Grammy and Papa

We bought a house with a guest room.  And then that guest room sat unused for 10 months.  Until it had 3 different sets of visitors in one month.  Our guest room has finally felt some love...

Grammy and Papa came to visit for almost a week at the end of March!  Looking back, its funny to think that Annabelle was in diapers when my parents came at the beginning of the month, and she had no (awake) accidents when Chris's parents were here at the end of the month...but the details on that are for another blog post entirely.

They arrived Wednesday night with a bang - after bedtime, and in the middle of eating the re-warmed spaghetti, the power went out.  We found candles and flashlights but ultimately found a fire just outside the family room windows to be a fantastic source of light and entertainment for that first evening.

On Thursday, Daddy and Papa both had to work and Sam had school, so it was a pretty low-key day.  But there was much playing to be done, and even the execution of one or two designs from one of Sam's favorite shows, "Design Squad." 

Friday was awesome - but mostly for me.  With two extra adults in town, I FINALLY got to use my gift card to the spa - you know, the one I got for my birthday in August!  I had less than 2 hours worth of appointments, but spent 5 hours there.  Reading, relaxing, in the hot tub, on a chaise, sipping cantaloupe juice or coffee.  Ahhh.  It was wonderful.  And then I went home and made meatloaf for dinner and took the whole fam to soccer practice, because THAT is my real like.

Saturday morning Sam and I were out the door early for soccer pictures.  It is always always always colder and windier at the soccer fields.  We all froze so badly waiting for those pictures.  Oh my hands hurt just thinking about it.  By the time the game started at 9:15 it was already a bit warmer, but Annabelle was perfectly content to be held and cuddled the entire time while the rest of us clutched our coffee and I jacked Sam's socks up to his mid-thigh and he wore his jacket under his jersey (with no shirt under the jacket.  Seriously, the weather report was horrifically misleading).  He played great, though, and Grammy and Papa were happy to get a chance to see him play.

You would never believe that afternoon that I had been frozen a few hours before.  After naps we went to our Sunday School Class's Crawfish Boil.  What's that?  You've never been to one?  You must not live in the Gulf Coast.  I now love the tradition.  This one was planned out by some native Louisianans and they did a fantastic job - even had the biggest crawfish I'd ever seen.  I am now getting to be pretty good at cracking those things open!  The kids wouldn't taste it, but Annabelle enjoyed petting the live ones before they went in the pot.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of that, or of me holding it for her!  And she kept waving at them in their little baby pool as they crawled around, completely unaware of their pending doom.  "Hi!  Hi!  Hi!"  Sam wouldn't touch, and was really too busy to look.  I mean, there were big kids and friends and a bounce house and and awesome swing and cookies and juice boxes and...When it was time to go he asked why we didn't stay very long.  We'd been there over 3 hours.

Sunday was Grammy's birthday!  After church we went to brunch and then enjoyed some more beautiful weather in the back yard.  Chris and Papa made the birthday dinner (my man can grill a very nice steak!) and we had giant cupcakes for desert.  Yum!  And no, it does not really require 3 people to blow out a candle, Sam could have handled that one all on his own.

Monday was more perfect weather so we hit the zoo, sad to send Daddy to work instead.  I mean really - I was neither hot nor cold the whole day, in the sun or the shade.  It wasn't too crowded, and I got to see a 7 week old elephant nurse.  I was far more captivated by the baby elephant than the children were, but I mean come on!  If you look closely, the elephant on the left has a baby under her and he is nursing.  And yes, they baby-proofed the elephant enclosure.  I'm embarrassed to say that Annabelle called the elephants "cows."  She seems to call small animals "woof woof" and big animals "cow."  We got her straightened out, but further education is required.  At least she does seem to be calling horses "neigh."

Sam has been climbing on this same elephant statue since he was younger than Annabelle.  This year he made it to the top.

Have you ever fed a Giraffe?  We did for the first time and its fun!  Sam was all over it - did all of his lettuce and most of Annabelle's.  My animal-loving lady was a bit intimidated when those giant heads started swinging around looking for lunch!  I have a feeling that one of my children might ask to repeat that experience every time we go!

And we topped Monday night off with dinner out for Tex Mex - because you can't come to Houston and not indulge in some fine Tex Mex. 

Tuesday morning was back to reality - Chris took his parents to the airport while I handed Annabelle off to a babysitter, took Sam to school and headed to my once-a-week job.  Everyone was sad to part ways, but a few of them will be seeing a lot of each other soon...