Continuous Twirls and Incoming Teeth

Have you ever seen anything cuter in your whole life?? Just look at those faces! This past weekend, Brad and I had the chance to join my dad in a visit with my brother's family, up in Illinois. I can't even begin to describe how much we've both missed our precious niece and nephew!

Rachel is 2-years-old, and she's definitely all girl. She absolutely loves all things princess. She would be completely content to live out the rest of her life in a princess dress. "Please, I can wear my priddy dress?? Please take a picture! Please, I can see it?" She twirled around and around (holding the dress with one hand, just like all the princesses do in the movies), saying "CHEEEEEEEESE!!!" the whole time for the pictures, and clearly loved being delighted in. That worked out just fine for me; I could have taken a million pictures of her little shining personality, and shown her every single one right afterward...

Clinton is already 8 months old! He's completely chunky, crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on everything, and even has a couple teeth peeking out of his grin! When he's happy, his whole face lights up. In general, he's pretty content to occupy himself, steal his sister's toys, and explore every inch of the room. (Unless he's sleepy, hungry, or poopy. Then he cries, screams, and screeches. Sheesh. He is such a baby!)

We had good intentions of carving pumpkins, so we girls headed out to gather some for the crew. Sadly, the regular pumpkin farm burned down, so a trip to the nearest pumpkin patch would have required quite a drive out of town. However, luckily, Walmart was busy price-matching, and they had some ginormous pumpkins on sale for $1.98 each! Can't argue with that deal! So we loaded up our cart (literally) with a giant pumpkin per person, and then a few additional small ones just for good measure.

Well, a regular 2-day weekend is just too short for a sufficient visit with the fam, and we didn't get the chance to actually carve our jack-o-lanterns before Brad and I had to head back to Tennessee. But don't fear! We definitely used the photo op to our advantage! Look at these two little darlings posing in our own pumpkin patch!

Of course, Brad, Chester, and I had to take advantage of the family photo as well. Duh.

It was such a blessing to get to spend some leisurely time with my dad, TJ, Jennie, and the kids. Usually, when we're together, it's for a reason, and whatever that reason is, it takes up all our time. But, this weekend, we were able to just hang out, visit, eat delicious Jennie-cooked meals, and love on the little ones. We're definitely going to have to make a point to plan more Just Because Visits. At the rate Clinton is growing, we'll need to go back next weekend to witness is first steps!

Complete Photo Album From The Weekend