Auntie Josie's visit

Auntie Josie arrived on Friday night, just before midnight. We talked too late in the night and then slept in the next morning. I had originally wanted to go hiking or something, but the logistics proved too much for me to manage (which vehicles do we take, who drives, what do we do about Miriam's arm, etc). So instead we went grocery shopping, which is pretty lame, I guess.

But Josie is one of those people I just enjoy being around, so it was fun to get to walk around the store with her...even if shopping isn't the most thrilling activity.

Then Rachel left for the dance and we finally got around to passing out the presents Naanii had sent with Auntie Josie. Zoë and Benjamin got slap bracelets (and some colouring kits, that I told them was to share). Phoebe got  a stuffed pig in a BYU shirt, and Alexander got a stuffed bunny in a BYU shirt. Miriam and Rachel and I got a set of pens. And there was also a little game for the family. 

Andrew got...to drive to the airport four times. What a gift for him!

Miriam isn't waving and she doesn't have a question. Her arm is just stuck that way. 

She's getting pretty sick of us saying, "Yes, Miriam..." but in all honesty, she looks like she's raising her hand. It's just a comfortable position for her in her cast.

Here are the kids trying to balance toys on their heads:

Phoebe did it for a brief minute, but Josie helped her get set up for this picture:

Sunday was Sunday. You guys, I hardly took any pictures of anything!

Monday was mostly spent furiously packing, but we also took Auntie Josie to the park for a bit. Here we are having a refreshment break in the shade:

And here are the kids doing what the park designers definitely had in mind for this part of the park:

And here we are just chilling at home, playing video games:

In all honesty, I think we were all pretty tired this weekend (I know I was! Ready for some period talk? Last month my period was, like...completely manageable. And I was like, "Huh. Is this what a normal period feels like? Have my hormones decided they don't absolutely hate me? Is this my new normal???! For meeeeeeee?" But no. Silly me. It was just a fluke. Of course. I was so sick this weekend I could hardly function. It was like Niagara Falls over here. And then to cap things off my body was like, "How about a post-menstrual migraine, too?" and I was like, "For this little girl!?!?!?" Because I am the luckiest).

Plus Miriam broke her arm. We were just a mess over here.

So we cocooned a little over the weekend. 

Honestly, the kids loved having Josie (and Patrick when he was here) play video games with them because she appreciates them on a level that I...don't. And Andrew took some time off to play with the kids as well (which is rather rare at our house). They loved the extra video game time!

We also watched the first episode of The Last of Us, which is a scary suspenseful show, but a lot of it was filmed in High River, so Josie wanted to watch it with me so that we could both go, "Hey! I know that place!" So, we pointed out all the places we knew. And laughed to ourselves about them trying to pass off Alberta as Texas. And because she knows that I don't do scary shows well, she tolerated all my questions about the show and told me whether or not my guesses about things were correct so that I wouldn't be as scared about things when they did happen. She knows I don't mind spoilers (and in fact need spoilers sometimes). She even gave me a few hints about things like, "Don't get too attached to this character. I'm just saying this because they're a likable character and you probably like them. But don't get too attached."

I survived the episode. 

*****

Here's Phoebe playing a little game with Auntie Josie:

It's called "Look at her from across the room with binoculars" with the alternative title of "I like you but I'm a little scared to get too close to you."

How close will she get?

Phoebe probably would have warmed up to Auntie Josie faster had the kids not kept trying to force her to go to Auntie Josie. Alexander and Zoë kept trying to making Phoebe hug Josie, or would carry Phoebe over and try to hand Phoebe to Josie. And Phoebe was not impressed. Josie was doing her best to let Phoebe figure her out on her own terms, but Alexander and Zoë simply were not respecting boundaries (which ended up prolonging Phoebe's shyness, I think). 

But, Auntie Josie played Play-Doh with Phoebe, which Phoebe thought was fun.

And because our Play-Doh stash was in abysmal shape, Auntie Josie ordered a new set of Play-Doh for Phoebe ("for meeeeeee?!") as a parting gift. 

I know we could just make salt dough, or whatever, but sometimes Play-Doh is just fun, as well. We had gotten Phoebe a whole set for Christmas and she (and her siblings) has...ruined 95% of it... It's mixed up, it's dried out... So, Phoebe is very happy to have some new tubs of it!