Nephew Time

For the last many months, Jason and I have been talking with Matt and Kim about doing a baby-sitting weekend for one another so that each couple could have a getaway vacation. Ah, the joys of living close to family! We figured this kid swap would be much easier to do before Baby Girl Schleicher makes her appearance into the world. So, Matt and Kim took their vacation after Thanksgiving, and Jason and I are planning a "baby-moon" vacation for right after Christmas (hooray!!).  

Jason and I enjoyed the extended weekend with our three wonderful nephews (although afterwards we did say that we're glad we aren't adding triplets to our family in the spring!). We kept these five active and silly boys busy during our time together. At one point during the weekend, Jason had the boys decorate this sign for Matt and Kim out of Cheerios.

The boys sat down to build Legos a few times. Jason devised this creative means to keep all the pieces of the various Lego sets separate.

Even little Nathan participated in the block building. :)

Other activities that we did included reading stories (I love how all these boys enjoy books!)....

baking, decorating, and EATING cookies (yum!!),

playing lots of games (Uno was among the most popular),

and quite a bit of outdoor playtime.

One night, we rented a movie for the boys to watch. Before showtime, Jason led the boys on a scavenger hunt...

...to find the final prize of toppings for ice cream sundaes that the boys enjoyed during the movie.

On our last evening together, we took the boys to an event called Holiday Wonderland at a nearby park. We met Jon, Chelsea, Isaiah, and some of Chelsea's family visiting from Washington there too. It turns out that this event wasn't the most organized. I'm not sure the event planners expected all the crowds of people that arrived, so there wasn't nearly enough for that many people to do. Still, it was nice to have something different to do as a change of pace. Plus, the event was free, so we can't complain too much! After arriving, we first visited this petting zoo/corral. The poor animals seemed a bit overwhelmed and were practically running away from all the kids.

Because this donkey paused to eat, we at least got to pet him!

This next activity will make all you northerners laugh. We sure got a kick out of it! See these crowds?? Everyone is standing in two super long lines waiting to play on a patch of snow.

Yep, that's right. This is how Texas kids experience snow. The event planners dumped this snow in two large squares, blocked it off with rope, and gave groups of kids 5 minute intervals to play on it.

Before the boys had their turn, Jason and I took bets on how many of the boys would walk away from the snow crying. We tried to warn them that the snow was cold and very slippery and that they would most likely fall and get wet at some point. They all firmly stated that they still wanted a turn on the snow, and that they'd be just fine. Of course, the older ones all ran off to the other side right away, so I wasn't able to get very good pictures of them. Poor little Isaiah didn't make it far at all before he took his first tumble!

After that, he and Nathan played it safe. So funny! These Texan toddlers just don't know what to do with snow! :)

The other boys tried running on the snow (of course, despite our warnings), felt the snow, and tossed some at each other.

In the end, we guessed about right. Five of the six boys came off the snow at some point in tears because of getting wet, getting snow thrown at them, falling down, etc. Thankfully, once they got their laments off their chest, the boys all ran right back into the action. So, despite the tears, I do think they overall enjoyed their Texan-style snow experience.

After that, we stood in another line to see this fire engine.

The boys all climbed in the back seat first...

and then asked to climb into the driver's seat.

What fun to pretend to be a fireman!

Right away after climbing in, Ian found an applesauce pouch, picked it up, and asked the fireman, "What is this for??" The fireman grinned and simply said, "If someone gets hungry and wants a snack!" Nathan seemed to enjoy his chance to be a firefighter too. :)

Probably the boys' favorite activity of all had absolutely nothing to do with the event itself. They got a HUGE kick out of throwing all these pine needles into the air. Gotta love it.

We ended our outing with a picnic dinner at sunset.

It's so fun to see all six of these boy cousins growing up as such good friends. We are so thankful for our time together and for our proximity to family!