Nana Visit!

Nana visited us this weekend. We kept the Christmas tree and decorations up to have a mini Christmas celebration with her on Saturday morning. The boys were so excited for Nana (or "Nannie" as Tavin calls her) to come. It was a whirlwind of a start since Doug and I had to go to a wedding Saturday afternoon. Nana arrived at about noon and Koen saw presents and jumped right into them. I was making lunch, so I totally missed taking pictures! Doug grabbed a few on his phone.Thanks for your thoughtfulness, Nana. You always do such a nice job. I'll be sending you a picture of the boys in their new shirts soon! And Koen can't stop listening to Mike Mulligan on CD. =)

We all had lunch (with Doug rushing me afraid I wouldn't get ready quickly enough for the wedding...does he remember who he's married to?). Nana stayed with the boys and had some special playtime (probably super silly playtime as Koen was quite wound up) and then laid them down for nap. Doug and I had an awesome date day being out all afternoon for the wedding and then the evening at the reception. All while Nana handled the boys after nap, through dinner and bedtime. Thanks so much, Mom. Such a treat. So happy you could have that time with the boys too. They loved it! Here's a picture of the happy couple out just the two of us!The next morning, being Sunday, Doug was at work early. The boys and Nana and I went to the early service, but first Koen got to open a gift from PopPop. A "Dinopedia." Koen said, "This is perfect because I just love dinosaurs." He spent quite awhile pouring over it and ever since we've been reading several pages before naptime and bedtime each day (and I am going to know way too much about dinosaurs!!).After church we got to play some more with Nana. (Koen is still looking at his book!).We tried to get some better pictures with the boys and Nana, but Koen wanted no part in posing and Tavin was moving too much. This is as good as we got. Nana was a good sport!We all had lunch together and then Nana stayed with Tavin and laid him down for nap while Koen and I headed out on a little date. Koen had done the summer reading program at the library and when he completed it he was entered in a raffle. Amazingly, he won tickets to the Pittsburgh International Children's Theatre. We got to choose which production and we have been looking forward to "Charlotte's Web" ever since. Sunday was the performance downtown at the Byham Theatre. Koen was thrilled!I love exposing him to cultural experiences and we read the book this Fall which was fun to do his first grown-up chapter book. The play was great (although they didn't allow us to take pictures during it). Here's my shot of how close we were to the set. Not too shabby...the 4th row!Koen has been really tough lately at home. Just a real hard time settling down, listening right away and showing me obedience consistently. But when I get him one-on-one like this he is just a perfect angel. It's amazing the transformation. It makes me wonder what I can do at home to get him to be like this all the time (or at least more of the time, I know he's not perfect). And it also makes me a little sad that when the two of them are together he's so naughty and frustrating. I've got to be doing something wrong. Anyways, it was a great few hours just with Koen, enjoying each other and a nice theatre experience.

Nana left in the afternoon while we were gone actually (and don't worry, Tav wasn't alone, a neighbor came over to stay at the house while he napped). It was a short visit, but we were so thankful to get some Nana time. The boys loved being with you, Nana. Thanks for driving out for 36 hours. We really appreciate it!