Texas With Angela

I love my sister Angela. We talk on the phone almost daily. We tell each other details of our lives that nobody else wants to hear (you know, the parts that involve children's bodily functions and fluids or total failures on our parts, etc.). So getting to be in Texas at the same time as her was a great perk. But it was also great because Angela's younger children correspond in age to my children. My Asher and her Jesse are, in fact, less than 10 days apart from each other age-wise. My Naomi and her Haley are less than a month apart from each other, age-wise. And now my Sammy and her Betsy are less than six months apart from each other age-wise. It's great. Haley and Naomi are the only ones who have really bonded, so far. But the strength of their bond makes up for the fact that so far all Jesse and Asher do is antagonize each other. I think that in the 10 days Haley and Naomi were together, they were only apart when forced.

Here they are swimming in my Uncle Bill's pool:
And here they are showing off their professional manicures that Grandma took them to get:
Really, this group of "little's" got along very, very well. Here they are out in front getting ready for a bike riding party (despite the near-100-degree temperature).
And here is Angela with her sweet Betsy.
One day we took the kids to an indoor "amusement park". The rides were insanely small, but they managed to have fun anyway. But really, would you call this a "roller coaster"?
(Above: Naomi and Haley in the first car, Isaiah, Jesse and Asher in the second, and Levi in the back with his hands up)
Here's my mother and Angela enjoying some chit-chat as the kids ride bikes and run around in the front yard. The thing about my family is, we really enjoy being together.
My Dad always says that his favorite place to sit is anywhere with his grandkids on his lap. So here he is being happily (or maybe slightly begrudgingly) sat upon by three gandkids.
The stars of the show were Itsy Bitsy Betsy and Sweet Sammy:
Everybody wanted a turn holding these two.
The time was a blur, in a good way. 10 kids in the house made for some definitely intense moments. The best parts were the craziest moments and the calmest. Angela and I didn't get nearly enough time to just be together. But some day we'll have that time to just sit around, and all we'll do is reminisce about the times like this and wish we had babies to cuddle and teenagers to coax and big dinners to fix.