All the adventures of last weekend

I got a *few* pictures of last weekend, but only because my sister + family were in town, and we had to think of some interesting things to do!  It’s always a hoot to have Rylan interact with his crazy cousins, that’s for sure.  Unfortunately, Jake had to miss out on some of the festivities because he went to Portland on a business trip (hence my sister and the kids coming over for the week), and Kevin has been working a lot of overtime lately because he is the lead engineer on a few important projects at work, so a few times it was just my sister, me, and my parents for dinner, just like old times! (A little different with 4 little kids of course).

Thursday night, when the Schroeder clan all drove in, we met for dinner and then re-convened at my parents house for a little visit.  All the kids adore their Nana, and here they all are “flying an airplane” on the couch, which Rylan still talks about.

Last night Rylan told Kevin and I about his ambitions to become a pilot, and reminded us of the importance of putting on your seat belt before you drive a plane!  There’s “Plane Flying 101” for you.

Friday, we met at “Nana’s Library” (the library she works at), got heart suckers, and walked over to Starbucks for some hot chocolate.  Henry looked especially hipster with his “coffee” cup.

After that, my sister and I took all the kids downtown (or “Town-Town, as Rylan says) for a walk to some favorite shops down there.  One new shop is a baby boutique called “Buns in the Oven”, where everything seems overpriced, but pretty cute.  I bought a lace-hair-band for Baby Sister, but otherwise came away empty-handed.  After nap time, we found that Nana and Papa had found a lot of old toys to play with that none of the kids had ever seen before!  The only downside was there were lots of little pieces, so the toys tended to get quickly scattered…everywhere.  Here are Hannah and Rylan playing together:

Hannah: “Oh hi horsey!  Let’s go over here!”

Rylan: “Okay! Nice to meet you! A-gah-bah-dah!”

They were pretty cute.  Henry also played cute – but more of a Godzilla cute, which made these two kind of mad at him sometimes!

Saturday was the day I had my first (and last) baby shower thrown for me.  A lot of people ended up coming, which was great to see everybody.  We were truly overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity toward Baby Sister, and I think we are more than prepared to have her make her arrival now!  (I mean, we still need a car seat, but that’s a minor thing, right)? Once naps were over, we all went to our favorite ice cream store Goody’s.  Here are Nana, Rylan, and Henry at Goody’s, but as you can see, Rylan was upset over having to share Nana’s lap, which is usually strictly his.

Meanwhile, this week continues as normal!

Thanks to everyone who has submitted their Baby Sister Ballot so far!  I have really enjoyed reading all the responses – especially all those name suggestions!  So much to consider…