A traveling we go...

This weekend, I had a wedding to shoot in Wichita, so we extended the weekend a little and Miss Anni came along for some extra bonding time with her grandma and the rest of my family.  I took my first plane ride when I was in my mid-twenties, on my way to walk across the country.  Anni; however, has already flown multiple times... at only 21 months.  This was actually our best flight yet.  She ate apple sauce (three tubes of it), cheesy crackers and homemade granola bars all while checking out other passengers and singing Baa Baa Black Sheep in every possible form (moo, moo brown cow anyone?).  While we miss Daddy a lot, it's always wonderful to see my family.  We drove straight from the airport to my sister, Katie's, and spent the rest of that first day watching them on and off as my mom and sister ran errands, picked up the oldest from school and headed out for evening meetings. 

Anni actually had a lot of fun and when she saw one of her triplets, Jimmy, her face lit up and she shouted, "HI!  HI!"  I'm not sure she's quite as excited about him as he's spent most of the weekend beating her up, but she's still loving snuggles with her girl cousins and following her oldest cousin, Charlie, around as much as possible.  (She asks for "Tayee!" all the time, even in the middle of the night the other night.)  She also finally go to satisfy her requests for "Aunt Tinie," though connecting faces with the voices she hears on the phone gets a little confusing for her each time.  The night after the wedding, Miss Anni woke up almost as soon as my head hit the pillow... and stayed up, telling me about diapers, Tayee and Mr. Sun and kicking me in the face when I attempted to bring her to my bed to get both of us some sleep.  After three or so hours, we went through her bedtime routine again and she fell right asleep.  I did start sleeping in a different room; though, just in case it was me rolling around nearby that woke her up.  She woke up again the next night, but this time I was prepared and after some comfort, a little snack and her night time routine, she happily snuggled down to sleep.  I think my poor brother is ready to move out after all the interruptions of his sleep, though.  Good thing he loves us!

My sister hosted a cookie decorating party and all the littles gathered around a table and coated their cookies in frosting, crushed andes mint chocolates, sprinkles galore and a few well placed red hots.  Well, Anni mostly just ate cookies, though her cousin Lizzy was the best!  She would decorate it, lick all the decorations off... and repeat :).  Anni was a little overwhelmed by her cousins, but she loves watching them, even when she gets a little tired and cranky.

The weather turned cold and my niece started to get sick, so the next couple of days were a little laid back.  We had Sunday dinner with everyone healthy and listened to all my brother has learned on his new violin (he's had three lessons and is picking it up so fast!).

We celebrated my (other) brother's acceptance into grad school, and he and  I stayed up late watching Office re-runs while I worked on my hubby's Valentine's Day gift.  We finished out our trip by tromping through a dusting of snow and ice to visit my sister's classroom where I embarrassed myself singing Oh, Mr Sun (the request was for Baa Baa, Black Sheep... I politely demurred... did I mention these were 7th graders?).   

It was good, really good.  I miss them already, but was grateful to get home to my beloved and our little apartment. 

Oh!  Happy St. Valentine's Day.  Or Cyril and Methodius Day.  Or Single Awareness Day.  Happy whatever you want to celebrate today, just be happy!  We're celebrating by lighting up my thyroid and seeing what happens :).