Cousins Weekend 2008-Day 1

Well, here we are...Cousins Weekend 2008!! A little history on how it came to be: Heath and I stole an idea (thanks Alicia) a couple of years ago that seemed like it would be successful for our niece and nephew birthdays. Kassi was turning 6 and Brayden was turning 4! In years past we had added to the pile of gifts they received, but wanted to switch it up and spend some time with them to celebrate. We gave them gift certificates to pick out their favorite restaurant, favorite activity and to do a slumber party with us!! We did both kids and had a blast! They seemed to really enjoy it too! As Alicia grew a bit older and Kylee and Brevin were added to the mix, we quickly realized that this could get expensive!! So in the interim year we donated money for each of them to the Children's hospital and now this year we decided to start the tradition of Cousins Weekend! This is a 2 night deal that all of the cousins get to come to our place, we have fun food, fun activities planned and most importantly take time off to strictly have fun with them! I am not going to lie, we have been a bit nervous about having 5 of them at once, energy levels, discipline, sleep...but I am here to say we have survived Day 1.

We found out Kylee was not going to make it this year as she had a 103 fever. :( We hope that she gets feeling better soon!! Heath picked up the other 3 at 6:30 in Maple Grove while Brevin and I "patiently" waited at home. We greeted each other with screams, laughter and excitement. We got them all settled in their "camp" and then started our first activity...making Tie-Dye T-Shirts!!! This was a hoot! They sprayed water, dye and created their own "look." We will see the finished products tomorrow morning after we wash and iron on some fun stuff! Then we had root beer floats, played and got jammies on. All kids were in bed by 8:30, but there is so much fun to be had with flashlights, a tent and each other. After 8 potty breaks for Brevin, some no hitting discussions and a lot of laughter at 10:00 I broke out the mom voice and said, "It is now quiet time, if we don't get sleep we won't be able to..." Oh man, I felt so weird saying that!! All is quiet which means we better go get some rest!