Fun with the Family

I had so much fun with the French family last week! It was hard saying goodbye to this sweet little face on Saturday but hopefully he and Stacey will be down for a visit soon.

Stacey, Jason, and Reid

Sisters! And Reid making it impossible to get a picture of the the ATM on his onesie and booties. We had such a great visit together but I was still happy to get home and see my boys' smiling faces.

I think Daddy has been a little lonely on the other side of the ocean because he's been calling more than any other time in our lives. We passed the computer around Saturday evening so he could talk to everyone in turn. Skype makes it so easy to keep in touch!

On Sunday Grandma and I took the boys to see Toy Story 3. Alex laughed at how the chair folded up on him but I didn't think it would be funny for over an hour and a half so he sat in a booster and enjoyed the movie. Ben liked it as well but was concerned the entire time that some of the toys left the others. Grandma and I loved it and had some good laughs.

A little more exciting was finger-painting turned naked-full-body-painting in the backyard. And apparently painted naked boys need to run in circles in the driveway.

Alex wasn't thrilled to share in Ben's body paint and cried for me to wipe him off.

Instead we just dunked the boys in the little splash pool and let them sort it all out.

Monday was Alex's true birthday and we celebrated all day. We opened presents while Aunt Amanda was visiting and watched the boys go crazy over the new toys.

The big birthday dinner was at Chili's with all the grandparents lavishing attention on the birthday boy and his brother. Both kids were very aware of all the loving adults around and were in top form.

Alex LOVED it when the servers came by to sing happy birthday. He sang along, danced, and clapped the entire time. Then he noticed the brownie and ice cream and didn't mind so much that the song had ended!

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Here's a special message from Ben to Daddy...

We all miss Matt every day and wish he could be here with us. Visiting during the summer has been tons better than all our previous Christmas visits because everyone doesn't have crazy schedules already. It's been laid-back and relaxing, which is completely the opposite of our holiday visits which are usually packed and completely busy. Plus, it doesn't hurt that we've missed one of Perth's longest cold streaks while we're enjoying the long summer days here.