Surprise!!!

We had quite the surprise Tuesday night. All the kiddos were sleeping, Tom was at work and I was in bed reading. About 9:30 PM the doorbell rang. We don't typically get visitors at that time so I was a bit nervous and I wasn't sure what to think so I peeked out the little window next to our front door. I couldn't believe what I saw!! One of my nephews! My brother and his family came to Oregon and surprised us! They came all the way from Illinois. We had no idea they were coming and weren't expecting it AT ALL! It took a while for it to sink in. The cousins were SO excited to see our kids after a FULL day of travel so I woke everyone up so they could see our big surprise. It was fun to watch them as they woke up and looked at the faces of all their cousins.

We had a really fun week together. It was a blessing to have them here. The kids had a BLAST! They get along So well. It's really unfortunate they don't live closer. Our kids are SO close in age and absolutely loved being together. Most days they were up at 7AM and in bed past 10PM spending time together through most of it. I was amazed how well they did on such little sleep. They hadn't seen each other in almost 2 years and it was so neat how they just picked right back up like no time had passed. They were alot of fun to watch. It was amazing how similar they were. Each one had things like the other. It was really fun to see.

We did alot of fun things together...lots of relaxing at home and just letting the kids play....trips to the park...photo shoot....dollar theater.....Chuck E Cheese.....Easter Egg Hunts....slumber parties....Wii tournaments (they brought their Wii with them and our family enjoyed playing it with them).....meals together....and much more. They stayed for a week and the worst part was that it went WAY TO FAST! It felt like they had just got here and it was already time for them to head home. Our last dinner together we went to Red Robin in celebration of Tom's birthday. The departure was REALLY hard! Some of the boys were already struggling at dinner just knowing what was coming next. The emotions were already coming. I have to admit they were for me too. It was heartbreaking to see them leave. The kids were so sad to have to part. There was alot of sadness and tears and they didn't end for a long time. Poor Bradley cried all the way home and several times the next day. They had such a good time being together. We are thankful we got the chance to make more memories with them.