Marlee and Lilah visit!!!

All last week we had been anticipating a visit from our friends who live in Florida.  They were stopping by on their way to NC and were going to be spending two nights with us.  Kathy and I taught together in Florida and were pregnant together with our oldest girls.  We usually see them twice a year and have so much fun together.  Handley and their daughter, Marlee, always play so well together and we were all excited to have them come stay with us.

Handley had been talking about having a sleepover with Marlee all week.  They didn't get here until about 11:30 PM and I had promised Handley that I would wake her up when Marlee snuck in her room.  BIG MISTAKE!  Ha!  Those two ended up chatting, reading books, giggling, and just about everything else they could do in Handley's bed to keep themselves from falling asleep for over 2 hours.  Despite our many visits to the room to tell them to go to sleep they didn't drift off until just after 2 AM.  I was certain they'd both sleep in, but I woke up at 6:08 AM hearing Handley over the monitor telling Marlee, "It's light out so we can get up and play now!"

Harper was also very excited to have Lilah here and couldn't quite understand why she couldn't sleep with her and have a sleepover like the big girls were.  I bet this time next year those two will be chatting and staying up late too.

Friday morning Kathy and I took the girls to the aquarium.  I hadn't been since Handley was a baby so we were all looking forward to the outing.

While it was a fun visit they loved seeing all the sea life, Kathy and I were exhausted by the time we left there an hour and 1/2 later.  It didn't help that it was packed and for being a holiday weekend, I should have known better.

The big girls were so good, held hands, and stayed right with us the whole time.  However, the younger two are both cut from the same cloth.  They each have very strong personalities and wanted to show off their independence.  Keeping up with them in the crowd was a bit nerve wracking for us so we were happy to scoot out and make our way to Chick-fil-a for lunch before heading home for naps.

We spent the afternoon at the pool swimming, grilled out for dinner and ended the night with the girls having giant bubble bath.  After we got Harper and Lilah to bed we found the daddy's helping Handley and Marlee with a princess puzzle in the playroom.  The big girls were in bed shortly after that and despite their big plans to sneak out of their room for cookies and stay up talking all night they both fell asleep pretty quickly too.

We were all sad to see them drive off this morning and so wish that they lived closer, but thankfully a little play time with Daddy was enough to get everyone laughing again.