Cousins are the best.

Last weekend we went to Madison to see both sets of grandparents,  as well as some aunts, uncles, and cousins. We spent time with JT's sister, my sister and brother-in-law, and two of our three nephews.

We had a super fun weekend, but my camera did not end up making the trip. However, I did take pictures of the boys and Audrey when they were here for Easter. So, I will be using Easter pictures in this post. You do the best you can with what you have.

Audrey loves getting to see her grandparents and aunts and uncles. That goes without saying. But the moments that melt my heart are with her cousins. I love those little boys, and the love and warmth they have for Audrey is just amazing. With that in mind I will focus on cousin time today.

Last weekend the cousins did all sorts of hanging out. They didn't actually watch TV because Audrey watched a million hours of Elmo in the car, but they did cuddle like cuties.

JT, Jen, and I took the boys and Audrey to the zoo. It was super fun. We watched animals, Seth helped Audrey go down the big slide, Luke helped her pet the goats, Seth and Luke climbed to the top of the rocks, and everyone got a treat. The boys were happy even though we had to leave without seeing everything. Baby girl was done.

The kids played outside all weekend. Audrey chased them around the whole weekend. It was the sweetest. They played boom ball with JT and she ran around like she was playing too. When she wasn't running around she sat on the step and cheered with her whole heart. Love.

My favorite moment may have been when they were all playing in the sprinkler. Audrey was a bit cautious, but kept getting closer and closer. Seth (I think it was Seth but it just as easily could have been Luke) turned it way down so she was more comfortable, and then when she was standing over it turned it up so it got her all over! It was really funny, and she ran away (mostly) giggling.

She loves watching the big boys play and trying to keep up with them. And those boys love her. Luke dotes on her like no other and Seth is an absolute natural with little kids. JT commented on the way home that she did not test limits all weekend because she was too busy trying to keep up with the boys. It was fun and refreshing for everyone. I'm not sure she had a tantrum all weekend. Bliss.

That baby girl loves her cousins and they love her. I can't wait to have ALL of the cousins together in July!!

Family time is the best time.

This weekend we had nothing going on. Nothing. That almost never happens.

It was glorious. We did all of the fun things. Well, all of the fun things in our yard and neighborhood.

We went on a walk in the wood. However, I do not have any pictures. Mom fail. I didn't even have my phone with me.

Audrey had a blast. We let her blaze the trail, which means we mostly walked back and forth on the same part of the trail but she had so much fun. By the end she had figured out the roots so well she was running everywhere. So fun.

Not only do we have awesome woods right across the street, we have an awesome yard. By awesome I mean big and fun for kids to explore. I do not mean awesome in a landscape architecture sense. In that regard we fail quite miserably. But we like our yard of weeds and big trees.

The yard, the woods, the potential outdoor fun is exactly why we bought this house. Of course there have been issues and expenses and all the normal, annoying things that happen when you own a home. BUT weekends like this are exactly what we pictured when we chose this home. Walks in the woods and fun days playing in the huge yard with kiddos.

I do have pictures from our day in the yard.

Audrey practiced her golf skills. Dad practiced hitting pine cones and dandelions.

She did some gardening.

She worked on her burpees. She was quite a bit faster today. Progress.

She flew high.

And she kicked a ball around for quite awhile. I don't have any pictures of that. I was too busy running around kicking the ball with her. A child after my own heart.

Mom of the year over here.

In honor of Mother's Day I am going to share a stellar mommy moment I had today.

A little background...

In general, we try to let Audrey discover and do things at her own pace. For example, at playgrounds we typically let her figure out how to climb up and go down the slide. Usually she makes her way up and it takes many tries before she actually goes down the slide. She goes to the top, sits down, says no, scoots away, comes back, says no, scoots away etc. until she works up the courage to go down. Usually, this plan works pretty well, and let's be honest it is easy for us. A bit nerve wracking at times, but easy.

Today we went on a hike and then let Audrey play on the playground. However, this playground was not little kid friendly. Pretty much every playground says for kids 5-12, but usually she finds things to do, and there are stairs and it works out pretty well. This one really meant the 5-12 thing. There was no way to get onto the play structure without climbing up metal bar ladders. Yeah, not so much. Though she did try really hard and got a few steps up. Good work baby girl!

In the end we helped her so she could go down the slide if she chose. She hemmed and hawed and finally decided to go down while I was at the car getting the camera. Did I mention it was a metal slide? Most parks have plastic slides, this was a classic metal slide. I am getting to the point I swear.

I got back as she was running back to the playgorund squealing after a fun slide trip. So, JT helped her up and she came over to go down the slide. I was at the bottom because I wanted to take pictures.

Which I did.

Including this one.

Whoops, metals slides are fast. And there was no landing strip. And it was pretty far off the ground.

This all adds up to a parenting moment of the year. At least I captured it on camera.

She was fine she just landed on her butt and was scared, but I felt like a bit of an ass.

Here I am standing at the bottom of the slide taking pictures as my child sails off onto the ground. Yep, that was me.

In my defense, we do not normally catch her at the bottom of the slide she does it on her own, and I did not know JT caught her the first time. Lesson learned, metal slides are fast catching your child may be a good plan.

Happy Mother's Day, I hope you were a better mother than me today!