When the twins were a week old exactly
MY OLDER SISTER CAME TO VISIT!!!!!!!
Let me explain a few things about my sister......
-she has 11 kids
-is 6 years older then me but has always had more energy for kids then I've ever had
-is NOT overwhelmed by noise, groups, going in public WITH said groups and driving large vehicles
-she's an amazing cook
-a bigger heart then a whole country of people combined
-and an Energizer bunny in the cooking and cleaning department.
Yes, I knew those were her credentials, but I had NO idea how true they were.
RIGHT when she got here she definitely made quite a few fans by pulling out a huge water balloon sling shot for my kids.
Here she is in the yellow (Curious George) shirt filling up balloons.
While the boys were slinging them AT her.
I was actually very surprised how quick my kids warmed up to her. Especially little Everly....which was my GREATEST hope. I NEEDED someone to take over Everly for a week. My healing body needed it. haha
Aunt Wa (Sarah) came during the last three days of the kids' school (half days). And bless her heart, she was sleeping on the couch, in the middle of the room where we would come and read at 6a.m. (which was 4 a.m. her time). Not only did she pop right up, but she immediately volunteered to do my girls' hair.
She puts me to SHAME!!! (in a good way) I can't braid or do anything fancy (WHY I have 6 girls is beyond me!). Here are some of the hair styles she sent my girls to school with.
I'm sure the teachers at school are thinking, "WOW, most moms burn out by the end of the school year, but Mrs. Smith just had twins and NOW starts doing her girls' hair finally!"
Most helpful thing ever.... after the kids went to school, she would make me take a nap with the twins and take these three yahoos places, like McDonalds, Chick Fil-a, the park (until it got too hot and humid for her and then to an indoor play area), Walmart, Aldi or wherever she felt.
Here they are at Aldi, grocery shopping.....to buy food to make ALL the dinners for the week and FREEZE quite a few others! #amazing
Walmart before she pinched one of the kids' fingers in the wheels. (she did Kellyn's hair like "Minnie Mouse" that day and she LOVED it)
Burger King.....outside......surprised I don't see beads of sweat running down Sarah's face! The humidity did a number on her but she never complained.
When she took them to McDonalds she either told Royce or just allowed him (?) to grab a food tray and slide down the slide while sitting on that. He would ZOOM down the slide I guess and he thought she was SO cool for that. And keeps talking about it.
I'm in LOVE with this candid picture she caught of my kids at Chick Fil-A.
The park
Royce is OBSESSED with cars. While driving around Royce saw this with a bunch of big burly men (of another ethnicity) detailing it. Sarah walks right up to them and asks if her nephew can have his picture taken in it. HAHAHA. That woman has ZERO fear of people and he got this dream-come-true picture because of it.
My kids seriously loved Aunt Wa.
When she wasn't TAKING them places she would pull magic things out of her gigantic suitcase..... like tea sets....
or rubber hands to smack your brother with.....
Or aprons to decorate.....
I DID however sneak her away sometimes so we could have some "seester bonding time"..... with the twins along.
I took her to Downtown Greenville which is one of my very favorite places ever.
She was in awe of how cute it was with all the lights in the trees.....that didn't show up in this picture.
and the big tree with all of its exposed roots!
She loved the waterfalls and green garden areas to walk through too.
This is us in front of the waterfall....that we are covering. And as unflattering as this picture is, it will probably be one of my favorites and make me laugh. The reason why is there was a group of 5 young older teens there that she asked to take the picture.
Then after she offered to take a picture of THEM with their phones. Now what I didn't mention was that these were 5 African-American people and where she is from there aren't many living there. So while she took a picture with their phone she sneakily was taking some with HER phone too so she could go home and show her kids. haha
(actually she was taking pictures of EVERYTHING to show her kids. She had her phone on video as she was DRIVING to capture the area, and everyone's random homes and fields, etc. She cracked me up. She even video-taped my friend SPEAKING because she loved her southern accent)
We ate downtown at this Yogurt place too.
We got looks wherever we went holding the two babies.
It was my first time wearing my necklace Brooks gave me for Mother's Day too. I love it. It has all the birth stones of my kids in order!
I mentioned Sarah taking pictures of random people and places and trees but she ALSO took pictures of bugs.... namely, this firefly she just smooshed but was still glowing.
She probably took the MOST pictures of the twins though! I love these pictures she captures of them in their 1st and 2nd week of life.
This is ILEY.
After eating
Sarah brought out the best in my girls. They showed so much love to them and they felt it and responded so well and behaved the best when she was here. I was grateful she reminded me that love and kindness brings out the best in everyone.
A also took her out for a quick lunch date for a few of my favorite eats.
Lettuce wraps from PF Changs.
Then to Cheddar's for a Cookie Monster Dessert.
Despite the humidity she would take my (homeless-looking) kids on walks for a looooong time.... They were on bikes and she would run with the stroller to keep up. I wish I had that video-taped.
Sarah was also so proud of herself for introducing my girls to taking a bath in the sink. She couldn't BELIEVE I hadn't done it yet and kept trying to tell me how easy it was and wonderful, etc.
Until......
She saw this spider-web looking stuff everywhere in the in water and the counters that was sticky and couldn't figure out what it was. Everly had grabbed the liquid bandaids up on the window sill, opened it and had a hay-day with it.
Yes, I would rather fill up the bath, close the shower doors and watch them behind a barrier. As cute as they are in the sink, I think I will stick with my method.
Here she is taking the kids to go frog catching. I haven't taken them all season long because I was huge and couldn't STAND the thought of walking. This even after my sister HATES frogs....still being traumatized when our brothers loaded our hotel room with frogs while in Hawaii when we were younger.
They caught somewhere in the teens I think. 15?
Those are MY girls!
Emerson caught the most....9.
We missed Aunt Wa the SECOND she stepped into the airport
I was all teary-eyed and crying on the way home.
That week was just too wonderful, helpful, fun and easy!....well, for ME anyway.
These two girls didn't know how LUCKY they were for six days of their newborn lives to enjoy the never-ending love of their Aunt Wa.
