Monday, August 9, 2010

Nothing Beats a Visit from Grandparents!

On Thursday, Grandma and Grandpa Hanks drove out to Illinois with our new car and stuck around for a weekend visit. Brooklyn was giddy with anticipation the whole week before they came and was rewarded for her enthusiasm with the most excellent bag of dollar store gifts that a 2 year old could ever get!


Here she is sporting her new Hawaiian lei (that she calls her hula hoop necklace) and her fancy crown from Grandma!

After chatting for a while, we headed to bed to get some rest for our big day on Friday. Friday morning Grandpa took the girls so mom and me could do girl things and have a fun break from the kiddos. Later that evening when Kevin got home from work we packed up a picnic and went to a nearby park.


Brooklyn is now convinced that having a picnic is the best idea EVER! She got to spend the whole evening playing with bubbles, feeding the ducks, participating in a game of tennis and a game of Frisbee, and running around on the playground!


All of us had a fun time and even got to try some new things! I had never played tennis before but had a blast attempting to hit the ball. Brooklyn got to take a few swings as well, although I think she was under the impression that we were playing baseball with a weird shaped bat.

The rest of the weekend consisted of a fun trip to a cemetery where our ancestors are buried, (Brooklyn actually LOVED the cemetery. She thought all the statues of angels were her new friends) a morning at the Children's Museum, and a LOT of fun grandma and grandpa time for the kids!


During the visit, Brooklyn decided that grandma is her new best friend and favorite playmate! When grandma left, she threw herself on the living room floor and sobbed for 15 minutes while repeating, "Why didn't grandma take me to HER house? She needs to come back!"


But before grandma left, Brooklyn got to spend a lot of time playing dress up and make believe games, making rice crispy treats, and singing night time songs.


Lily also gained a new best friend over the weekend. Her and grandpa became inseparable and you could basically guarantee that wherever grandpa was, Lily wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately for me, Lily is now convinced that she should be held and played with every second of the day, thus, she woke up this morning with a LOT of complaining and hasn't stopped since!


But don't worry! Lily got lots of grandma time too! Here she is playing the horsey game with grandma. She loved it when grandma would start singing and would immediately start smiling like a Muppet when grandma opened her mouth!


Brooklyn also got a lot of grandpa time! Here she is playing a different horsey game with grandpa. He was taking her to a castle for her princess ball.


Another fun thing that we can count on when grandma is around is that our kids will always learn something new. On this trip Lily decided to attempt crawling. She finally was able to move both her legs but couldn't figure out how to move her arms and eventually face planted. But still, she moved her legs!


On Sunday, mom helped me with my young women's lesson and both grandma and grandpa took wonderful care of the girls during church. I don't think I even held either of them once! When we got home, we had a yummo dinner and then played a few more games before grandma and grandpa had to leave. As I said, Brooklyn and Lily were VERY upset to see them go but we all feel blessed to have had them around for the weekend. Thank you mom and dad! We loved having you here and can't wait to see you again next month!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Oh it looks like you guys had such a great weekend. I love the picture of Brooklyn chilin on the blanket and can't believe how big Lily is getting. Can't wait to see you guys next month.

Tau said...

That is awesome. Glad you guys had so much fun. Also thanks for the card and Noa's gift...he loved it.

Beccarigg said...

Awww... Grandparents are THE BEST!!! What lucky girls to have ones that are so hands on too! I love how happy they look in all the pictures. That's how my kids are when Grammys and Grampys are around. The pic of Lily on all fours is so cute! It doesn't seem like she's old enough to be doing that yet!