Flying South for the Winter

The high Tuesday is supposed to be around 7 degrees, so I'm thinking I should have taken the kids down to Arizona this week. The weather was not the reason for our visit to my best friend Jenna Dean and her family.

Jenna and I hadn't seen each other in more than two years, which is just ridiculous. She just had her third baby girl, and although I wasn't much help with my two kids there, at least I was a distraction from the newborn blahs.

This was Brooke's first flight, but after flying so much with Brady, I felt pretty confident taking the kids through the airport myself on Wednesday.

But once we got on the airplane things went downhill. It was Brooke's nap time, and my girl only likes to sleep in her crib or in the car. Fortunately the snacks I brought cheered her up right away.

Jenna has preschool for her daughters three days a week, so Brady got to join in Thursday morning. He learned the days of the week, marked a day on the calendar, counted, filled out a worksheet, learned about polar bears, and finally made his own polar bear with scissors and a glue stick. Jenna taught me a lot about what to work on here at home with Brady so he'll be better prepared when he starts preschool in the fall.

Brady enjoyed playing soccer and baseball with Cyrena (above), who is a tom boy. He spent a lot of time outside with Natalie shooting hoops. Yes, our boy is a baller, just look at that form!

Brady was in heaven when he got to take a nap with Woody and Buzz.

It's nice that our kids' ages are staggered. They got along really well.

Brady wouldn't pass up an opportunity to hold baby Anna.

The girls really love their dad, and David was great to include Brady in all the fun.

After a great visit catching up and reminiscing, we had to leave the Deans yesterday. Again, the kids were crazy on the flight. Thank goodness it was only an hour and 40 minutes to get home!

Again with the food. I stuffed their bellies full with sandwiches, fruit, string cheeses and pretzels. Brooke was so full her shirt kept inching up her belly. The stripes really emphasize it in this picture that just makes me laugh. How can her weight only be 5%?
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Hooray for great friends and nice weather in late January!