Memorial Day Houseguests

Over the long weekend, we had some great houseguests: Matt's friend Lisa and her husband Jim! Lisa went to high school with Matt (funny how most of our friends are Matt's high school friends—I guess that's what happens when you settle down in one partner's hometown!) and now live in California, so we don't see them very often at all. In fact, Lisa was a "groomsmaid" in our wedding in 2006 and Matt was a "bridesman" in their wedding in 2005, and those were the last two times we saw them! 

So, it had been a while, and we were so excited to have them stay with us for a few days when they came east for Lisa's college reunion in Virginia and a side trip to North Carolina. (If you're flying 2000 miles, I guess driving to locations 300 miles apart doesn't feel like such a big trek!)

Kate latched right on to Lisa, as we knew she would, wanting "Ms. Lisa" to read her bedtime stories. All four of us adults joined in the bedtime Memory games, so it was a big bedtime party each night!

After swimming and churching and chowing down on pizza and Thai food Saturday and Sunday, Monday was our partying day. Matt's parents had us all over for brunch in the morning.

(Just had to throw in this pic of Claire—I just love it! I found this Janie and Jack romper on eBay and it just seemed "so Claire" to me. Claire had fun demolishing a couple of Granna's brown sugar scones. When we pulled her out of the high chair, we joked it was like uprooting a turnip with all the dirt-like crumbs that kept cascading from her as I pulled her higher out of the chair!)

That evening, we had a cookout at our house for BHS alums (and folks who worked at the movie theater with Matt and Lisa) to come see Lisa while she was in town.

Everybody got a kick out of my "veggie island." I saw this done a while back when I stumbled into a live infomercial at our grocery store for the knives formerly known as Gin-Su. I didn't buy any knives, but learned to make an island out of a potato, carrot, and green pepper. (and a shark out of a cucumber, but I didn't tackle that one this time around!)

We even got out some toys and had fun with it later in the evening too!

Kate found a new playmate in Willow Grace, who will be five in July. They were having a great time running around all night, hiding in Kate's closet and bathroom to look at the Twilight Turtle in the dark. While I was putting Claire to bed, they came into the nursery wearing some funny dress-up clothes that I didn't recognize.

"Kate, where did you get those clothes?" I asked.
"Um... where our guests sleep," she replied.

Yes, they had raided our houseguests' suitcases and were parading around in t-shirts, dresses, hats, and 4-inch wedges! I half-scolded, but also just had to laugh, and (knowing Lisa and Jim wouldn't be mad) alerted the adults downstairs to the adorableness. And took some pictures. And video.

It was a really fun night. The high school memories flowed and sounds of raucous laughter filled the house (as did the sounds of children playing maracas and subsequently the sounds of an awakened baby). The girls were fading by the time we took this group shot, but it was a great Memorial Day and we'll have to do it again!