growing up family

A few weeks ago we got the chance to see some family we don't get to see very often. My cousin, her daughters and my aunt and uncle (who all live in Connecticut) came to Oklahoma for a visit! They weren't able to come all the way to Mustang so while they were in Enid visiting Great Gramma Anna we made the drive to them! 

There are two ways we can drive to Enid. The highway or the "back way" and today we took the back roads. As we pass through one of the small towns along the way there is a gas station that has a large green dinosaur posing out front! It's really cool! We've never stopped at it but this trip we were forced to stop for a bathroom break and so took the opportunity to take a picture with Mr. Dino! It's the little things in life.

My cousin, Amy, has two daughters. Her oldest is Arianna and I have had the chance to meet her before. But since I've last seen my cousin she has had a second little cutie named Ava. She is a doll! She actually smiled at me a lot while I held her but I could never seem to capture one of her grins on camera! It was like she knew as soon as the camera came out to give me a blank stare! She's sneaky!

The boys weren't too excited when mom asked them to take pictures with their cousins but they indulged me. You just can't miss these opportunities to mark time, especially when our kids rarely get the chance to be together.

Absolute sweetness.

Uncle B and Noah have a special relationship. They spend a majority of their time together just staring at each other blankly but than there are these sweet snapshots in time where they connect. It's never loud and often doesn't include words at all but they definitely share a moment. When they are apart Rae tells me that Noah asks for Uncle B and this summer when Noah stayed several nights at our house, Uncle B was the only one who could get him to fall asleep for naps. I don't know if these two are exactly alike or so opposite that they simply respect one another's personalities. Only time will tell.

Elia and Arianna.

Maddox and Noah CANNOT spend time together without wrestling!

Noah wore himself out. It was absolutely wonderful to have all these kiddos together, even for just one day, and to get to see my long distance family. I hope my kids remember these days forever.