Cousin Swap and 4th of July

Where is the summer going???  Time is slipping away from me right now, and I'm equal parts dreading the end and anxiously awaiting the return to normalcy when we'll have schedule and routine and peace and quiet at home during the day once more!  But I guess that's pretty much par for the course with my extremist, paradoxical personality.  ;Hahaha.

Fire pit and s'mores at the cousins' house.

At this point, there's so much to recap (cousin swap, holidays, my New Orleans trip, painting projects, daily life, etc.) and so much MORE on the horizon (hello east coast road trip!), that I've just gotta get these posts up and running!

So, for tonight -- let's take it back a week or so and highlight the happenings from our annual cousin swap festivities.  Before my crew headed over to the cousins' house, we hosted Hannah and Jonah for a few days here where they made the most of their time together by filming a new music video, participating in an escape room thing-y, and making lots and lots of slime.

They were so ecstatic to inform me that they made it out with 3 seconds to spare!  And it was a room that had only a 51% escape rate.

Scott and I enjoyed a one-kid weekend while everyone was over in Indiana, and aside from naptime boycotts and sleep issues with Isaac -- and lots of angry text messages and face timing from Ethan and Grace because we let Alex and Jane go with them and ruin all their fun -- it was quite nice to have a little space to breathe and de-stress from the craziness of life with 6 kids.  Especially when it's summer time, they're home all day every day, and the ennui is starting to settle in.

By the time the 4th of July rolled around, we were ready to head over and take them home after spending the day with family.  The kids loved picnicking and swimming at the "marina" in their neighborhood and then finishing off the day with capture the flag and some sparklers.  

We headed home with tired but happy kids who had just enjoyed the best 5 days of their summer thus far.  ;)  And I headed home with the excitement of knowing that in two days' time I would be heading home to New Orleans to spend a long weekend with my mom and siblings to celebrate the return of my baby brother from his mission!  Stay tuned to hear all about THAT party.  Hahahaha.