More cousin togetherness

The cousins have left. Is there a sadder sentence in the English language? Although, after a week of togetherness and late bedtimes, I think we all needed to get back to routine and regular life. Whew! Kids don't do all that well with little sleep and irregular habits. In case you were unaware of that. (To be honest, I am not sure this here Momma really does too well either.) But we do miss them all. And the excitement and silliness and togetherness. 

We are getting ready for our Canadian convention, so I probably won't be posting much this week. There is a lot of catching up to do after letting things slide for more important things for a solid week. Mowing, bills, laundry, errands and organizing the bazillion little bags of stuff that seem to multiply like rabbits when we are at Mom and Dad's everyday. Bags of muddy laundry, bags of little odd bits and toys (my kids all love packing little bags of stuff to take over), bags of extra clothes... And then there is convention packing. 

But things are getting done. And there is a convention to look forward to. So life is good! 

And there will be some cousins at convention. 

Hoyt, Gilbert and Elsie on the tractor

I was a little staggered that Hoyt could get on this tractor by himself, but he can. 

Four in a row...

...Walking through water

Stinging nettle

The creek

More mud to walk through

Wild mint

Elsie, happy as a clam with wet feet, rocks to climb, and a muddy skirt

A fern-y, mossy place

Levi by the fence

Levi, a nice big cousin, helping Elsie on with her shoes

The five year olds, walking through the pasture 

Wind at the pond

Love this windy girl

With three small boys, there was a lot of rock throwing to be done.

The Wind in the Willows

Hay bales to climb!

Leaning on Andy

Stormy skies and Gilbert sliding down the bale

Then on to Owen and Ashley's to collect Hoyt for some fun

Fun that involved a wagon

These two strong boys took turns pulling the wagon 

 I really love this picture for whatever reason

Happy boy