Hello, my name is Chelsea and you are?

 The kids waiting for Grammy and Papa's arrival.

I received a call on Thursday afternoon from my Dad telling me that he and my mom were a few hours away from driving to Maryland.  My parents live in Charleston, SC, so this news was a little surprising.  Of course, my parents are always welcome to our house, but they typically have very little flexibility for impromptu visits because of their family owned business. As my dad always says, "owning your own business allows you to choose your own hours.  We can work whatever 16 hours of the day we want!"

I have always wanted to live closer to my parents and am jealous of friends who have family near by.  For example, we just visited our good friends Kevin and Katie to see their week-old daughter, Kaylee.  First of all, Kaylee is gorgeous and not the polite gorgeous, but a truly beautifully crafted baby.  Kevin and Katie live a stone's throw away from both of their parents and are surrounded by Katie's tight knit extended family.  Lucky, lucky, lucky.  Not only has family been constantly stopping by to help with Kaylee, but more importantly, as Kaylee grows up she will make lasting memories with her family.  In an effort to bridge the distance between my parents and our family, we have a video phone that we try to use about once a week.  The kids love it and it makes it seem as if my parents live closer.

Ashton requested to "Mwah Kaylee."  Kevin, this won't be the last of these!

Their visit this weekend was great and three things made this visit better than many others.  First of all, Ashton stopped hating my mom.  I have no idea why, but the past 6 months or so, Ashton loved to talk to Grammy via video phone, but can't stand her in person.  In the past she couldn't do anything right.  He was constantly yelling "No!" and swatting at her for no apparent reason.  This really hurt my mom's feelings, even though she tried to play it off like it didn't.  Somehow Ashton and Grammy have not only reached an understanding, but he seems to genuinely like Grammy.  Ashton even asked to hang out with Grammy alone a couple of times, which was a very welcomed change of pace.

Another highlight of the trip was Beau stopped hating Ashton.  Beau, my parents' fourth child dog,  is a fantastic, well-behaved dog, but he is always skittish around kids.  There wasn't a worry that Beau would hurt the kids, but he made it clear that he wanted no part in playing with them by staying as far away as possible.  After only a few moments, Beau warmed up to the kids and began to tolerate their existence!  As the weekend progressed, Ashton figured out a sure way to Beau's heart- he secretly passed food to him under the table!  From there, Beau was sold.  Ashton and Papa took him on walks; Reagan chased him around our ottoman; Beau ate all of Ashton's lunch; Reagan ate a handful of Beau's food... It was actually fun to have Beau around as his interaction with the kids was always entertaining!

The final treat was my parents' willingness to babysit for both nights they were in town.  Over the last six months, we have limited our spending on entertainment due to my new stay at home status and Jimmy's transition to his new job.  Unfortunately, the first thing we eliminated were our date nights.  To be fair, our friends have offered to babysit our kids, but I feel enormously guilty doing that to a friend.  When my parents offered to babysit, we quickly took them up on their offer. Family members are obligated, right?  It was a pleasure to get reacquainted with my husband and put our titles of Mommy and Dada on the back-burner for a few hours.  We ended up at the American Legion at the end of each night and our friends kept joshing us for being out.  I think we should resolve to get out more!

Saying farewell to my parents.  It was a great visit!