Tim Made Me Do It

2015:

I was frosting a cake and he told me to do it.

Meet up

The first days of November brought a family reunion with Grandma DeShon's side of the family in Missouri.  On our way to the reunion, we had a chance to stop for lunch with Great Grandma DeShon, Grandpa DeShon, Great Aunt Mindy and my cousin Megan.

Great Grandma DeShon feeding and meeting Isaiah.

Great Grandma DeShon and Xandra, Theia, Aliyah.

Grandpa DeShon meets Isaiah.

Gramps and the whole crew.

Dancing The Night Away

While Liam and Gramps were visiting, we happened to be reading a book about the Orchestra that included short excerpts of music.  Listening to the music led to a bit of ballroom dancing.

Then the costumes came out.

And Liam, wanting to dress up also, but noticing that we're short on boy costumes, found one of his only options in the basement.

 

Unconventional, but definitely not girly.

Sometimes Joey and grandpa just watched from the sidelines

and sometimes they got in on the action.

When they got tired of the ballroom scene, they moved onto something a bit peppier from their VBS days.

I like how the dinosaur costume crosses over from ballroom to hip hop so easily.

Boys, Girls and Their Grandpa

At Grandma Mary's house, there's a Grandpa Tim.  He always helps make the trip fun and memorable. 

There's not much testosterone at Grandma Mary's house.  At least not in comparison to the amount of estrogen. Out of ten grandchildren, only two of them are male.  So when the guys get together, they like to act like men and do masculine things.  Things like pick their noses, 

sleep, and just be guys together

Until, of course, Grandpa Tim wakes up.  Then he puts the little boys in pink dolly cribs.

And we run and get the camera.

And take lots of pictures.

It seems Joey doesn't get enough of this kind of torture at home. 

And then there's reading time with the girls. 

Everyone reads together...

on their own.

Actually, the reading usually looks more like this

and this.

And among his many gifts and talents...

strange head gear (see final picture in the post).

He's a man of many talents and interests (pics 8, 9, 10, & 11). 

It's why he's so fun!

Aloha Baby

While we were together, we celebrated (in theme, of course) the coming arrival of Eustace Clarence (nom de womb), Andy & Lisa's first baby due in December.

Which one is pregnant?

 Since the guys were around, they participated in the shower festivities, too.

 

Josh picked the winning diaper from a basket of otherwise clean diapers.

This disturbed Xandra quite a bit until we explained it wasn't actually poop.

Andy and Lisa opened some presents

and then we convinced the guys to participate in a series of games.

First we lined them up to take a belly shot

and then we let them pop each others' balloons.

Last, we challenged their multitasking capabilities.

They had to answer and talk on the phone, hold the baby, and pin the clothes onto the clothesline.

Although there are no pictures of Joe, he was the victor.

Since our return to Maryland, Andy and Lisa have discovered that their December baby will be a girl, making it the eighth girl out of nine total grandchildren.  Quincy's arrival will settle the Tim Pull family girl grandchild to boy grandchild ratio at either 8/10 or 9/10. 

Boy or girl, we're glad to have you, Eustace Clarence.  Aloha!

Aloha North Dakota

After our birthday festivities with Auntie Beth, we arrived at Aloha Beach in Colfax, North Dakota for our week-long stay (for those confused, this was formerly known as the Pull Ranch) in the penthouse suite.

Our stay came with complimentary coconut drinks, visors, leis, and flip flops. 

It seems Crazy Man Tim spared no expense in transforming the ranch into a high class beach resort.

The transformation included wild animals, grass skirts, and lots of beachy paraphernalia...

even the toilet paper was thematic.

The whole resort was right on the beach, for our swimming convenience.

It was a real classy joint!

That is, until this guy showed up...

It must've be his first time in a coconut bra.

Yes, I think he was knocking on the coconut cups.

Thankfully, it was the last time all week we saw him in such a state.  If you'll notice carefully in the picture above, Beth never did see him, for she had her eyes covered for the duration of the show.

Others did sport the skirt throughout the week.

Thankfully, they were more modest!

A Visit from the North

Grandpa Tim and Grandma Mary came for a week long visit this month. The girls were ecstatic to have them at our house for so long.

As always, there was lots of book reading (I'm pretty sure they read every book in the house, twice),

a fair bit of lounging and napping,

a carpet picnic with Pizza Hut pizza,

a lot of playing doctor with a new doctor kit Grandma brought,

and, of course, lots of snuggling and hugging.

Xandra cried halfway home after we dropped them at the airport. For nearly a week she announced at least once a day that she didn't want Grandma and Grandpa to go bye-bye. Thankfully, she's come to terms with the fact that we live in Maryland and they live in North Dakota (either that, or she's given up asking because it gets her nowhere). Now the questions about how long until we visit the grandparents (both sets) at their houses have begun. I'm glad our girls love their grandparents! We do too. And we especially love when they visit!