Just BE Plus Three: First Week of May: Family, Photo Shoots and Poison Apples

We had an extra special week this week because my Aunt Jennifer and my Uncle Ricky stopped in Columbus, OH for a couple of days and we got to spend a lot of time with them because they were staying about a half of a mile away at a hotel right down the street.

I can't stress how amazing it is for me to have my people visit me and my family in Columbus, OH. When we are in Maryland, we are pulled in a lot of directions. We typically get to see a lot of family and friends but it's usually limited time. When my people come to Columbus, OH, I get them to myself, for more than a couple of hours, without having to share, and I can keep my girls on a semi-regular schedule. It's awesome. I become extremely selfish, and I love it. It makes me so happy having my family and friends over because I don't really see them all that often in the grand scheme of things. I am extemely grateful that my Aunt and Uncle were able to make the trip this May! It was SO NICE to see them on my turf.

In addition to these two incredible people being here, we had a lot of our normal. Just enjoying our days together. That is what it's all about.

These two littles have my heart...BIG TIME.

Uncle Ricky keeping Maya warm after some pool time!

Love them!

Aunt Jennifer is an amazing Aunt and took Kate swimming.
She totally got her hair wet!

My little bear looks so snuggled and it's so cute.

We had the entire hotel pool to ourselves!
#perksoffamilyathotelsdownthestreet

Kate is still very into role playing and more recently has taken the Snow White role. She will randomly collapse on the floor which I have learned means that she has just taken a bite of the poison apple. The only way to revive her is to give her true love's kiss and to gaze lovingly into her eyes. It's borderline awkward, but I know these days aren't going to last, so I play along. It totally threw me for a loop though the first time it happened. Picture Kate throwing herself on the floor and not answering me when I asked what was going on. Several moments later, as she picked her head up only and let out a deep sigh, clearly annoyed that I didn't get what was going on, she muttered, "Mommy, I'm waiting for true love's kiss. I ate the poison apple." #ok #icanhandlethat

The thing is, these collapsed "moments" often happen at not so opportune times for me. Like, in the middle of making dinner when I've got five different things I'm doing or when I've just picked up the basket of folded laundry and am making my way upstairs or, as in the instance below, when I'm feeding Maya and can't really get up for a bit...

But she has the collapsed look down pat!

One day this week we were all just watching the cars drive by outside and we turned our outdoor watching into a little photo shoot. I never ended up getting a photo of both girls smiling at once and ended up giving up on that idea but I did get some pretty good outtakes along the way!