Cousins!

We got to see my sister, Laci, and her boys Cole (5 yrs. old) and Chadd (3 yrs. old) on our trip to Kansas. We had a great time visiting with Laci and the boys, and the cousins especially had fun!

Justis and Cole were born two months apart, and Dawson and Chadd were born three months apart. When you take those ornery boys and add drama queens Madalynn and Jillian to the mix, my parents' house is a hopping from sun-up until the kids go to bed at night!

Madalynn and Cole are practically inseparable! I noticed the two of them holding hands as we went places together and while playing around the house. I think my mom, sister and I had to tell Justis, Chadd and Dawson to turn the outside faucet off about a million times while we were there. They kept turning it on, filling up their water guns, and squirting each other. Did I mention it was only in the 40s a couple of days we were there?! We kept the baby gate up at the top of the stairs so Miss Jillian would not tumble down. She's spent the crawling/walking part of her life in Louisiana, so she doesn't know how to maneuver stairs yet!

My sister is working as a phlebotomist at the hospital in El Dorado, KS, and she is also taking classes so she can become a licensed sign language translator. She's getting great grades, keeping a job and raising boys at the same time! Rock on, Sis! She's doing fantastic at all of her "jobs." I have lots of fun asking her questions about signing and watching her sign while she talks. I also can't believe my sister, who got one ear pierced, got squeamish and had to come back to weeks later to get the other one pierced, is drawing blood from people. Wow!

I miss Laci and the boys. I am looking forward to Laci coming down and visiting this summer sometime.