new songs, new friends

Hey friends and family,

Welcome to the short version of the blog today since I just finished work at 12:30 AM and have a 7:00 AM meeting.

One of the side benefits of being around Oma is that she has a lifetime of songs in her head. Out of nowhere she starts singing, "When Sammy Put the Paper on the Wall". My mom is the same way and I have great memories of her singing little tunes all day. I thought Oma was making it up so I Googled the lyrics. Sure enough, it really is a kids song! After the second round of singing it, Layla and Easton jumped in with their own rendition of the new song. Easton is still finding his confidence in singing, but he's got great tone and memory. Layla belted it out like the star spangled banner at a baseball game making up her own lyrics after a while. Good times...

Layla and Easton's local best friend is Isabella and I'm really happy they were able to hang out with her more this trip. Here's Isa sharing her cool tricycle with Layla.


And here they are sharing a cool pop-up chair complete with overhead cabana.


You might be thinking, "where's Easton?" Well, he is usually off doing his own thing in the dirt or playing with other toys. He welcomes the alone time and for someone else to keep Layla occupied for a while. Easton values his personal space and occasionally gets to operate with no one (Layla) crowding it. This is a true win-win situation. Easton doesn't even need to do anything outstanding or outrageous. He just likes to explore on his own sometimes and we're all OK with that.

The big event of the weekend was the cousin's birthday party. unfortunately I didn't bring the camera so I'm hoping Coleen will send me a few pics (pretty please)? The twins loved singing happy birthday, eating cake and ice cream, and even swimming in the oversized pool. Kendra and I had fun watching the twins interact with their cousins and they were excited to be a part of the family. It's great to see some older kids genuinely interested in Easton and Layla and treating them like family.

We're looking forward to getting back in contact with our AZ family and friends! Jason and April are finished moving so it's all clear for us to return home. I'm just kidding... Their move just happened to coincide with our trip out of town and I'm sure there is plenty of work to be done and ways we can help them when we return.

Scott and Marisue are expecting the twin boys in about a month. We are almost as excited for the birth as they are. I can't describe how odd it is to see them at this stage of forming the family with twins. Now that Kendra and I are 2.5 years ahead of them, we are having fun reliving our moments through watching their journey.

See you soon!