Cousin Time!

Cary and Ali headed out of town for a little getaway to Utah for a Michigan game, and we were lucky enough to watch Carter and Brynn (Lia went to Guthrie Center with gma and gpa!)  We only had them Wednesday night, and Thursday night, and Cary and Ali picked them up Friday night. The time flew by and we were wishing we had two more nights! It was unbelievable how fast it went, and how good all the kids were.  It was so fun watching Carter behave before school and after school (two times that we never get to see him), and hear about his day and his friends and his homework. And, it was so fun watching Brynn and Saylor interact more as sisters than cousins. They could not have been any easier if they tried- those girls played and talked NON-STOP. They were so much fun to watch!

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the time together:

I'm so thankful my kids have such good relationships with all of their cousins....some day, they will giggle about these days just like my cousins and I do now.

Annual Cousins Weekend with Grandma

For the past few years, the cousins have given my Grandma Phyllis a "day" for her Christmas gift. This is where we find a Friday night and Saturday to spend with her. I know what you're thinking....that would be an AMAZING gift to just spend a day with Holly and her cousins. You are right about that. Gma truly does love it though, and we all get spoiled and get to make fun of each other and spend time together without kids and husbands. We start counting down the days by text about five days before the actual weekend.

We made Grandma hold this sign...she always very reluctantly agrees to our antics.

We went out to eat in the old school library that is now a restaurant in Lake City. It was DELICIOUS. The brussel sprouts were amazing and everyone's food was so good. We were stuffed.  The best thing about my grandma is how much she loves to eat. As they say, people who love to eat are always the best people. It's true. It's why Gayle King and I could be besties.

By the way, at this dinner, I found out that Gma knows what a selfie is. We all thought that was funny.

 After dinner, we went back to my mom and dad's for a sleepover. I swear - at every single sleepover we have, we re-live the last 90 sleepovers, and it's funny every single time. Late night talks about our relationships, our friends, our parenting dilemmas, our children, our parents, our future - we cover every single topic we can in the short amount of time we're together. I love it.

On Saturday, we went to Carroll shopping and out to eat at Pizza Ranch. Gma takes eating at Pizza Ranch very, very seriously. She has it down to a science. We had a great time shopping (with Grandma's money) and just walking around aimlessly in Wal-Mart (sadly, we fit right into this crowd). It was relaxing and enjoyable.

I'm so grateful to call my cousins my best friends. They are the ones who have known me the longest and love me the most. They know everything about me, they listen to me, understand me, pray for me, hope for me, laugh with me (but mostly at me) and want the best for me. Distance has never gotten in between us. I don't know what I'd do without 'em.

#blessed (that was for my cousins- we had a long conversation about hashtags....).
#wherehavethedaysgone

Already counting down the days ladies to our next sleepover!!!

Remsburg Cousins

We had Grace and Maya over for a sleepover in October and shot a few photos while they were here. We needed photos for my Gma Phyllis' xmas card but also just needed an updated photo of the five of them together! It is funny how easy it is now to have all five...and how I used to mentally prepare myself for the craziness. Now, they just go off on their own and very content to do their own thing with each other. Grace is still the Mother Hen of the group; Joey and Maya are still up to no good when with each other; Maddox is a little bit of a follower still and Saylor rules the whole dang roost. 

Coppola Cousins Sleepover 2013

Joe and I have been hosting the annual Coppola Cousin Sleepover for 5 years now.  We started with the rule that you had to be potty trained to come so we started with just Joey/Davis....and now we've grown to Joey/Davis/Maddox/Carter/Bennett/Brynn/Saylor...we're only missing Miss Nina now (hopefully next year?!).  So, we had 7 kids this year ages 8 to 23 months.....but, it seems that even though we gain more kids with each year, it has gotten a little easier.  We have the cousins over individually to stay overnight here and there but this is the one time a year, that we invite all of them!

 Left to right (youngest to oldest): Saylor, 23 months; Brynn, 2, Bennett, 4, Carter, 5, Maddox, 6, Davis, 6, Joey, 8.

We started our weekend with some swimming at our cousin's house.

We then did some S'mores for a late night snack...

Then, we went home to get ready for bed! As always, these kids were wiped out after a couple hours of swimming, so I didn't hear one complaint when it was time to lay down! Here are all of the kids with their monogrammed pillowcases!

In the morning, we got up (Joey was the first up; Bennett was the last up) and had apple turnovers and then went to the park to play on the equipment and play a little golf (Davis won by one stroke; but Carter won the toughest hole twice in a row!).

After the park, it was time for pick-up! Carter and Brynn went home but Davis and Bennett stayed one extra night because Tony and Kelly were in Colorado.  Surprisingly, the weekend zipped by and I wasn't nearly as tired as one might expect me to be! The kids play together so well, are kind and thoughtful, and they all listened great! I couldn't have asked for anything more out of 7 kids!

This is a great time for Joe and I to get to know our nieces and nephews just a little better...see what they like to do, hear the funny things they say, listen to their fears and joys, see what they excel at... Usually, when we're all together, we're just trying to get a handle on our own kids or it's at some kind of celebration when there's so much going on.  On this weekend, we just get to enjoy them so it's really special! It really is one of the weekends that we look forward to every year - lucky US!