1st days in Texas and Jen & Connor visit!

Surprisingly we all seemed to adjust fairly quickly to the jet lag in the first few days back in Texas. The night we arrived we kept the boys up until after midnight and they slept until about 7am. Cooper actually napped the next day and got back into a routine fairly quickly….other than 2 -3 nights of waking up around 3am for about an hour. That jet lag really does kill you though. I think the boys adjusted much quicker than Andrew or I, come 2 to 3 in the afternoon, we would really start dragging. Luckily Boss took a few days off from work (and even came home early on the days he went because he couldn’t stand to be away from his grandsons!) and kept the boys very busy! Other than the first couple of days (which were a bit chilly and rainy), we had fantastic weather – bright blue skies with lots of sun and in the mid to upper-70s the majority of the time. The 3 of them must have made a trip to the park at least 6 or 7 times – Boss pulling the boys in their wagon each time! At the end of those days, Boss would tell Evan “I think it’s a 2 Aleve day!”...once all the aches and pains of running around with 2 little ones set in!! They also kept busy with all their new toys! Since we were going to be leaving Texas the day after Christmas, BeBe and Boss decided to let them open their presents throughout the time they were there, so everyday the boys would open a couple of presents! It kinda made Christmas Day a non-event because they’d been opening presents for 2 weeks prior to the actual day, but they did thoroughly enjoy opening every single one of them! We did tell Evan that we would go back to the more traditional approach next year when we are back in the states - opening all the presents on one day and not dragging it out over a month like we did this year! This is going to be something very new for him!

So like I said, they stayed very busy playing with all the things they received! Their favorites being the new playhouse they got and they each had their own motorized car to drive this year because Cooper got a new one. And Cooper also received a new play vacuum that he couldn't get enough of! Evan tried out the bike he got last year, but was still a bit too small for it (maybe he’ll be a better fit and be a bit better at it come summer time!) They just really enjoyed all their outside time!

On the Tuesday after we arrived, we had a couple of special visitors. One of my best friends, Jennifer and her little boy, Connor (who is about 2 ½ months younger than Cooper) came to visit us. Unfortunately, they came when the weather was really rainy and yucky so we just had a bit of inside playtime. Fortunately, my parents had converted their garage into a playland for the boys, so it was no problem keeping them busy inside. I hate that I didn’t get my camera out for more shots than the one I got below. I’m not sure what I was thinking….maybe I was still feeling the jet lag affects?!?! They only visited for a day, so we got a quick visit and then they were off. Luckily, Connor is a really easy kid so he had no problem staying with my parents and the boys while Andrew, Jen and I went out for a great Mexican dinner! It was so wonderful to have her visit and can’t wait until we can spend more time together! The boys had such a great time running around after one another, it will be tons of fun to see them play together again in another 6 months or so....whenever we finally make it back stateside!! So thanks Jen and Connor for making the trip over to visit with us....can't wait to see you again!