The Cousin Community

My 13 year old niece from Pennsylvania is visiting Georgia for her birthday. Yet another benefit of homeschooling! Mom brought her north to visit with the cousins. Friday night they stopped in to see Seth's and eat dinner with them. Then they headed on over to our house. They arrived later than my kids desired, as it was after 9 and already bedtime. There wasn't much time for playing and visiting Friday night, but they had high hopes for all day Saturday. When Mom arrived there was no one with her in the car, or at least that's what they wanted us to believe. We thought Grandpa was coming... but he didn't. Marci was hiding in the van as well as Micah... Seth's eldest. He and Bennett are the best of friends and beg to spend time together every weekend. We usually can't because of the hectic schedules and school demands. He begged Grandma and since she's a sucker... they convinced his folks to let him come for the day. The boys were both ecstatic when he jumped out of the backseat. We finally got them into bed and quiet. Mom and I were able to stay up a while and play cards... until after midnight!! That's quite a feat for Mom. :)
Saturday morning started EARLY with the boys making racket at 0630! I tried to keep them quiet and contained in the bedroom but they just couldn't handle the demands. So, by 0715 I had them get dressed and go outside! It was already well over 50 degrees and the sunshine was beautiful. They needed the open air and space to run. Boys! I started cooking breakfast and the others started rising. Funny how the nose works to draw them out of bed. It was fun to eat around the table with 6 kids, even if they weren't all mine. They all went outside after breakfast and stayed out ALL day. Somehow they came up with the Cousin Community. Bennett and Micah came in several times to get supplies to make signs and eventually, flags. I didn't go check on what they were doing until it was time for lunch. They had all 6 been working together to clean up and design a whole new "community" area based around the playground/clubhouse. They added roads from wood, a special room for the boys, the castle was added, and who knows what else they thought up. Bennett and Micah's signs said "enjoy our community" and that's what we did. I brought lunch outside for them to eat in their new place. I appreciated not having to clean the kitchen again. :)
We finally drug the kids inside late afternoon. Mom had to return her kidnapped grandson... who was extremely upset about having to go home. And they wanted to get back at a decent hour since we "spring forward" tonight. Yippee. So, it made our afternoon short... but so fun and full of great memories. Marci was terrific with all her younger cousins. She even got to race a couple MarioKart circuits. Then the kids had to take their nasty brown filthy feet into the tub.
They were in their beds by 1900 and asleep but 1902. Not one sound! Life is good.
Freckles even got to try Marci's new sunglasses on for good looks! What a good spot. He only wanted to be close to the kids... all day he hung out in the new community.
Monkey Boys... hanging until the can't see straight!
Happy Mommy face... no kitchen to clean for lunch! :)