Saying Goodbye...

Mainly this post is about saying goodbye to my cousin April and her family, who are headed overseas to be missionaries for the forseeable future. But first...

Kendall is making an attempt to chew on things, and she does okay, but she's still not so sure about things with texture. Before we bought some Puffs and Baby Mum-Mums, which just dissolve, we tried pieces of rice cakes! She enjoys sucking on them and doing her best to make a big mess, as you can see by the picture below.



So back to April & Co.... We all got together at my Uncle Eddie and Aunt Susie's house a few weekends ago to spend the day hanging out, chatting, corralling children and eating through enough food to satisfy a small army.

Aunt Susie (a.k.a. Gammy) and Avery (whose skeptical face is priceless!)



There are always too many people and too much going on to get a true group picture, so this is the best I could do. From left to right, my Uncle Mike with Kendall, Uncle Doug, Andi's b.f. Justin, Andi with Avery, and Jill with Judah.



Some girl time...April and her mom, my Aunt Kathie.



I snapped this one as all the adults were watching (in a mixture of confusion and disbelief) as the kiddos set out to "conquer" this angel in the backyard. This picture was taken just before she perished and tipped over, much to the kids' delight...so they could look for worms underneath her. (The culprits: Eden, Cayden, Audrey and Judah!) Someday Kendall can join in the fun too! :)



Kendall had a great day, being passed around from relative to relative. Poor kid gets sick of being with me all the time, I think. (I can just hear Eddie now, saying, "Can you blame her?!?!") :) Here she is with Aunt Terri, who was sadly zoomed out upon.



Salem is just a year older than Kendall, but he seems like such a big boy! Kendall was enthralled with him, and this was taken before she tried to manhandle his face with her little mitts! Sweet boy just took it all in stride...



Getting some lovin' from cousin Erin!



Seriously...Salem is a boy after my heart. He walks up to me in the living room, grabs my hand and takes me to the dessert table, where one last mini cupcake with hot pink frosting sits...beckoning his name, evidently. He was too short to reach the table, but was determined to get the last cupcake since all his cousins had already swiped one. Nothing left but crumbs!



Anyway, it was a great day with family and was hard to say goodbye to April and her family. I knew I'd better not say goodbye to them anywhere in the vicinity of my cousin Erin or I'd cry (because she's a crier too!), and I knew I'd better not drag it out too long or I'd cry. Hence, it almost felt like we were saying goodbye until next month, just because I couldn't get too close to the fact that we don't know when we'll see them again. And, when we do, there will be another baby (little Caleb Turner!) added to our steadily growing numbers. We'll miss them and pray for their safety, happiness and success with the people they'll be living among!

And finally, because I couldn't end on a sad note, here's a bonus pic of our gal, giving me a sassy teenage-ish look.



Up next....a post about our week-long trip to San Marcos/San Antonio/New Braunfels/College Station!