By high-noon this past Saturday there were 12 Koskies in this house. Now there are two; one of which is sleeping soundly on the sofa, one of which wishes she were, too. Shelton’s entire family came to stay with us over Memorial Weekend and we had a tremendous time catching up, playing, introducing Paisley, eating and the like.

The trip originated with Shelton’s brother’s family coming in from Baltimore for four days to meet Paisley; then grew to include his parents and youngest brother and his daughter. I was honestly a little overwhelmed by the idea of still managing a newborn and playing host to a dozen people, but it actually went much smoother than anticipated. (Isn’t that always the case?) It was such a treat to spend some time with Shelton’s brother and wife (Uncle Keith and Aunt Heather), as well as really enjoy some time with our 4yo nephew Stone (who celebrated his birthday while here with a rarely-seen cake baked by Aunt Brandi) and 18mo niece Tilton. We only get one or two visits a year with them, so we try to soak up every second we can when we’re together. We took the kids to the zoo one afternoon; Paisley of course slept through this entire excursion making “first trip to the zoo” pictures kind of pointless. Stone was very curious about and interested in Paisley, even making several requests to hold her; he even planted a few kisses on her!

Then the rest of the crew arrived from OKC and we celebrated Stone’s birthday and had a friggin’ blast watching all four of the kids (the addition of our 18mo niece Emilee) play in the pool, with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, running, screaming and even eating some very messy popsicles in the hot summer sun. I honestly think that day goes down as one of the best ever.

At times I think there was a lot of stimulation for Paisley (and let’s be honest, me!), but she did OK for the most part. I tried to stick as closely to her schedule and routine as I possibly could. This made the days a little rough, but thankfully she managed to still sleep her usual six to eight hours at night.

Before everyone departed we were able to capture a really fantastic picture of Oma and Papa with their four grandchildren. Can I tell you how great it feels to finally have one of our kids included in that picture? Pretty great! The four little Koskie cousins. I hope that 30 years from now they’ll look back on these years growing up together as fondly as I look back on my memories with my cousins.

Last night, with just the original four Baltimore Koskies remaining, we enjoyed a really fun dinner at Chipotle where the kids were able to run around the patio, and then we took them to the fountains downtown to play.

We couldn’t have asked for a better Memorial Weekend, and we’re already missing all the kisses, hugs, and cuddles… and the way Tilton growls “No”!

Yesterday morning I walked into work and straight into the office of one of my co-workers. She’s a thirty-something mom of two, works full time, one of the most genuine people I know and she looks stunning every day. I looked at her, with bags under my eyes and told her I didn’t understand how she could look so beautiful every day and not drink. She laughed and I told her the next time I hit my snooze button I would think of her.

Those two boys wiped us out!

Shelton and I picked up the two boys Saturday morning at 9am and I did not stop moving until their parents came home at 7pm on Sunday. I really had no idea that two days with two children (and three dogs) would be as much work as it was. The motion was constant- diapers, meals, playing, meals, diapers, read a story, bath time, clean up……….. for those of you with kids you know exactly what I’m talking about.

We really had a good time and the boys were so well behaved, they’re great kids. It was certainly an eye-opening experience. Granted, it’s completely different when they’re your kids and you have the past seven years to establish schedules and routines and just get used to having kids. I can tell you that when the baby woke up crying at 3am Shelton and I went on full alert. The house could have been burning down and I don’t think we would have freaked as hard. We threw the blankets back, blindly stumbled to turn on every light switch we could find and raced into the baby’s room. He had scooted out from under his blanky and couldn’t find his way back to it. I was like- that was it?!

The baby and his big brother decided to start Sunday at 6:45 IN THE MORNING. THE SUN? It was still down. As in, it was dark outside and TOO EARLY TO BE AWAKE!! The boys crawled up in bed with us and flipped on the cartoons. It took less than ten minutes for the baby decide he wanted to be up-up.

We had two very full days with a trip to the movies, the zoo, bath time, stories and hide-and-go seek. We hope that our friends thought we returned the boys in good condition. We applaud all of you with kiddos because whether you’ve got one or ten, your hands are so full!

Before you buy a car, you obviously take for a spin around the block. It seems there aren’t enough opportunities to test drive things that we’re going to be committed to for a while. Things like a new house, a haircut, or maybe a ridiculous pair of shoes. Well, Shelton and I are getting the opportunity to test drive parenthood this weekend. Some friends of ours who live a few doors down are out of town this weekend. They called to ask a few weeks ago if we would mind watching their two boys while they’re away.

Saturday morning we will pick up the seven year old and two year old and head back to their house w/ their two dogs and our dog. I’m tired just thinking about it.

They are fantastic kids and “the mom” has done an excellent job of outlining meals, bed time routines, activities, meds and which TV channels they can watch. But I still feel a little like I’m being dropped in a foreign country with nothing more than a “guide pamphlet” rather than a book and a little cash for survival. We just keep giggling how we are going to be way in over our heads. However, I’m confident that this will be easy peasy lemon squeezy.

We’re hopeful the weather will hold out this weekend so we can take walks and go to the zoo and the park. I thinking having us cooped up in the house together all weekend might be dangerous.

So wish us luck. We’ll see how this parenting thing looks on us.

It’s a long shot, but if anyone reading this is in Lubbock or knows someone in Lubbock, please take a moment to read.

My family suffered a devastating loss this weekend. My younger cousin Scotty was killed in a hit-and-run on Sunday morning. Scotty was walking on the street and a car hit him, drove off and Scotty died at the hospital shortly thereafter.

Witnesses identified a white car with four hispanic males inside. If you have any information, we urge you to call authorities. If you’re the praying kind, please keep Scotty and family in mind.

There is an unimaginable sadness coursing through the vein of our entire family. Unfortunately, I didn’t know him really at all. In the past two days I feel like I’ve learned more about him than I ever would have otherwise. This greatly saddens me. I’ve read his MySpace with notes from his many friends and several news stories and he sounds like the kind of kid that we would all want to know. He was serving in the Army National Guard and set to deploy in May.

I wish I could be in Lubbock this week to be with my family, offer hugs, prayer, dinner or whatever else needed to be done. I hope they all know how much I love them and how my thoughts are staying with him.

Again, if you have any information, please call authorities immediately. Thank you.

(News Story)