The Best Weekend of Her Life

This last weekend was literally the best weekend our little Alice has ever experienced. It makes my "top five" list as well.

Grandma and Grandpa Poulson arrived Friday evening, just minutes before my sister and her family arrived from Texas. What a treat! The Barney cousins are creative, attentive and everything else Alice could desire in playmates. She barely spoke to me the whole weekend :)

We filled every day with more activity than Alice and I usually see in a week, then stayed up late every night playing and chatting with our wonderful family. I couldn't have asked for a better, more relaxing, more fulfilling weekend with family. I'm exhausted.

Robert had a lovely time, too, with plenty of people to hold and rock him. It was this weekend that he started sleeping through the night (6-8 hours between feedings)! Sweet, sweet, 15-pound boy.


The following are photos from our delightful weekend.

Bowling! Alice remembers this about the event: lemonade, a yellow ball that knocks pins over, chips, more lemonade, Starbursts from Sam ("I got uh yast one!), Reese's PB cup from Mary, and even more lemonade. We realized on Sunday that Alice had imbibed lemonade at all of the previous 4 meals...dinner, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's how we Evanses let loose and go wild ;)

One of our picnics at the park/playground (Burwash):

Swimming at the hotel pool. Hooray for Daddy! Hooray for fun cousins that play and play and play. Robert was a bit sleepy:

Robert's blessing day. Bobby did officially name him Robert Jerald Evans (whew!). I always wonder if another name will come out during these blessings. The blessing itself was just what I needed to hear. I feel it suits our little man. Who, by the way, I don't want to call "Baby Bob" anymore. He's Robert, officially, and "Baby Bob" only occasionally. Even my tendency to call him "buddy" just doesn't feel right. All these nicknames are falling off of him. We just haven't found the right one yet. Maybe he'll grow into one of them again later. He's certainly growing into his nose :)

Alice took a couple pictures on the special day, too:

When it was all over and everyone left, Alice promptly fell asleep for several hours.

I loved many things about this weekend. I also learned a few new things about myself. For one, it's getting harder and harder to say goodbye to my family. I was never much of the sentimental type about my family until, well, Robert was born. I don't know why the sudden change.

Second, it finally feels like Bobby, Alice, Robert and I make a real family. We're a cluster of people. Is Robert our last child? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Ask me in another 2 years.

And third, cousins are a totally different kind of relationship than I've ever encountered. It's family without the irritating day-by-day baggage, and friendship without the long process of building trust. It's an instant "in" with kids about your age. Fascinating! I didn't grow up around cousins, and I still haven't met ANY of my cousins, so this is still pretty new to me.