Short, But Sweet Visit

He’s young, he’s fun, he’s Unkie!  And he came to visit us and brought a special guest too, his girlfriend, Taylor.  To say the children were excited was an understatement.  They were on cloud nine, waiting in anticipation for days.
 
Alex left in the evening and trudged on through the night, driving the entire time. He arrived at our place at 8am and was able to spend a bit of time with Noelle and Max before they had to head to school.  Of course I made them a promise that I would pick them up early so they could spend extra time with their Unkie. Alex and Taylor were understandably exhausted and went to take a much needed nap while I kept Violette and Zane occupied. 

I picked up Noelle and Max at noon and we came home to grab our guests to take them out to lunch.  The kids chose Steak N’ Shake as their destination lunch.  How can you go wrong with shakes and burgers? After lunch we spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying our limited time with Alex and Taylor. 
Then it was time for Noelle’s music class performance.  We are extremely lucky to have a very engaging and talented teacher in our school.  The children put on an incredible performance each year and this year was special since Unkie was in town to come and Noelle had a small speaking part.  This year’s theme was Pirate songs and all the children dressed up.  It was an adorable performance!

There was a big moment of pride as she stood up there and conquered a huge stage freight fear and spoke her line clearly for everyone to hear.  There were tears and declarations of backing out, but we encouraged her and ignored the tears.  We suggested she practice so that she would be comfortable with her lines.  She refused at first and sank to a sulky proclamation of self deprecation.  Again, it was ignored and soon she was found practicing on her own, smiling in the mirror.  By the time Monday night rolled along, there was no talk of fear or nervousness, she was ready.  As she stood up there this proud mama smiled and even had a few tears enter my field of vision.

At home Unkie and Taylor helped with bedtime routines and enjoyed a large dose of very effective birth control!

We were sad to see them go Tuesday morning, as the visit was too short.  We were all very thankful they came and can’t wait for the next visit!