Pictures.

We had a lovely little weekend at my brother's house, celebrating his birthday and his daughter Natalie's birthday, too. My parents, my sister, and my niece and nephew all came down from Ohio, too, so it was a houseful of fun, for sure.

I brought my guitar, and Tanner and I picked out "Ode to Joy" together. He's much better on the piano than I am on the guitar, but maybe someday I can catch him up:

Natalie and Kylie indulged their love/hate relationship--they're two years apart and really love each other--most of the time. Here they are in a peaceful moment:

Can you believe they're barefooted in January? (Just for sandbox play--we weren't letting them run around like that all day.) This freakishly warm weather is starting to scare me!

When we were kids, we had this great fabric playhouse my aunt Molly made us. It was like a sleeve that fit over a card table--a way upscale version of the old blanket-over-the-table fort. It had windows and a door that closed and everything.

My mom has made her own versions of this for Tanner and for Kylie, and now it's Natalie's turn to have her own special place. She LOVED it.

Little Miss Marissa is such a joy. She says so many words, with her little finger pointing at whatever she's talking about. And she has a great sense of humor. Looooves to swing!

What a cutie.

I'll put a few more in another post...I seem to be at my limit for photos here.