Cousins!

We have been spoiled with lots of fun family time lately! After a wonderful visit with my sister last week, we sadly said our goodbyes to her on Thursday morning. We packed in a lot of fun with her while she was here though--the pool & splash pad, Bear Cub Club, swim lessons, hair cut, Monkey Joe's, Blow Fly Inn, & TatoNut! Yum Yum!

Then on Friday morning, we loaded up the car & headed up to Birmingham to meet our sweet new nephew! Traveling with 2 little ones & a baby is an adventure to say the least, but we're so thankful we were able to make this trip even though it wasn't easy! This trip marked our first road trip with Shelby in "underpants" {as she likes to call them thanks to Elmo!}, and she did AMAZING! We were very proud of her! She had no issues whatsoever!

Baby Leland is just so sweet! Meeting Leland this weekend was a stark reminder that the newborn days are long gone for Miss Hadley. In so many ways, it feels like we just added her to our family; but after seeing her & Leland together, it made it very apparent she is no longer a newborn! Those newborn days, while exhausting, are just so sweet. I miss the days of Hadley sleeping on our chests. It's hard to believe the newborn phase is behind us!

Shelby & her beloved sunglasses. The second we set foot outside these days,
Shelby immediately starts asking for her sunglasses if she doesn't already have
them in hand telling me "It's so bright, Mommy! I need my glasses!" ;)

These sweet cousins just had the BEST time playing together this weekend! Shelby has never played with another child as well as she did with Elly. They shared so well, took turns, and had cute little 2 year old conversations together. It was just so sweet to see them interact with one another! My heart was a bit heavy on the drive back to Biloxi on Sunday thinking about their little relationship. If we lived closer, I have no doubt those two would be the best of friends and getting into all kinds of trouble together! Although I love our Air Force life, living away from family never gets easier.

For whatever reason, these girlies thought it was so fun to play in the ottoman!

Shelby & Elly loved taking turns pushing each other around in the Cozy Coupe!

Jumping on Uncle Lucas & Aunt Maleah's bed!

These girls both love pudding!

Fun in the pool!

I wish I could have captured the look of pure joy on Shelby's face when she first realized
we had put Hadley in the swing. She made a bee line from the pool to see her sister swinging!
Shelby is always asking when Hadley will be "big enough" to do x. y, or z. So this was SO
exciting for Shelby to see that Hadley was big enough to swing now!

Notice me in the background of this picture & the previous one?
Helicopter mom, anyone? ;)

Uncle Lucas was showing Shelby how to blow across the beer bottle
& make sounds...Shelby was loving it!

Words cannot express how much I adore these next two photos of Shelby & Elly!

Apparently the swing was pretty relaxing for Hadley ;)

BooBoo with her 4 precious grandbabies!

I love this one of Aunt Maleah & Baby Hadley!

What a wonderful weekend we had with Aunt Maleah, Uncle Lucas, BooBoo, Cousin Elly, & sweet Baby Leland! We can't wait until next time!!