Mark’s brother and his family ventured our way in April. Nineteen kids (would have been 20 but one was away). Four adults. Lots of laughter, smiles. and love. We are so blessed to have family that just love each other.
Papa & Grandmere couldn’t physically be with us but we had them there in spirit and through technology!
How we sat through meals!
Tobin liked Uncle B’s beard!
Cousins! Two weeks (to the day) apart and a load of fun.
Tobin thought Cousin C’s toe would be tasty!
Ace stole C every chance he got.
And O took Tobin every chance she could get. Basically, I barely had to hold a baby the entire visit.
Someone decided Tobin needed new hair.
We volun”told” Uncle B that he would be dissecting animals. Zoe was studying biology and what better way to study biology than with a veterinarian as a teacher?
Water beads were made and Emmie and cousin A were ecstatic.
Liam taught his cousins how to play Axis and Allies.
The big kids loved the water beads too!
Soldier of the Lord!
Emmie decided cousin C was pretty fun to hold too.
Tobin the Chunker with Cousin C. It took nine babies but we finally have our big baby!
Nineteen cousins! The Lord has truly blessed us all!
All she knows is that it’s forty-five minutes of visiting with friends and dancing. And that’s good enough for her.
Late night run to Walmart and the girls just HAD to try on these giant heads.
Emmie was “reading” a book to Tobin.
And now we have a student driver.
Cool Dude.
Twinsies on date night.
Tobin with his buddy K. She’s over a month younger than him and is getting bigger than him.
Tobin met the twirly bug. He was shocked.
Bryant knows the love between Starbucks and me.
This isn’t quite how you’re supposed to drink from a cup Sweet T.
At care group one night our pastor was talking and Tobin thought he was the funniest thing ever.
Before braces…
After braces.
In which Emmie learns to not leave her glasses on the floor.
I detest these tops to our grains and oats. Ace, Bryant and several others attempted, in vain, to ope the lid. Drill. Hammer. Wedge. Nope. Mark finally was able to work his magic and get it off.
So sweet and unassuming, but then…
He thought that was so funny!
This girl has all the love and none of the fear of animals. 
We make our membership worthwhile by riding the carousel as many times as possible.
Yes. We did the traditional lion picture. One day, I’ll find all of these pictures and put them in a book!
This was the first time for decorating a cake outside of my home. I think I did a pretty okay job considering I wasn’t at home with all my normal stuff.
Right on the golf course and a short drive to the water park.
We decided to go out to eat for one night to Mama’s Farmhouse. Yummy eats and fun activities for the kids.
Three littles as snug as a bug.
It wasn’t all water play, we spent a good bit of time hanging out in the arcade too.
One night, the guys took a trip to the knife store. It turned out to be a pretty cool store.
Ace won the Most Amazing Pool Hair Award.
Mark and I snuck away for a lunch (and trip to the cast iron store). We chose Paula Deen’s Family Restaurant. It was absolutely outstanding. We were stuffed and enjoyed every single bite. We also got to watch snow fall (not stick, thankfully).
Let’s start off these fun random pics with our chunky monkey at four months! Ya’ll, those chubby arms are the sweetest.
Liam took a coding class and loved it. I’ll be looking for more for him to learn from.
Malachi wanted to learn to read and pretty much just taught himself with pretty much a smidge of help from me. 
Headbanz by “Emmie Rules” included her telling daddy what was on his head band and then telling him to tell her what was on hers.
But then it was naptime.
And naptime for Tobin too.
Date night included Cinnabon Delights.
Lulu the Guard Dog.
Tobin has no problem with snuggles and kisses from Lulu.
A Your Pie opened up in our area. We got in on the soft opening and fell in love. Definitely a treat.
Check out these eyelashes.
Emmie had an ophthalmology appointment in February. I’ll post a more detailed update after her MRI but basically, she has strabismus and needs to wear glasses to try and strengthen the eye turning in. We think she is adorable in these glasses!
Ceili Rain got a cake decorating kit from Ge and Granddaddy for her birthday. This was her first creation.
Beautiful weather means playing games with neighbors.
Cornhole was a fun activity.
Tobin got lots of cuddles.
Mark’s Aunt G and Uncle D came over for a visit. Emmie taught Aunt G cards.
Emmie enjoys playing games according to her rules. With games like Uno, we’ve started teaching her the real rules…but some games are still a little much for her. So, she gets to play by Emmie rules. She basically tells us where to move and who wins and when it ends. Ace got roped into playing with her. He was so patient and played along very well.
Ace also enjoys toting Tobin around and we’ve had to fight him off a time or two.
