No place like home...

Another trip to Kingwood has come & gone. The girls & I took off a couple days after Easter to visit Gaga & Paw Paw in the Liveable Forest. This trip was my favorite yet for a couple reasons: the girls are at super fun ages & they stayed healthy the ENTIRE time! Last fall, our visit was taken over by sickness & no sleep so this mommy truly enjoyed ten days of relaxing & nine full nights sleep. I just reviewed nearly 600 pictures & decided that it is pretty much impossible to trim down our memories to one post. Here is the first of a few posts about our trip to the Lone Star State.

April just might be the perfect month to visit! The weather was perfect for spending as much time as possible outside. Following a great flight with my little buddies, we headed back to my parents house to get settled in.  After nap time we walked up to the neighborhood park.  Following the drought of 2011, there are many tree stumps left where beautiful pine trees once stood. Charlotte and my dad were happy to climb on them. 

We all did some swinging & then let the girls have their first go round on the see-saw together. Eloise was less than thrilled to be left in Charlotte's arms but livened up quickly as she started going up & down.  Don't worry, my mom was within arms reach : )

On Wednesday morning, we followed directions to a place in Kingwood where there supposedly was a field of bluebonnets. It was sad to see a field of weeds upon our arrival... especially since the girls were dressed so cutely. It's like they were ready for a photo shoot or something ; ) 

We changed into our play clothes and went over to East End Park for a walk in the woods.  Char was super happy as you can see below. She loves running around like any two year old & I think her grandma loved running with her!

Sweet baby Eloise got cozy in the Ergo & rode on my back until half way through when she switched to the front, snuggled up & went to sleep. I must say, there is nothing quite like having a sleeping baby on you. I love that girl even if she is a chunk to haul around ; )

My parents were such a joy to spend time with. They will celebrate 32 years of marriage next month & seem to enjoy each other more each and every year.  We were so excited that my dad took the first three days of our visit off from work to play with us!

My brother Scott who lives in Houston worked from the house Friday & then spent the night with us. He was able to squeeze in quite a bit of time to push the girls in their swings.  The playground pictured below was built by my Dad within the first couple years after moving into our house in 1991. It has held up pretty well through the years and was able to provide hours of swinging for my little loveys.  Charlotte would wake up in the morning saying "I go swing? I go ask Paw Paw swing with me Mommy?" How could you tell her no? I don't think anyone told Charlotte "no" for a whole week & if they did, it wasn't regarding another swing in her swing...or ice cream. 

During an afternoon of watching my dad lay grass outside, Gaga brought a special delivery to the door for us. She was so cute in her bag & Charlotte thought it was pretty silly.

Speaking of silly, I think it runs in the Ellis family genes. Robby swears that I made him silly after he married me.  Laughter is highly valued in our family as a whole & Scott is a person that gets me to laugh pretty hysterically.  I am not sure who made the silly face first....

I love my brothers SO MUCH! Every time I see them I can't help but hope that Charlotte & Eloise will have a baby brother someday.  It was a bummer to miss out on seeing Kyle while we were in the same state but he is finishing up his last semester of college before moving back to the Houston area in May.  This means that we will get to see him every time we come to visit! He got a job as a mechanical engineer with a company he is really excited to work for.  He recently bought a ticket to come visit us for Elo's birthday so we are in count down mode!

We had another lovely visitor arrive on Sunday afternoon.  My grandmother flew in from Dallas to spend a couple days with two of her three great granddaughters.  Both girls enjoyed playing with G.Gran & I think G.Gran had some good snuggles & even more good laughs as she experienced the silliness of the Valentine sisters.

Relaxing was a priority throughout this visit & thanks to many helping hands, I got a few breaks here & there to do simple things I like to do such as bathe alone, use the restroom alone & clean the kitchen without a child hanging on my leg. Just kidding...kind of ; ) I did get to spend an afternoon out & about by myself that included Starbucks, a good book & a haircut. I was also treated to a couple mornings of going back to sleep for a bit after nursing Eloise.  Thanks Mom & Dad for loving on us, being such kind hosts & for letting my crazy girls run all over your house! I love being in the home I grew up in, looking at pictures, watching my girls play the piano we all played as kids, sewing with my mom, snuggling up on the couch to chat with my dad, watching the millions of birds & squirrels in their backyard....such a sweet place.

I know the home I will have in heaven someday is far greater than I can imagine. That being said, I am grateful for the temporal homes He has so graciously given me on this side of eternity.