friends, the icing on the cake of life

We had our first overnight guests this weekend, friends of ours from elsewhere in New England. Let me just say, for those of you waiting for your first child like we are, you are in for an incredible ride.

A and D and the kids came up on Saturday and left on Sunday. It was great having people stay over. One of the disappointing things about being closer to family is that people don't stay longer than a few hours. So this was a delightful change! We managed to cram all of this below into the weekend:

Watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, The Mask
Baked cookies
Made beef stew
had a birthday party (with a cake I had a blast making!)
reminisced
took a long walk in the woods, aka our backyard
tons and tons of playing, oh yeah and the younger kids played too

The kids were fantastic, so much crazy noise, so much fun, so much life... yup, all of the waiting parents are in for a wonderful wonderful change in their lives. The silence when they left was a blessing and a curse, the quiet was needed to 'come down' and get ready for work, but the quiet was deafening after the joy and laughter all weekend long.

Funny moments, the big kids (as in E and A) watching Monty Python as all around us havoc was happening. And there was A and E reciting lines from the movie before they happened with D on one side of the room and myself on the other looking at each other and exchanging the glance that said "oh yes, we are soooo lucky, "he's" all mine" (insert sarcasm here!!! LOL) Then there was the kids trying out the 7 piece "band" we got them for Christmas (yes, paybacks will be a bitch, but come on, the toy was a hit). And we 'innocently' placed a cool Leap Frog railroad toy in the living room that T latched onto immediately and well, let's see, A put together for us :) Thanks A!

Magpie received an incredible gift for the nursery, check out the blanket and horse, both lovingly made by A and D and such a gesture of kindness and support that continues to amaze us and leave us with difficulty finding the right words to express even a tiny bit of gratitude, each time I tried to say something a lump formed in my throat or the words that came out were far too 'casual' to express our thanks.

A wonderful walk in the woods Sunday afternoon in the bitter cold took us much further into the woods than we'd been before. But I think the best part was to continue to connect with this wonderful family that we are so glad to know. We talked about what the travel to China might be like, they gave us wonderful advice on things to consider, asked about our pretrip travel plans... We connect with them not only with regard to China and our future child's birth country, but on a much broader/deeper level. It's a good feeling and as we wait to see our future unfold, they are there cheering us on all the way.

We are fortunate to have many people like that in our lives and so while I haven't done a thankful post in bit over a week, this one more than makes up for it. We have so much to be thankful for and our close family and friends are at the top of the list.