Exhausted

I've been quiet for a reason. It feels like we've been going NON-stop.

We have visitors! I had planned on writing about the plans for their visit or the countdown that we all were doing. But the days leading up to their arrival were at least as busy as the days that they have been here. There hasn't been any time for anything but the basics!

And... Let's just say that their travel plans changed frequently along the way. In part due to the excitement, across the board, for their arrival.

Grandpa & Yia Yia are here! Today makes day number 10 and we've got a couple more days to enjoy before their departure. I suspect it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye.

Yia Yia mentioned something about us being happy for them to leave and for our life to get back to normal. I replied that we won't be happy to see them go and normal is all relative. We might not be quite as tired. But there is no guarantee with that! This is just a crazy time of year with a lot going on. I think they'll be more than ready to return to their quiet life!

It has been a really great visit, for everyone I think. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed having them around and spending great time with them. In the first few days of their visit Spencer would wake up and announce with excitement that Grandpa & Yia Yia were still here. Like... hey, they didn't go anywhere overnight!

The timing of their visit was great... for us and for them. Abby & Ellie had a few days off from school where they got to spend their days doing exciting things. We had some great family time together and then they got to go explore with Grandpa and Yia Yia. It also turned out to be a great time for Grandpa & Yia Yia to be able to connect with their friends through events that just happened to be taking place during their visit.

Some of the things we've done over their visit...
- Regular school and pre-school routines.
- Hosted "Family Day" over the past 2 Saturday's
- Watched some fantastic football
- Book reading!
- Card playing... Grandpa & Yia Yia have taught the girls how to play some new - more grown up - card games!
- The adults have also gotten in a lot of games of Hearts. So far I'm still smokin' them! :)
- Grandpa & Yia Yia had lunch with Abby & Ellie at school. They also hung around for recess and got to witness the craziness. Grandpa made a comment about it being "safer at the prison" (where he works) and another older boy overheard his comment. The look on his face was priceless. Too bad we have no idea who the boy was.
- Visited the Children's Zoo on the last day of their season
- Visited Morrill Hall
- Went to the pumpkin patch at our favorite family orchard. We are intentionally skipping the big pumpkin patch this year!
- Grandpa & Yia Yia took the girls on an adventure and went to the drive thru zoo, out to lunch, and who knows what else
- Parent Teacher Conferences for Carie and I... wowza!
- Carie and I helped clean out the PTA storage facility as we prepare for Spooktacular
- Carie and I cleaned out our own storage facility - wow!
- Date night
- Visited the big Zoo
- Hosted some friends of the family
- Family pictures... 8 adults, 4 kids
- Thanksgiving Dinner (as far as Ellie is concerned)
- Birthday celebrations
- Science Experiment involving erupting pop bottles
- Soccer game... Parents vs. Kids
- Soccer party... talk about crazy!
- Numerous craft projects involving new, awesome, and never ending supplies thanks to Yia Yia!
- Bread making... yum!
- Tomato canning

- And various other things that I’m sure I’ve omitted... oh yeah, like PTA conference dinner, craigslist selling, cookie making, baking & decorating. Oh man did we find the best ever sugar cookie recipe!