Cousins

Something happened this Monday that hasn’t happened to me in a looong time…I found myself at home ALL DAY LONG…WITHOUT Collin. You know how you get used to something and you don’t even realize how much you depend on it? I guess that’s how our life has become. Having Collin home is the norm. Not that we are together every single second. I mean, even though he is here, he’s working like CRAZY in the studio. We go hours without laying eyes on one another. But I KNOW he is there. Right down the hall. And I LOVE that.

This past weekend we attended our state’s Professional Photographer’s Convention. It was amazing. Great speakers, great trade show and great friends that we don’t see nearly enough. We came home Sunday night so I could do the whole school thing with Mak and CB, though. And Collin drove back to Columbia for classes Monday and Tuesday. Which meant I was alone with the kids all day long. I missed him. But here’s what we did…

The next-to-biggest, middle, and baby cousin and I all hung out in the playroom for a few hours. Quite hilarious, it was. 😉

She’s growing WAY too fast. This is the teeny baby of the family…pulling up. She made it all the way to standing, I was just too much of a Nervous Nellie to capture it all. Not half a second after I took this one I put the camera down to go stand guard. I shouldn’t have worried. She’s a pro. 🙂

And the playroom…she LOVES it. All of the big kid toys. It’s a Wonderland to Miss Caroline!

He was SOOO missing Mak! But he kept himself occupied with the erector set…

while she baked in the kitchen. How 1950s sitcom is that?!?

And then Tal made his way into the kitchen. He hasn’t quite learned that he should stay out of a woman’s way when she is cooking.

She was not happy with him.

He insisted that all of her appliances needed fixing and she insisted that they were FINE.

He was smug.

She was MAD. She wanted to bake an apple pie. Yes, I am aware that she is trying to bake a pie with a cookie cutter. It didn’t matter to her. She just wanted to get to her oven and the Fix-it Man wouldn’t let her.

They bickered like the cousins they are and about two seconds after I took this next one, Tal told me to call his Daddy because he wanted to go home. Love those two!

All the while, the baby was across the playroom seeing what big kid toys she could get into without my noticing. It was great!

Then it was rest time for two little girls…

And finally bottle time for Caroline. Clara Beth LOVES feeding Caroline her bottle!

I think Miss Caroline kinda likes it, too!

Multi-tasking…feeding the baby and watching Yo Gabba Gabba at the same time.

I LOVE this one! They both just held their feet like that!

And then I decided to make sugar cookies from scratch with them when Mak got home from school. That’s not something e do often. I’m not a fan of huge flour/icing/sprinkles messes. And the kitchen was a MESS after this. But a fun mess…

Tess and Tal came back to help with the cookies. Little Miss couldn’t get enough of anything sugary! Baby Girl LOVES her food. It’s So Cute!

Soon after the cookie mess was cleaned, Collin was home. I had so much fun with them, but we were all so happy to see him walk through the door!