A Sweet Memorial Day Reunion

We kicked off a drizzly Memorial Day with an Orangetheory workout for me and a “Murph” Crossfit workout for Jamie followed by a quick family walk before we shifted gears. We had a load of people to feed that evening at our home, and I was busting at the seams with excitement!

Most of you know that my sister Jennifer and her family are currently in year #2 of being stationed in Germany with the Army,  and on Monday she and my niece and nephew flew across the pond for a two-week visit! We wish so badly that my brother-in-law could have joined them, but he’ll be away training which meant she had the perfect window to come home and introduce her son to the rest of us who hadn’t met him yet (my parents and her FIL went over a few months ago).

Her in-laws kindly picked them up at the airport, and Jenn arranged to have them bring her over to my house where my parents and grandmother would be here waiting for her. Jamie and I planned to have a big BBQ for everyone, so we were just plain excited to have everyone together in anticipation of their arrival! You should have seen us all; We scarfed down food and waited on the front porch for what seemed like forever until we saw her in-law’s SUV come rolling around the corner.

I heard Luke (four months old) crying in his car seat, and I teared up as I opened the door and scooped him up to meet him for the first time. He is so perfect!

It was my niece Carly’s 2nd birthday the day prior (they celebrated at Disneyland Paris the day prior – rough life, lemme tell ya!), so my mom and I put together a little party for her.

My mom got the prettiest, most delicious cake from Edgar’s in Huntsville, and it was a huge hit!

Isn’t she precious? She did so good being the center attention around a ton of adult who all just wanted to get their hands on her!

We FaceTime with Jenn and the kids about once a week, so Hadley and Sadie are very much aware of who they are even though we don’t see them in person much. They were so thrilled to see their cousins (the only two they have!) as well as their Tante (Aunt) Jenn.

We all figured that Jenn and the kids would be a wreck considering our BBQ and birthday party were around 1 a.m. German time, but they totally rocked it without as much as a fuss. Jenn said that being at our house that late in the evening actually helped tremendously with the time change for everyone! Win.

My parents and Jenn’s in-laws spent a good amount of time outside with the kids on the swing set enjoying what ended up being a beautiful night in between storms.

I snapped this picture of my parents just knowing they were in Heaven playing with all four of their grand babies together for the first time.

Jamie and I both agree that some of our favorite childhood memories took place with our cousins, so I’m excited to hopefully watch a very special bond continue to grow between my girls and Jenn’s kids. Hadley has been making Luke smile up a storm the last couple of days, and it makes me so happy.

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and are powering through this short work week! xo

Let’s chat!

Did you have a special relationship with your cousins growing up? Do your kids see their cousins much?