Cousin Swap

On Saturday -- while I was torturing myself with a solo 9 mile run -- Scott took the kids and drove to our halfway meet up point to trade children with his sister Kristin.  Ethan and Hannah were born just two days apart, and for most of their lives have been completely and totally outnumbered in their families.  Hannah has 5 brothers, and Ethan -- up until a couple of years ago -- had only sisters.  And while ALL the kids and their cousins get along REALLY well, Ethan most definitely revels in the brotherhood of being with all the boys and Hannah, in turn, enjoys the girl power of hanging with Grace and co.  

This summer we decided that a cousin swap was in order before everyone had to go back to school.  Tomorrow we'll meet up again to exchange children, but I definitely smell a new tradition brewing.  Hahaha.  The last few days have been non-stop fun for the girls {well -- minus Jane who has been excluded at almost every turn}, as I've let them do pretty much whatever they want.  As a result, there have been lots of late nights, lots of movies, lots of Wii, lots of candy, and -- my favorite part -- lots of creative and imaginative play.  {The basement has been transformed into their "house" and "garage."}  We'll all be sad to see Hannah go tomorrow, but it will be nice to get Ethan back home and have all my chickadees back under my wings.  I've been surprised at how much his absence has been felt even though there are still 5 kids under the roof!  Hahaha.  I'm sure he's had a blast with the boys, though, and I'm happy for his sake that we live close enough to the cousins to do a swap.  :)

In closing, I leave you with some pictures of the girls.  And no -- Grace still can't take a normal picture to save her life.  These are the poses I got when I asked her to stand next to Hannah to see who was taller.

 {She REALLY wanted to get a good fake nose pick in the pic.  Hahahaha.}

Oh Grace.  Such a clown.

Until next time!