - and we didn't have a miracle this time! :-)