Cousins

This is Cooper

 This is Sadie

 They are staying at our house for a week while their parents (Jeff's sister and her husband) go on a cruise.  All 6 kids sitting around the island.

 Playing in the basement.  Sadie and I worked really hard to get a picture with the ball balanced on top of her head.

 All six kids in the car.

 Josh had to do a report on Temple Square for his History class.  We, of course, left the project until the last minute.

They all decided they wanted to hop.  Not sure why.

Later that night (it was a holiday and we were feeling ambitious) we took them all to the Dinosaur "you see 'em"  (I'm sorry, I will never be able to call it anything else.)

Overall, things have gone fairly smoothly.  There were a few minor incidents.  First, Lucy woke up on the second morning with a raging fever and sore throat.  Strep.  No biggie.  We just took her to Urgent Care (it was Sunday) and got her on antibiotics.  

Wednesday was a crazy day.  I woke up with my eyes swollen shut--all pink, itchy and goopy.  I got the kids ready for school, dropped off Jake and Lucy, drove to PG (about 20 minutes away), dropped off Sadie and Cooper.  On my way home I called the doctor (since ummm...my eyes were swollen shut), made an appt., realized I would only have 5 minutes to get home and get dressed.  

I left for the doctor's appt., and on my way got a call from Sadie at the school telling me that Cooper fell in the mud and needed a change of clothes.  I quickly turned around, grabbed the clothes, called the dr. to tell them I would be late and why, drove to their school, helped Coop change, drove to the dr.'s office, got a prescription, drove to Target to fill the prescription, bought way too much crap I don't need while waiting for the prescription (all this while wearing sunglasses because, yeah, my eyes were swollen shut).

I then realized I wouldn't have time to go home before it was time to get Josh (In Lindon--even farther than PG), got lunch, went to the bank, picked up Josh, drove home (25 minutes), put Sam down for a nap, dropped piano books off at the kids teacher's house, picked up my sister's dog, dropped her off at home, drove back to PG to pick up my niece and nephew, drove home, took Josh to piano 20 minutes late, came home, texted the whole syllabus of two ballet classes to my last-minute sub (I couldn't teach because, remember? my eyes were swollen shut), drove back to pick up kids from piano, made dinner, collapsed from exhaustion!

This morning was definitely calmer.  My eyes were much clearer and the swelling was down.  Only one minor incident:  Sam was sitting by Sadie on the couch.  He got excited about something and threw his head back right into Sadie's nose.  She cried.  He cried.  Sadie's nose was bloody and bruised.  It swelled up a bit.  I gave her some medicine, and drove around extra long before dropping her off at school so her face had time to clear up (from crying and from the swelling--poor girl).  

We have loved having Sadie and Coop at our house.  The kids have had a blast and it's been one non-stop party with a little homework and sleep mixed in.