Mimi's visit

After Eli's birthday party, my mom decided to stay for a few days. She planned to be here for the cath, and after it got rescheduled, she stayed anyway just to hang out with us! It was fun to have her here and for her to see what we do during the week! Here, Mimi is making the kids "Frog in the Hole" for breakfast. It is an egg cooked inside a hole in a piece of bread. Basically an overeasy egg with the bread right there to eat! My Non used to make it for me (and Mimi) when I was a kid. That was a fun breakfast, and the kids ate it - which is always a plus!!!

Susanna and Mimi playing on the couch. Sus is going through a "Mommy and Daddy" phase where she won't go easily to anyone else. So, this is big ...

And fun!

One day we went to My Big Backyard. This is an enormous play area for kids inside the Memphis Botanic Garden. It's so fun, and in the fall and spring, we try to go a few times a month. Here Madeline is inside a little hut made of twigs.

Eli loves the water section ...

I usually bring extra clothes, but I thought for sure it would be too cool for him to get completely drenched! Wrong!!! I should have known better; it turned out to be pretty warm!

I think this is one of his favorite places!

My three miracles! So big, I really don't know how they got so big so fast...

Susanna is so busy, it's really hard to even get her to look at the camera! I try... She used to be great at looking and smiling, now she is just on a mission of her own....

In My Big Backyard, there are several miniature houses. Each one has fun characteristics like a loft or a tree stump table and tree stump chairs and "food". This one is the musical instrument house. The kids love to play with all the unique instruments. Really fun!

One of her missions!

There are so many wonderful sculptures around, too. This one is in front of the music house.

One house has this great clothes line just their size! They love this!

I uploaded these pictures from a visit last fall. We love this house - it's called "Pixie Sticks." I just love the shape and size of the door and the little door knob just at the right height! They love to play in here!

An outdoor xylophone... Madeline loved playing this just like her music teacher Mrs. Vandyke taught her!

Time for a quick snack!

And a climb on the spider web!

Our last stop was the sand area! This is their favorite. We have to come here last or we wouldn't see any other part of the Big Backyard! They love the sand, slide and little fountain!

Got her to look, but still no smile right when I wanted her to ...

To end Mimi's visit, we had a girls' day! Eli and Susanna had school but Madeline is on Fall Break. Since she has been so sick and we've been in town because of the cath, we thought we'd do something special for Fall Break - we got pedicures and manicures! We all had a great time and Madeline got hot pink and glitter fingers and purple/pink and glitter toes!

Thank you, Mimi, for a super fun visit and for all the special splurges!