What a Great Visit!

No posts from me for over a week because I was having too much fun!  My mother in law (who is like a mother to me!), her husband, Steve, and their 8 year old twins, Kayla and Cameron were here to visit from Alabama!  They got here a week ago Friday and just left this morning.  We were busy, busy every day having lots of fun together.  Mickey was in heaven, loving every minute with her Mom Mom and playing with her 8 year old aunt and uncle!  The day after they got here, we traveled up to Maryland/Delaware to visit some of Mike's family for a few days.  I realized as we got on the freeway that I had forgotten my camera!!!  I was so bummed!  :-(  So, no pictures from the visit, but it sure was nice seeing everyone nonetheless.  We hadn't seen some of them for many, many years!  My personal favorite was our short visit with Mike's Great Great Aunt Bea who is 92 years old.  She is just so cute and so sweet, and funny to boot!  She had several angels figurines and let all the kids pick some out.  Mickey picked out several, and they are now her prized possessions!  It's so cute.

We had a few days of really nice weather and we took advantage!  The first nice day, we took a trip to the Virginia Zoo.  All the kids had a great time!  Mickey was so cute carrying around her new blue pocketbook and wearing her Coral jacket Mom Mom bought her at Target all day.  She and Kayla carried around some flowers that Kayla picked from a tree and wanted to pose for pictures!  It was adorable.  It was a great day!  Here are some pictures.

Mickey sure loves her Mom Mom!

Mickey with Mom Mom and Pop Pop Steve

Mike with his mom and Mickey

The whole crew!

One with me in it for once!

Mickey is just so cute

Silly brothers!

Pop Pop Steve, the wild animal!

This sign describes Mickey quite well!  LOL

The next day was even better, with 80+ degree weather!  So, we packed everyone up, including Izzie, for Carly and Callie's first trip to the beach!  It was the most perfect beach day!  It was just gorgeous and so relaxing.  The kids had such a great time playing and were even crazy enough to brave playing in the ICE COLD water.  We didn't realize just how nice it was really going to be, or we would have put the kids in bathing suits!  Izzie played and played chasing after her ball and was in absolute doggie heaven!  Carly and Callie really enjoyed the fresh air and new scenery.  Poor Callie did a complete face plant off the blanket into the sand, but she made out OK after we cleaned her up!  Here are the beach pictures.

Kayla and Carly - Carly sure loves her Aunt Kayla!

Carly touching Mom Mom's face ♥

Carly and Callie are enjoying the beach!

Carly making a funny face!  LOL

Kayla 

Kayla and Cameron playing in the water

Izzie with her ball!

Izzie Mama lookin' pretty

Haley and Kayla playing

Mickey and Cameron playing

Sherry and Steve

We did a little shopping and had dinner out a few times too while they were here, which was a treat because we rarely go out to eat these days!  We mostly spent our time just enjoying each other's company and playing with Carly and Callie.  It had been nearly 3 years since we had seen Steve and the kids, so it was just so nice to see them again!  Mickey stuck to her Mom Mom's side like glue and is so upset now that she is gone.  She just keeps crying and saying, "I miss Mom Mom."  It's so sad!  :-(  But we are thankful they were able to make the trip out and hope to see them again very soon!  Mike's Mom is so wonderful - she is like a mom to me.  I lover her to pieces and feel so blessed to have her in my life!

We kept so busy that I didn't even stop to pick up the camera much, which I am kicking myself for now!  I realized I didn't even get one single picture of Callie with Mom Mom!  But, here are some other shots from the week nevertheless.

Uncle Cameron in bed with Mike and the twins one morning

Cameron lovin' on Izzie

Steve and Mike put together this swing while they were here and it
is so much fun!  Here is Mom Mom, cool as she is, giving it a whirl!

In other big news, Carly and Callie are starting to eat "real" food!  Carly seems to especially enjoy it, which is funny because she doesn't care too much for baby food.  Mom Mom says she thinks Miss Carly might just skip the baby food and go right to real food.  She might just be right!  She loves crackers, puffs and biter biscuits, and tonight, she ate the crust from my pizza!  I mean she ate the entire thing!  It's impressive!  Miss Callie LOVES oranges, lemons and limes!  She's not too sure about the puffs and biter biscuits just yet though.  Also, you can see the white of their teeth getting ready to pop through on both of their bottom gums! Exciting - it won't be long and they will have teeth!

Now it is time for me to try to get back into the swing of our daily lives.  Getting back to a routine and doing everything on my own again.  My diet was COMPLETELY blown while they were here, but I got right back on with that today.  Now, I need to get back to my working out starting tomorrow and also working on cleaning and organizing again.  There is still SO much to do!  For now, I am exhausted and am looking forward to relaxing and watching some TV with Mike.  :-)