Last cousin days

The Elliotts got to come for dinner one night during their visit and got to see our new home. Ashley spent the night that night, something she and Abby Jane had been talking about for a calendar year. Clearly Abby Jane is not as excited for the photo as she was for the slumber party.

Ashley doesn't have all these girls to dress up with and have morning tea parties with in her house of brothers, and all the girls ate up their time together!

A short time later, we all descended on Grammy's house to end the summer of cousins with a bang. The same group of the usual suspects are dancing in a parade here. They spent the majority of their time at Grammy's with some form of dress-up on.

Another thing that is usually happening is a dog-pile of kids that are drawn to an adult with a book like bugs to a zapper. Aunt Susan and Grammy are the two most popular readers, but really anyone will do. The older kids sometimes feel like being the reader, and then their pop-star status skyrockets even further.

This is about the time Abby Jane started her now-thick monkey bar callouses. Please don't fault me for style points here. We bought the girl running shoes in the summer because she needed some better hiking kicks... and she started wearing them with everything. Bonus points for her being able to tie her own shoes at least!

Maggie and Blythe are very big buds. They like the same pace, have the same passions, and they find peace together when things get crazy.

Some of the crazy.

While Maggie and Blythe are big buds, Maggie and Joy actually look like twins.

The original Pied Piper reader.

Dock life. Fishing, paddle board coming into view, coffee drinking in 90 degree weather... summer in the south at Grammy's.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Now. I take particular pride in my girl being the first cousin to haul in a fish. Of course it is clear that Jake got the fishing bug going amongst the kids. But I was quite the avid fisherlady when I was Abby Jane's age, and at the time planned to grow up and open a bait and tackle shop called "Fishers of Men." (I only admit that on the blog because I don't think anyone reads it anymore since I'm six months overdue.) There is a story about Greg wanting to come see what all the fun was about when my dad and I were going fishing one time. He wasn't getting a bite, and I was getting fish after fish.Since he is so competitive inquisitive, he asked if we could switch fishing spots. So we did, and I kept catching and he kept not catching. He didn't bother coming fishing with us again. So you could say I was a little overly excited when my girl caught her first fish entirely on her own.

I love how her smile goes from face-breaking to forced when she actually holds it off the hook. Classic.

Here are Ian and Katie hanging out on their boards. This was Ian's first summer to have total independence on a board in Grammy's lake, and he did a great job.

The Elliotts left to return to Manila just a few days later. We love our precious family, and we miss the Elliotts!!! Thankful for Skype, but love getting to do with with all of y'all. Already looking forward to this summer!