Wonderful Time with Family!

Little Nathan is among the most blessed babies around ... how many other babies would have EVERY single aunt and uncle, all of his cousins, both sets of grandparents, and even a great-aunt and -uncle travel (in some cases hundreds of miles) to see him soon after he's born!?!? Wow. Thanks, dear family!

So, what did we do while we were together?

In between all of our celebrating together over the long weekend, we were able to enjoy lots of down time, playing games and just hanging out.
 
Aunt Amy and Uncle Jason (and Jaden and Cody) were the first to arrive. Aunt Amy knew just how to hold Nathan to make him happy ... sometimes even on his belly (a way that we hadn't tried with him yet!).

Uncle Jason sang Nathan lots of songs, lovingly walked around with him, and even held him as he (they?) slept. :)

Nathan likes to cuddle up to Aunt Chelsea, too. What a great momma she's going to make soon!

The cousins also got lots of time to play together. They definitely have a lot of similar interests and got along nicely.

The weather was just beautiful, so on Saturday morning, some of us wandered down to our neighborhood park. The boys all worked together to put lots of pebbles at the bottom of the slide ... and then slide down!

Sweet Jaden would come over every few minutes to gently rub Nathan's head and make sure that Nathan was alright. What a tender little boy!

By the time we got back from the park, Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth and Great-Aunt Mary and Great-Uncle Doug had arrived! They jumped right in, playing restaurant with Ian and lovingly holding Nathan.

Those that had already been here for a few days took turns as well! :)

On Saturday evening, when we went to Jon and Chelsea's house to celebrate Andy's birthday, Grandpa got in some extra play-time with Ryan.

Andrew, Sarah, and Abby arrived while we were there! They did such a good job of holding Nathan's interest. :) Nathan was thrilled to meet them!

On Saturday night, we started preparations for the next day. Sarah whipped up some baked oatmeal,

while Matt and I got our littlest guy ready for his big Baptismal Remembrance celebration.

A little surprisingly, we all made it to the 8:30 service early on Sunday! The kids enjoyed their breakfast together before the service ...

...  as well as their Sunday school time afterwards. The two-year-olds especially had a wonderful time together in their "Parent and Me" class. They sang, danced, and observed during song time,

and all willingly participated in the activities in the Sunday school room.

After church, all of the cousins thought that tackling Andrew sounded like a lot of fun. :)

While we were finishing last-minute brunch preparations on Sunday late morning, the kiddos enjoyed the beautiful weather.

They got the biggest laughs from "kicking" Uncle Andrew from the swings and watching his reactions.

Uncle Andy was a great swing-pusher,

and Abby showed us her amazing climbing skills.

We enjoyed playing and hanging out together Sunday afternoon ...

Kim especially enjoyed her one-on-one time with Abby :)

Cousin Abby "burping" the baby, just like her momma was

playing Castle Blocks

Schleicher family photo

Nathan received such tender loving care from Jaden and Cody throughout the weekend!

Matt took the day off on Monday, so we siblings and cousins enjoyed an extra day relaxing together. Many of us stayed in our PJs until almost lunch time. :)

We spent a large part of the morning outside!

One of the most entertaining events was watching the daddies play football with their kiddos in the cul-de-sac.

We also tried stomp rockets.

After nap times, the boys were quite interested in watching Amy paint Abby's toenails. :)

Then our talented sister-in-law Sarah gifted us with a photo shoot of Nathan and our family. Didn't she get some great shots?!?

We wrapped up the day with a yummy meal all together ...

... and some more cousin hang-out time.

Thank you, dear family, for your wonderful visit. We always treasure our time with you! We love you so much! :)