Countdown

As a kid, I would take trips out to Illinois at least once a year.  I LOVE it there.  I love my family and all of the memories that I have created with them.  Wearing Grandma's wigs, sleeping in the living room and hearing the grandfather clock "dong" that it was midnight (gasp that Cori and I were up that late!!!) and then hearing Grandma yell down the hall, "girls, time for bed" because we couldn't stop giggling.  As we all got older, the trips out were harder (college, new jobs and a lack of finances).  Despite not being able to see my family out there as often as I would like we have done and are doing really well in keeping the updates on life current.

I want the kids to know the family in Illinois just as well as the family here in Colorado, so we talk a lot about the family out there and look at pictures and talk about who is who.  Haylee loves the whole family and has stories about all of the fun things that she has done with each member of the family.  Cori it's the acorns they found in the front lawn, Great Grandpa it's the tractors and how she gets to ride them, Great Grandma it's the Frosty the Snowman book (which we read ALL THE TIME!)  Diane, its the selling cookies and making lemonade at the garage sale...things like that.  So, I told Haylee that Aunt Diane and Cousin Cori are coming out to Colorado for a visit...she got so excited and started jumping up and down...then she said she wanted to make Diane and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa a craft.

One of the crafts we made was a countdown chain......We hung it up in a place where we could see it everyday, and make sure that we rip off a part of the chain every morning before we leave the house....Then we took a picture of the kids standing next to it!  As you can see, Carter was more interested in the light switches than he was for smiling for the picture!

So, let the countdown to Aunt Diane (and the rest of the family) coming out to visit begin!   T-Minus 8 days!  We can't wait!