Cousins

Last week we got to go visit with a bunch of cousins.

Ellie still talks about being "stupor" heroes with Collin. She especially liked that she got to wear "Jessie's hat."


Mostly we had fun just hanging out.


Ellie helped get ready for Aunt Kari's baby shower. Kari let Ellie keep one of the gift bags--Toy Story. It is about as big as she is. She loves it.


We got to go to Jumpin' Jacks to celebrate Collin's 3rd birthday.


Charlie came too.


Ellie was fearless, climbing on the biggest slides.


She loved riding on this little merry-go-round with Phoebe and Collin. She talks about riding on all the Bullseyes and says, "Yee-hah!" when she see this picture.


She had to learn a thing or two about sharing. Clearly Collin has already learned this lesson. He is quite the charmer for the camera.


Since we have been home, Ellie has been talking quite a bit about all these cousins. One new development, though, is that she has been having more problems with her "guys." Sometimes they fight over toys now. It's not uncommon to hear, "Hey! Hey, no! That's Jessie's ball. No, Woody. It's Jessie's!" I find myself having to mediate disputes between plastic frogs and miniature Disney characters. Jessie and Donald Ducky (the "mom" one, or bigger Donald, not the baby one) seem to fight quite a bit. The other day I actually heard the words coming out of my mouth, "Froggies, if you can't share the car we will have to put it away." They seemed to get along better after that. I'm hoping Ellie is learning a thing or two about sharing before Charlie gets bigger and wants her toys.

Charlie has been happy to be home. Both kids were pretty good on the trip, but it was rough to pull them from their routines and make them ride in a car for several hours. My grandma always says that babies are home toys. Never were truer words spoken. Here is a video of Charlie at home with his cousin Grace (12 this month). He thinks Grace is pretty funny.