cousins!!!

labor day usually means spending time with family, and this year was no exception.

in fact, it was extra special...

there were COUSINS!!

my cousin adrian making baked beans in the kitchen

(second cousins jaci and madi- seven months apart, almost the same size... two petite li'l princesses)

madi and jaci

the older girls (ella and tessa) helped husk corn for lunch

cole got a crash-course in playing house.

he's never done that before, but i think he rather enjoyed it!

(ella, tessa, erin, jaci and cole)

ted gave kristian a ride on his motorcycle (and i didn't get a photo of it!!)

... and then it was cole's turn!

(i LOVE his face- absolutely thrilled!)

cole laid claim to uncle ted's helmet

actually, i ran into waupaca for something, and while i was gone, cole and kristian figured out a system for taking turns with the three-wheeler; mom told me that kristian would put on ted's helmet, take the trike for a spin up and down the barn, then give the helmet and trike to cole, who would take his turn, and so on.

i wish i hadn't missed it!

great-grandpa and madi

most of the cousins went down to the lake for awhile- madison was sleeping when they left, and it was kind of chilly for cole to be swimming, so the kids and i stayed up by the house with my mom, aunt mary and grandpa and grandma.

cole was obsessed with ted's helmet and also discovered a lovely pink purse one of the girl cousins had left in the playhouse.

(i may or may not use this photo for blackmail purposes in the future, hahaha!)

cole's in his little make-believe world, madi just follows along

we mananged to snag a few photos of all the little cousins, but unfortunately, kristian and erin had left already by the time we got to it.

6 kids under the age of 7!

(not counting adrian, of course)

anna, adrian and i have been noticing the similarities between jaci and madison...

they even sound alike when they talk and cry!

(and now they have matching coughs, too- the girls came down with runny noses and coughs within a day or two of each other.)

auntie mary, little aaron and anna

~*~

driving up to the farm on monday, i took a mental walk backward about 15 or 16 years, remembering the summer that sarah and adrian came for a week or so. we had so much fun with them... nothing like a little nostalgia to kick the already-raging hormones into overdrive.

makes me a little misty-eyed, thinking of when we didn't have a care in the world.

*

monday will be my first prenatal exam... can't wait to hear that little heartbeat!

kelvin will miss it (but only by a few days, as he's coming home next thursday for a few days) but i plan to take video on my phone and send it to him so he can hear it too.

i can't wait!

*

in addition to madi having a runny nose and cough, i've had a mega-sore throat for 4 days now. i had a fever on wednesday, but it's gone now. i do have the aches and chills, but no stuffy nose. i'm crossing my fingers that it's not strep (i'm leaning toward not. so far cole seems to have escaped it, but we'll see. i hope he doesn't get it, but if he does, that's the way it is.

colds we can handle- as long as it doesn't involve puking, i can deal. :)