Exploring

We spent our Saturday at the Lafayette Children's Museum with our sweet cousins.  We
filled our bellies with french fries and milkshakes and then spent the afternoon exploring
one of the coolest learning facilities we've been to in a while.  The entire museum was
devoted to role playing with room after room of hands on learning.  There was a
veterinarian hospital, a grocery store, restaurant, dentist's office, fully stocked
ambulance, and a bank.  Each room came fully equipped with costumes and the most
realistic props I've ever seen in a children's museum.  Have I mentioned how much
I LOVE this kind of stuff?  I spent hours as a little girl constructing the most elaborate
play houses, forts, imaginary cafes.  If someone had let me loose in a museum such as the
one we went to this weekend, I would have probably never left..

There was a fenced in area for the babies fully stocked with wooden toys, textured balls,
and the most awesome train set.  Brees and Freddie happily skipped their naps and
explored every inch of the baby zone: eyes wide and drool galore.  They are at such a fun
age, two little explorers with happy, mellow attitudes.  

One of the best ways I can show my children my love is by having fun with them,
laughing and smiling and eating pretend pie, leaving work and bills behind and just being
free.  And when I am able to have an afternoon of fun and relaxation, I am showing
myself love,too.  Seeing their smiling, happy faces is the best soul medicine around...

It was such a fun day, I can't wait to do it again.  I love my cousins, I love my babies,
I love our weekends of sweet simple fun...

Cousin Love

This past weekend was all about cousins: cousins visiting from Texas, cousins sleeping over
at our house, playing and laughing and drooling all over our cousins!  My family is big, and
by big I mean that we have over 60 cousins all of whom we see on a regular basis.  And
we just keep growing: it seems as though when one baby is born, another is coming
right behind.  My cousins April, Lacey, and I all have babies 8 weeks apart.  It is
so amazing to see these little ones form bonds and begin lifelong relationships, just as we
did when WE were the little ones.  It was such a fun weekend: listening to the older girls
talk about boys they like and what music they are into, watching the younger girls hang
on their every word and emulate their mannerisms, and of course laughing over the
babies "playing" together AKA pulling each other's ears and sharing germy pacifiers.  

Here are a few of my favorite photos of the cousins in action:

And, because getting a photo of my husband so rarely happens these days, I just had to
share this moment I captured of Shawn and Brees.  He would much rather be on the
other side of the lens but, when the mood is right, he sometimes forgets himself and you
catch his gorgeous smile, that charismatic spirit that draws me to him so passionately.
 Brees looks so much like her daddy: I love photos of the two of them together and
comparing their eyes, their smiles, even their ears.
She, just like Isabelle, is her Daddy's girl...

My heart always rests well after weekends such as these because of the connections,
the inspiration I draw from these people I love so much.  Being surrounded by good
people who positively influence us is very important to Shawn and I.  And the cousins fit
that bill perfectly: they, regardless of their ages, are a part of who we are and make us
better people.
And that is a beautiful thing...

Cousin Love

The lazy days of summer are long and sweet, the sun shining warm and bright and
stretching its rays late into the evening.  This little family has been busy floating through
the trees on the tire swing, swimming in the back yard, and tending to our garden.  We
are enjoying the freedom found only through days like these: days with no schedules,
no assignments.  Days when it feels perfectly acceptable to get into the car and head out
for ice cream at what should really be our bed time.  

Friday we spent the day with my cousin, April, and her sweet little army of boys
(3 under 3, she is a super hero).  April and her family recently moved from the big city
to the small town where her husband was born and raised.  They took up residence in
his grandmother's hundred year old farm house, trading a modern home filled with
ceramic tile and granite counter tops for a home with bead board walls,  hard wood floors,
and character galore.  This move means that she is now much closer to us and we are
better able to see each other whenever we want to, making days like this past
Friday possible.

We had a lovely lunch in April's quaint kitchen, catching up on all the family gossip over
 home made enchiladas and babbling babies.  The children cooled off in the sun with
popsicles and a ride in the boys' jeep.  We sat under her porch while the babies
napped, sharing stories and laughing and relating to each other's lives in a way that
made me so grateful to have a woman like her in my life.  It's amazing to think that just
 last summer we were both pregnant, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little ones.
We spent so many days pondering who they would look like, what their personality
would be.  And now, one year later, here we are: our families growing and our hearts
full.  What a difference a year makes...

These sweet little babies have changed our lives in so many ways: helped us to grow
and evolve as women, opening our hearts  and changing our perspectives.  I am so
thankful that my children are blessed with the gift of cousins, just as I was when I was
a little girl.  Family is the reason Shawn and I decided to move home, we both had a
deep desire to surround our children with a community of relatives.  Watching these
babies play with one another and begin lifelong friendships reinforces to me that we
are exactly where we should be: together as a family.

It was a wonderful, lazy summer day.  As we drove home that afternoon, Brees and Belle
both napping in the back seat, I found myself smiling deep inside my soul.  I found
myself feeling so satisfied and filled with positive encouragement thanks to an afternoon
spent with a woman who spreads joy and love to all who know her.  And I felt so
blessed, driving through the beautiful Louisiana country side with a smile on my face.
Not wanting for anything but just feeling free.