Our First Visitors!

Last week we hosted our first visitors- my mom and Holden!! When my mom first talked about coming down to visit us after we moved, she figured she'd need to bring Holden since she watches him four days a week. I of course had no problem with this, and my sister, while sad to be without her sweet boy, was okay with a week to not be woken by a baby and to have some down time.

We headed to the airport after church almost two weeks ago to pick them up. Luke had rearranged the van so that Holden would be rear facing in Noelle's car seat, and we put her in the booster seat for the week. I was so excited to see them, and sat between Holden and Jonah in the backseat for the drive to our house. Holden held my finger, and I fed the boys raisins and M&Ms. :) That evening we ordered pizza, made a bunch of appetizers, and "watched" the Superbowl!

The week was fun being able to show my mom around Spring Hill, and see some of our "usual places". Aka Target, the library, our favorite playground, and the mall. Target we've been to a million times and the mall maybe three times, but still, they are our go-tos! We also tried a local restaurant that multiple people have mentioned called The Mockingbird. It was delicious, but the menu is pretty limited and kind of pricey. But still fun to try with my mom and 4 kids (ha!) I also took her to try a new coffee shop in town called The Fainting Goat. The drinks were yummy, and the kids enjoyed the cookies that were bigger than their heads.

Most days we kind of played things by ear and gave the babies naps as we could. Clara even napped for about two hours one morning. A complete miracle! Holden was on East Coast time the whole trip and was almost always up in the 5:00 hour. Thankfully my mom is an early riser, and I was usually up around then to workout.

Holden, Noelle, and Jonah jumped right back in to their love/hate relationships. Holden tackled Jonah as often as he could and Jonah showed Holden the joys of jumping off the nursing chair onto the cushion. The two of them would run circles around the kitchen island, and Jonah was well-aware that he was the "winner." If Clara was sitting on the floor, Holden would come over and lean on her in a giant hug. And one time he sat in her lap. Oh Holdy! When Noelle was sitting in the chair at the table, Holden would go over to her and lay his head on her and squeeze her as tight as he could. That boy is one big lover!

adventuring to Pet Smart after Bed Bath and Beyond for new towels!

Noelle's school also ended up closing for two of the days because the flu was so bad. When she went back to school on Friday of that week, only four kindergartners were there out of 13. (Thankfully this week it seems like things are back to normal!) It was nice having her along for some of our mundane adventures, giving her more time with my mom and Holden. Friday was calling for some amazing weather- 60s and sunny. We headed to the Nashville Zoo to use our membership for the first time!

Jonah observing a kangaroo

Thanks to me not being very organized, it took us a little while to get in to the zoo, but once we were in, we wandered around showing the kids the animals and pushing our two strollers around. We stopped for a picnic lunch, and then explored for a little bit longer before the two babies were starting to get super fussy. We headed back home, and picked up Noelle on our way.

The sadness crept in after we dropped them off at the airport on Saturday. The reality of not watching Holden grow up and seeing my mom whenever I want is tough. Thankfully everyone is coming down in June and I'm holding on to that!

More pictures of our fun!

show me your teeth

show me your funny face!

always cranky jonah

figured out we have matching onsies!