Cousin Craziness 2012

Last summer when our cousins came to visit, I titled the post Cousin Craziness.  I can think of no better title!  Mid-July the Carlsons from Texas came to Boise for their annual visit.  We were all SOOOO excited!!  Our other out-of-town cousins, the B. Jensens, didn't come this year, and they were definitely missed.....we're hoping one year to get everyone together again.  We were lucky enough, however, to get Mary and Kyle to come up from Utah for a whole week!  Because of Mary's accident last summer, she wasn't able to be here for hardly any of the cousin visit....and everyone was very sad.  So we made up for it this year!!

My kids had been counting down the days till the Cousin Craziness could begin!!  Also, just FYI, I discovered while doing my blog book of last year (aka, the real reason I do this blog) that it's much easier to turn into a book if the posts are shorter.  So instead of cramming all of the Cousin Craziness into one GIANT post, I'll be attemping to break it into smaller parts this year.  Here goes....

After the cousins arrived, we took a couple days to just play and relax!  And of course plan out the activities for the next two crazy weeks.  The cousins always come with a list of things they want to do while they're here.  You may notice that the activites don't vary much from year to year, but we're happy to play along because it's usually the one time a year we get to do many of the activities too!

First up, Girls' Night Out and Boys' Night Out! The girls all headed to 2 B A Kid for haircuts and manicures for the little girls.  (Aubrey, Ella, and Ruby all got matching a-line bobs!)  Unfortunately, Charlotte isn't even close to needing a haircut.  We then went to Claire's so the girls could all pick out one new, girly thing......Aubrey went with some new play make-up.  After shopping, we headed out to a "fancy" dinner at Ling & Louie's.  So FUN!

The boys had their own plans.  They all met at the golf course to hit some balls.  Then the plan was to head to Big Judd's for dinner......Masen had his sights set on The Big Judd's Challenge (which he completed! and then yacked in the bathroom).  However, at the golf course Brian noticed that Carson was just not feeling well.....not even wanting to hit any balls (NOT like him).  He started crying and said that his tummy hurt. :(  So they decided to pack it in and head home.  On the way home, Brian called and asked if I wanted him to stop by and pick up Charlotte (so I could actually enjoy a dinner out).  He and Carson got to the restaurant, picked up Charlie, and as they were heading out Carson starts PUKING all over the floor of Ling & Louie's!!  I rush over to try and catch some throw up in my napkin as he continues to coat the floor with a nice pink vomit layer.  During a pause, Brian scoops him up to run to the bathroom (while also holding Charlotte).  About halfway there, Carson starts hurling again.....this time straight at poor, poor Charlotte!  So after about 20 minutes in the bathroom wiping puke off both children and Brian, he slunk out of the restaurant with them and I headed back to the table to finish off our "fancy" dinner out!  We did recover, however, and even went out to Yogurtz after! :)

Two puking incidents aside, it was a really fun night!!  

Aubrey and Ella were told to tone down the make-up before heading out on the town (this is after about 20 minutes of scrubbing).....