My Beamish Brood: Elbow-to-Elbow

What had looked to be a run-of-the-mill weekend was suddenly set ablaze when Paul and Maureen decided to take advantage of a long weekend for Liam and visit us! Soon after, Monica and Glenn decided to join the party, so by Thursday afternoon the house was packed and action-packed. The kids were super excited to see everyone, but I must say Max and Lucian attached to Liam like puppy dogs. He was a rockstar, spending tons of time playing with them, building paper rockets for their rocket launcher (they worked so well!), acting out plays and songs... I sometimes forgot I even had kids, they were so busy!

A sample of the rockets Liam made

Friday the whole crew went out for a delicious fish fry, followed by Stations of the Cross. It's a good thing we had a deadline, Stations at 6:30, otherwise we might still be at the restaurant devouring all-you-can-eat breaded fish. Mmmmmm.... Anyways, the kids were great during Stations (relatively speaking), and I am glad we've added it to our Lenten traditions this year.

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross

The Yanteses brought along a fun game called Spot it, a fast-paced "visual-perception" game that Liam was easily the king of. Max held his own, with some help, and I can proudly say that I beat Liam twice! Forget the fact that we probably played each other a hundred times. I did beat him! Even Lucian enjoyed the game if we slowed it down and he got some help.

Sunglasses! Snowflake! Cat!

One of the sweetest parts of the weekend was seeing Audrey fawn over her little cousin. The first word out of her mouth each morning was "Taniel?" and she wasn't content until she laid eyes on him. The only photo I caught of the two of them was when he decided to return the affection and cramped her style a bit, but that was the exception, not the rule. Every time I turned around she was trying to kiss him and hug him. She's gonna be such a good big sister!

Smothered with love

Grandpa Yantes brought his camera, which is always a plus, and towards the end of the weekend he took it out and snapped some great pictures. You won't believe it til you see it, but he even snagged a photo of ALL THREE of my children smiling! Check it out:

Spring is slowly but surely making its way to Minnesota, but a weekend with visiting family sure helped to liven up what has been a dark and dreary season. Now our trip to Boston doesn't seem so far off, and I think we will survive until the snow melts! Thanks to everyone for making the long drive out here, we have been missing you all so much!