Kristen is the youngest sibling out of the eight of us. The first seven were born in just under nine years. (Yes, that's right folks. Don't ask me how my mom did it.) And then my mom says she was just too tired for another one after that. (Can you blame her?!) But Dad still wanted another one. So Kristen came along 4 1/2 years later (and I'm sure my mom wanted her too). She feels like the baby of the family in more ways than one. Eric asked Kristen if she thought I'd changed after getting married, and she said she couldn't even remember before we were married. :) Kristen became an aunt at the ripe old age of 9, and has lived like an only child on and off for a long time. She wanted to come to Florida with us, and it didn't happen, so I thought she needed a vacation! And WE are surely just the vacation she needed, right?!
We had hopes of watching "Twilight" together the night she came (Eric hadn't seen it yet), but Mierae decided she would not go to sleep until almost 11:00 (and she hadn't even had a nap that day!). She demanded that Aunt Kristen read to her that night.
After Mierae was finally out, we watched an episode of "Burn Notice" before going to bed. Thanks goodness "Twilight" came the next night (and the next afternoon, and two nights after that...)! We laughed until we cried listening to the commentary by Rob Pattinson, and chuckled every time one of us quoted him or parts of the movie. ("I look Asian in this scene!") Too fun! We also ate chocolate. :) Here are Kristen and Mierae making Betty Crocker's Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
I wanted Kristen to see the downtown library and the Topiary Gardens while she was here. The girls were more than happy to oblige...to the first part. They did NOT want to leave the library to look at people made out of plants; they wanted to stay right inside the tree house or behind the curtain of the puppet show. So, Kristen and I ventured out alone.
And after about five minutes, we were done looking at people made out of plants. :) The only way to leer the girls out of the library was [hopefully not empty] promises of free ice cream at a grand opening of Tim Hortons/Cold Stone in Clintonville. We got there four minutes after the giveaway began, and won a spot in line! They gave free tote bags with ice cream scoops, mittened ice scrapers, coffee mugs and coffee scoop clips, plus free ice cream to old and young. Another lucky day!
We ate a real dinner that night--even though our tummies were full of ice cream. We went to Johnny Bucelli's, a place Eric and I have grown to love. It was as fun as a dinner out with a preschooler and toddler can be: Mierae smearing her dinner on the window, Jolie climbing onto the table, ketchup all over Jolie.... But, it was good food, as always.
Our evenings were filled with storytime--the girls always wanted their chance to be with Kristen.
And our days were filled with hairstyling trains and makeovers. Mierae discovered the joy of blue eye shadow.
While grabbing some milk at Target a few weeks ago, I happened to glance at the end of the aisle clearance deals and spotted two-packs of hair color on clearance for $5. Once I realized Kristen was coming out and could help me dye my hair, I wanted to get some just for fun because it was so cheap! It ended up being very subtle, which is exactly what I wanted.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
These pics don't really do it justice (you can't even tell it's different in the after photo--but wasn't that the idea behind "subtle?"), but here they are anyway. It just lightened me up a bit, and it's a lot of fun.
We had been staying up so late watching movies and talking during the week that by the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was sick! We had hoped to take Kristen downtown to Battelle Riverfront Park to at least see the Santa Maria, but I spent the morning on the couch watching "Bolt" with the kids, and we didn't get out the door until it was time to take Kristen to the airport. We did stop at Bath & Body Works on the way so I could stock up on soaps, and Kristen had me smell the new scentportable fragrance "Pineapple Orchid." Yum. I had to get one of those for the van!
We sent Kristen off after too-short a stay. I was glad, though, that the timing worked out to have two couples from our ward on her same flight home! Even though they were strangers to her, we felt good knowing our friends were there with her and she knew someone could watch out for her.
We miss you, Kristen! Thanks so much for coming to visit!
8 comments:
Your hair looks great! I can tell that it's different in your after picture, and I like it! And I'm sad that I couldn't come out to visit too...:( I missed out on all the fun! How could you not love that hairstyling train? :) I'm glad you guys had so much fun!
Cute pictures!!! I especially love the hair styling train. :)
Glad you guys had a good visit!
Hi Robyn! I'm so glad your sis got to come visit. It's always fun to have visitors when you live so far away from family! I laughed at how many times you watched twilight...I'm finally forcing Todd to watch it tonight (just like I forced him to read it...you know he secretly likes it!). Also, you're hair looks cute. Good job!
your hair looks great, blue eyeshadow is always an adventure, the stylin train is hilarious, and I'm glad you got to hang out with your sis! You deserved it. Sorry you ended up sick.
hey, do you have Shelley Younkin's phone number? I'd like to ask her which pattern was used for her diaper bag.
It is always fun having visitors. Tyler's sister came out in October and we had a blast with her. She was 13 at the time and like your sister she was an aunt by about 10. I wish we were able to see her more often!! The kids loved having her here too.
That looks like fun!! I haven't seen Twilight since everyone went to see it at the mall when we were in Utah. Is the commentary good? I always love listening to the commentary!! It's probably my favorite part of many movies! Is 'Bolt' any good?
I'm glad you guys all had fun!
I am so glad we watched Twilight with the commentary! It was the best ever. I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me so I can post my pictures, but hopefully one of these days it will happen. Anyway, I hope you're feeling better now! I miss you!
How fun! That reminded me of the good old days when we had sleepovers and would make no bakes and watch "While you Were Sleeping". Next time you come out, we really need to have a girls night!
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