Cousin Fun

We have been blessed to be able to visit with some of  LL's family and extended family in the past few weeks.  LL's brother and his family are home from China for several weeks, and spent another week at the farm, and two of LL's cousins and their families (one family lives in Kansas) were able to come visit for a day, too. When LL's cousins and their families were together, we had 18 kids between us.  Eighteen. It was a lot of fun and a little chaos. :)

The younger kids were super excited to take a buggy ride together

 (always a highlight of a trip to the farm):

 

And we even attempted a family picture, complete with Grandma Reitz.

(You can click on that picture to make it bigger, but from the left is cousin Amy and  her family, cousin Steve and his family, LL's parent, LL's family, Andy's family, Nick's family, and Gwen's family. 33 of us in all.  Not bad for a self-timer picture taken after sunset. )



On Sunday we were all able to get together for dinner after church.  Nick and his family got beautiful Chinese dresses for the girl cousins, and of course they all had to try them on immediately.  Teddy was wearing his traditional Chinese outfit, too, but the other boys weren't into dressing up.

(Collette, Karen, Autumn, Teddy, and Tabby. Precious!)

 

The next evening Collette had her first ever girl-cousin's sleepover at Grandma's house. (The older boy cousins went to Aunt Taryn's house.) She was so beyond excited to go.  She picked out a bag to pack, packed it herself with essentials like a several outfits, pajamas, a book to read at bedtime, her baby doll, her blanket, her slippers, her heart pillow, and her toothbrush.  I was impressed with her packing skills!  :)

 

Ready to go to Grandma's!

 

The girls had a great time, and of course my little night owl was the last one awake,

 (even though she was the youngest one.  HA!)

 

How cute are they? :) Gotta love all that pink, too! 

 

We are all enjoying spending extra time with family, but I think Collette is enjoying it the most. :)