cousins reunited

After spending a weekend in St. George with Shel and her kids just a few weeks ago, our kids were already missing each other.

So Shel drove out with her 3 kids to visit us.

Madden got to miss preschool all week and we had fun activities and outings planned for every single day they were here.

It was like Spring Break part 2.

We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool and BBQ'd with Tanner & Josie...

Randy and I got our baby fix...even though Rowen is hardly a baby anymore...

We spent an afternoon at the McCormick Railroad Park...followed by lunch at Sauce and a disastrous attempt at shopping at the Scottsdale Mall with 4 kids.

Oh yeah, and followed by a stop at Sprinkles cupcakes for a dozen cupcakes.

None for the kids.

6 for Shel, 6 for me.

(not all in one day though, calm down people)

Then disaster struck when Madden came down with the flu...I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't pretty.

And vomit on a restaurant patio was involved.

So we stayed a little closer to home and spent more time at the pool...

Spent some time at San Tan Village, where Madden and Boston spied on women buying underwear...

And where Naomi picked flowers...

And where Rowen fell in love at the puppy store...

In fact, all the kids fell in love...

and a visit to the puppy store cheered up my sick boy pretty fast.

We made lots and lots of Sonic runs, QT runs, and Bahama Bucks runs...

We tried to get a decent sister picture in our matching VS sweats

(which made it even harder for our kids to tell us apart than it already was)

We found a new splash pad park...

We left the boys at home with Randy one night for a sushi happy hour girls night out...

And we got in as much Rowen snuggle time as we could before the end of the week.

A few nights after his cousins left, Randy and I found Madden sleeping like this in his room after we had tucked him in in his bed.

I think he misses his cousins and their sleeping-bag-on-the-ground sleepovers.

Thanks for coming out Sheli, Boston, Naomi & Rowen!

We love you little freakers so much!