August Visitors

Last week was a crazy, fun week full of friends, late night conversations, and tussles over toys. We had three different families stay with us over the course of 7 days, and what I thought had the potential to be a somewhat hectic week, ended up being one of our most relaxed and memorable. 

First into town were the Harrisons, who stopped for a night on their way to Galveston.
Joe and Ben grew up together and before we moved to Houston, we lived just around the corner from each other. Well, technically we all grew up in the same town, but the guys were fishing buddies long before they met Lindsay or me. Their kids are the best and we love having them around. Kinley is so sweet and creative and Ty is just the most laid back little guy ever. He was so happy just to sit back (and eat) and watch the big kids play.

After getting over his initial confusion about all the new people in our house (see above expression of "excuse me, what are you doing on my couch?"), Isaac was very happy to have new playmates.

 Looking a lot like their daddies about 25 years ago.

I see lots of fishing trips for these two in the future.

Kinley wanted to include Isaac in all of her play. She called him her baby. I heard lots of things like "OK Isaac, it's time to go to sleep now." He doesn't totally get it yet, but followed her around quite a bit anyway.

The kids played together and just had the best time. We miss having them right down the street, but loved getting to spend time with them.

The next day, Anna and the kiddos rolled into town.
The boys were right back to their usual tricks just playing along side each other. It's amazing how the 12 months that separates them seems like a smaller and smaller gap every time we get together.

Teamwork

Just a glimpse at how much these two have grown from April 2011 to now.

Showing off their matching t-shirts from Bibi.

Luke is tender, smart, exploratory, and compassionate - a true gentle giant and a great friend to Isaac. I know that he really looks up to Luke (and because of the drastic difference in physical makeup will always have to look up to him).

Isaac thought that everything Luke did was hilarious (like wearing Uncle Joe's boots). The boys got along great save for one biting incident (by Isaac) and several hitting incidents (also by Isaac). 

I thought that, in Isaac's 17 month-old eyes, the twins being 12 weeks old and not really doing much physically would mean that he would stop by for the occasional check-in and be on his toddling ways. But no! He was obsessed with them. Every other word out of his mouth was "bay-beeeeeees!" Or, if they weren't in the room "bay-beeeeees???" He'd sit as close as I'd allow and label all of their body parts, laugh at them, and then talk to everyone else about what they were doing.

She has toes!

I'll touch my toes to her toes!

Hair!

Scooching in just a little bit closer for "pat-pats"

It wasn't until the second day of their visit that he actually figured out there were two of them. And then the fun really started. He liked to keep tabs on where both of the babies were at all times. When he noticed that Georgia had gone missing, he pointed to Emma and said "baby" and then to the spot where Georgia had been and asked "bay-beeeeeeee?" I told him that she went to take a nap and before I could finish my sentence he was sprinting back to her room to check on her. This boy definitely has baby fever.

How cute are these two just chatting away with each other?

With all of this cousin love, it was only fitting that another cousin came into the world last week. Theodore Licata was born in Canberra, Australia and although Isaac hasn't gotten to meet him in person yet, chances are he'll be pretty smitten. Congrats Anthony and Joan! Isaac is looking forward to lots of pat-pats for Theo.

And Isaac wasn't the only one getting in on the baby snuggles!

I also got some insight into what juggling three kids looks like. Anna makes it look effortless. After just three months she's already a pro. God definitely picked the right mama to raise these three!

On Thursday afternoon, my dad and Micah decided to drive down and stay the night. If you've lost count that's 10 people who have come through our house thus far! The boys had a great time getting sufficiently riled up by "Uncle Mau" and reading books with Grandad.

The next morning, we tacked on another visitor when I picked up Isaac's friend, Nolan, while his mom was busy birthing his little brother! Nolan fit right in with our impromptu circus, and, with 8 people in the house, was the main consumer of my homemade waffles.

On Friday afternoon, we waved goodbye to the Anna, Luke, Emma Kate, Georgia, Micah and Grandad and waved hello to Grandma and Grandpa Licata. Isaac appreciated that he didn't have to share any of his toys with them. Even better, they brought new ones with them!

We had a quiet weekend and Joe and I even enjoyed a night out. Happy that we were able to get in some time with them before they make a big move to Portland in a few weeks. Excited to have a new locale to visit! I'm having visions of Isaac clomping around in snow boots and rain boots.

Looking like such a big boy with Grandma

Safe travels to the Pacific Northwest, Gma and Gpa! Scope out all of the prime fishing spots for us.

Thanks to all of our visitors. We loved your company!
If you're headed to Houston and looking for a place to stay, Casa Licata is officially open for business.