A Happy Picture

Today, the girls and I went to go visit some friends of mine and their kids.  For one reason or another, nothing worth getting into, we haven't all been together in over a year.  It was a good visit, watching the girls play and braiding and brushing hair, talking with adults.

I had to get a picture of all the kids.  Once we had them all on the couch, it was worth noting that it wasn't a circus with all these kids in one place, believe it or not.



From left to right, we have:

• Some neighbor kid I don't know, but didn't have the heart to tell him to get out of the picture
• Skylar (11... I hope I got that right... these kids grow too fast)
• Isabelle  (5)
• Abby (5)
• Gabe (8)
• Alex  (14)
• Olivia  (6)
• Zoe  (3)

Only two boys in the whole group (if you don't count the neighbor kid LOL).  Abby and Isabelle are only 3 weeks apart age-wise and they used to play together as little babies.  Olivia has always called Gabe her boyfriend, but shhh - he has a girlfriend at school.  From what I was told, he was pretty excited about us coming over and he chastised me for it having been so long.   ;)  Hopefully it we'll get over there again in the next couple of weeks before Skylar and Alex fly back to Guam, where they usually live with their dad.

It was definitely good to get the girls out of the house, because they were very calm and good over there.  They've been terrors all day at home.  Well, Izzy has.  Olivia has been a major couch potato and Zoe's whiny.  

Alex was jealous of Olivia and Izzy's skirts... the ones I made from two pair of corduroys.  Maybe before they leave I can find a pair that fit her at a thrift shop and then make her one.  It won't be two-toned unless I can dye it.  We'll see... I need to do something crafty.

Now that I'm feeling better (thank you for all the comments - it made me feel a lot better) I'm in the mood to do some major cleaning.  Bill's sister and their father are stopping by here on their way to CT from CA in two weeks and this house is a wreck.  I might not have a ton of time to be all that crafty, but I will get seriously cranky if I do nothing but clean.  I'm not incredibly domestic, unfortunately.  Cooking, cleaning... not my favorite things by far.  It's time to crack down on chores around here so I'm not stuck with all of them, like I normally am.  And now that the girls aren't home all day long, the house shouldn't get quite so upside down like it has been all summer.