May Fun with the Bauerles

Who came to visit on a beautiful weekend in May? Yes, cousin E and his mama and daddy (and the newest little cousin in Aunt Em's belly, of course)!

The kids eagerly anticipated Aunt Emily, Uncle James, and Elias's visit, and they had lots of fun with them. The highlight of the weekend was water play: Jeremy got out the slip-'n'-slide, and we soaked the back yard for hours as the kids ran, slide, poured buckets, and got creative with their fun.

Elias wasn't too sure about the slip'n'slide initially, but he ended up having a blast. He kept pretending to fall over and then would laugh and laugh: "E fall down!"

Sunday morning we got flood irrigation; I think E was overwhelmed with all that water! He stared at it stunned for a while. But he ended up joining the others in running around, and he and Josiah spent quite some time chasing each other across the yard, splashing through that wonderful irrigation water.

Josiah washing the roof of the little fort

E's pants were a little too big for him, so he went with the old-man style

Clara was pleased with all the attention!

 

Abby got cold and wanted to be bundled up

Clara loved Uncle James' beard!

We're looking forward to a repeat visit after the new cousin arrives! We need more little ones underfoot. :)

Back to December: Christmas in Flagstaff (Part 2)

I promise I'll finish the December pictures before January is over. For those interested, here's the rest of our Christmas day, documented in photos:

Silly girls sweeping and watching the dogs through the glass door (the only way Abby will be near them)

Opening presents!

Neuerles, newly returned to Flagstaff

Josiah was thrilled about the Christmas sprinkling of snow! He tiptoed out barefoot to touch it . . .

. . . and ran back excited to discuss it with everyone!

Uncle D gave the girls flashing rings--fascinating!

Abby and her ring

Kezzie opens a present

Lydia and Auntie Em

Our three eager about their presents

Uncle D and Kezzie

Aunt Anna and Abby

Anna and Justin got the girls angel/fairy wings--which nicely complemented Abby's white dress :)

Josiah loved opening presents this year

He was thrilled with the Curious George book we gave him!

Kezia and her dolly

Emily and smiley Elias

iPhone time!

After the initial hubub, the kids took a break to play in the dusting of snow. They even managed to scrape enough together (with help from Daddy) to make a few snowballs!

Abby

Lydia

Josiah can hardly bear to be without a stick when outdoors

Abby tastes snow

Lydia looks lost

Abby plans to throw a snowball at Mama

Lydia follows suit

We asked James to take a family picture--and ended up with some good ones (despite uncooperative kids)--thanks, James!

Aunt Anna with angel-monster Elias

Kezzie got excited about her new toys!

I have a few more pictures from our time in Flagstaff that I'll put in another post. Stay tuned!

Back to December: Christmas in Flagstaff! (Part 1)

Well, here we are nearly a month later, and I'm finally posting Christmas photos . . .

We were thrilled to have Emily, James, and Elias back in Flagstaff just in time for Christmas--so the five little cousins were all together for the first time! (We had seen Elias and Kezia separately, of course.)

Newly one-year-old Elias with his daddy

Emily, Kezzie, and Anna

Lydia loved the riding toy in the neighbors' yard

The guys decided to use the coat hanger for the kids' stockings--it worked well!

Elias

The adults' stockings

Kezia

Uncle Justin and Elias

Auntie Em and Kezzie

We took a bunch of pictures of the five grandkids in hopes that a few would turn out alright. I like the documentation of Kezzie's getaway attempt in the following ones . . .

After a reset, we tried a few more: 

Josiah was ready to break into the stockings

 

Sultan and Josiah

 

Kezia checks out her stocking

Abby excited about the contents

Lydia

Tired little family on Christmas day . . . Kezzie had kept Anna up most of the night, and Justin was sick

Elias got slippers

Exciting stocking stuffers--sucker and silly string!

This pretty much sums it up :)

Uncle D and Lauren

Uncle Jer and Elias

Silly posers in their Christmas dresses (Lydia in red, Abby in white)