Winters' Bed and (sometimes) Breakfast

In the entire month of August, there were only four days in which we did not have company staying at our house.  I'm not complaining!  The extra hands were a tremendous help in the days immediately following Nellie's birth, especially when it came to keeping the big kids busy.

Just a couple days after my mom left, my sister Lauren and her little family came up for a long weekend.  Lauren and Dylan are the epitome of helpful guests!  First, they took Bryce and Thane with them to meet up with Katie and her crew in Seattle.  

Bryce and Thane came home with tales of being well-spoiled - treats from Pike's Place, watching videos on the iPad, snacks in the car... I asked Bryce how his day had been and he answered, "Good, no GREAT!"

I'd wanted to give our guests the all-star treatment, but knew that since I'd just had a baby that probably wasn't in the cards.  Homemade breakfasts?  Not likely.  Well, unless Lauren is your guest that is!

She turned herself into Aubree's favorite person by pulling out our never-before-used Aebleskivver pan and whipping up a double batch of yumminess.

Another night Lauren and Dylan concocted a delicious (and enormous) meal of Pad Thai.  I was tempted to ask them to consider moving in.

When they weren't cooking, they spent a lot of time reading to the kids.  My kids never get tired of hearing stories, so extra reading voices are always a treat.

We did manage to have a few adventures.  For example, one morning everyone except Nellie and I set off to our favorite local hiking spot for a quick jaunt in the woods.  Bryce, who is known for his excellent sense of direction, was deemed the official hike leader.  He successfully navigated the group to his desired destination (the railroad tracks), and then instructed, "Let's turn left and follow the tracks. There's another trail head a little ways up from here."

Famous last words.

About an hour from that time I got a call from Mark, "Can you come rescue us?"  

There was no additional trail head leading back to the hiking trails from the railroad tracks.  The group had walked all the way up to the next town, looped around, and were facing an additional 3-4 mile walk back to their cars.  Yikes!

When I got to them they were in surprisingly good spirits.  I think all the wild blackberries they found along the way helped a lot.

Avery (covered in blackberry) loved Nellie's carseat

Another day we visited the river and let the kids play in the mud to their heart's content.  

I'm pretty sure Lauren would love living up here in the PNW, so we did our best to show her some great features.  We were sad when they had to leave.  

We didn't have too long to mourn, however, because the next day Grandma and Grandpa Winters came to town, just in time for our ward campout.

Nellie and I joined in for the evening activities (including a very brief ward talent show), then came home (with Graham as well) to sleep in our own beds.  Grandma and Grandpa likewise came home, but Mark stayed overnight with the three big kids.  They had a great time!

During the evening activities, Nellie was a big hit.  She slept the whole time, which made her a prime snuggle target.  

Aubree showed off some of her violin skills; she loves to perform!

Grandma and Grandpa really enjoy taking the kids out on adventures.  One day I had a dr. appt, so they took all four big kids on an all-day outing to Buckley and Puyallup.  They visited places where Grandma grew up, checked out an Arboretum and a splash park, and of course were completely spoiled.  I had big dreams of "getting things done" while they were gone, but, well, newborns take ALL YOUR TIME.  Good thing they're totally worth it.

Another day, Grandma and Grandpa took out just Graham as a special pre-birthday treat.  Boy, oh boy did he love that!  They went to Costco and got ice-cream (and tons of samples) and let Graham choose a gift (a dinosaur book), then went to Kohls where he got to choose another gift (pajamas).  As the fourth child, getting such undivided attention isn't super common, and he really enjoyed being in the spotlight.  

We also spent a lot of time at home.  Turns out Grandpa makes a great Scorched Earth competitor (Scorched Earth is an old school computer game).  

In this particular game, the peon, extra players are called "Morons."  Thane named them, and, in his excitement, told me all about it... ("Mom! You, and Graham, and Nellie are MORONS!"  Thanks, kid.)

With all the fun of Grandma and Grandpa, Graham might have missed a few naps...

We are so glad they made the (driving!) trip all the way across the country to come see us!