Cousins

On Friday, June 13th, Dennis brother, Tim, and his family arrived for a couple days visit. Dennis parents had driven up to meet them in the Tennessee mountains for a couple days of fun up there and then they all headed back here. When they arrived Elizabeth & Katherine were still napping. It was nice to get everyone settled in before they got up.

It's amazing how much the kids have all grown. They're far from the little kids I remember the last time we were all together. Joel(13) now looks eye to eye with Tim and I'm guessing he'll pass him up by the end of the year. Ben(12) pretty much looks me eye to eye. Alexis(10) and Noelle(8) are close to the same height and it won't be long before they look me eye to eye. Given that I'm only 5'2" so it's really isn't easy to pass me up or look me eye to eye. It just seems like yesterday the kids were Elizabeth's size. Time sure does fly by way to fast.

Elizabeth was the first to wake up from her nap. She played it super shy for about 15 minutes. She was fascinated with their dog, Lacey. She kids what their names were and then she'd repeat their name as if she was committing it to memory (who taught her that name remembering trick anyway?). By the time Katherine woke up Elizabeth had warmed up to everyone and was having a blast playing with her cousins.

Katherine, who is quite the social butterfly, didn't take nearly as long to warm up to anyone. She thought the girls were the best thing ever. I think the feeling was mutual. The girls loved helping out and playing with her.

It was so nice to have everyone together. We've been together a couple of times, but have not taken any pictures so it was very nice to have a new group picture. The last one we took was back in 1999 in Hawaii. Our family has grown by 3 since then.