Tumbling and Wrestling with Uncle Alex

My brother came in town for a few days over Labor Day, and Collin was counting down the minutes until he could tumble and wrestle with his uncle from Indiana.  We spent the night with my parents on Friday night so we could play with Alex as soon as he woke up on Saturday morning (and so Cas could clean the house and set up the grill in peace).  Of course, my kids woke up before Alex, but it wasn't long before he joined us for breakfast, and then the tumbling and wrestling commenced!

 The thirty-pound victor kicks his defeated uncle off the bed!

 By 9:30, we were headed back home to meet some of our friends coming over to swim.  Cas was grilling burgers, all our sweet friends brought delicious food, and we had a fun Saturday morning in the backyard.  After tennis with my dad, Alex and my parents came over for the afternoon and evening.  By the time they arrived, we were trying to get our kids to settle down, and kind Alex read through the stack of superhero books.

 My mom brought this great book with pictures and sentence strips for Collin to make up the story.  He had fun and gave the characters ridiculously silly names!

Oh Maya, she has a mind of her own.  Wanted to wear her puddle jumper inside and brought us the trashcan out of her bedroom, despite the 700 toys for her in the living room.

While Collin was with Grammy writing their story, Maya finally got some uninterrupted time with Uncle Alex.

As we waited for dinner, a second round of tumble and wrestling was required -

We had several conversations about how we only tumble and wrestle with Daddy, Brownie and Uncle Alex, so hopefully we don't get any notes sent home from school -

Silly and sweet boys -

Our climbing machine wanted in on the action!

Watching the crazy boys from the top of the footstool -

One happy nephew -

Collin stubbed his toe and sweet Maya came to his rescue, offering a hug to console her big brother.  Anytime we send him to his room for disobeying, she normally follows him in there to comfort him!

Discussing deep things like Ninja Turtles -

Grandma B coming for dinner was met with more hugs and smiles!

 And a double hug for Grammy -

We could eat this girl up, we love her so!

I think this is the only picture Cas is in from the whole weekend.  He was busy grilling both Saturday and Sunday and is now a ribs and hamburger pro! 

Sibling cuddling -

Cas and my dad made what was supposed to be a quick stop at Lowe's on the way to get pizza, so we had plenty of time to hang out before dinner.  And plenty of time to read our favorite books over and over and over -

She's great at following the cues in her Elmo book - patting her head -

And she loves to perform for her family - showing off after climbing up on the table - a skill we're less-than-thrilled that she learned -

Finally the pizza came, dinner was consumed, and Maya was taken off to bed.  Pizza is one meal where Collin needs no encouragement to eat, and after pizza and dessert, he and Alex compared who had the bigger belly.  My little boy, whose every rib you can count, was sure he had the biggest belly in the room!