Jaiden spends the night

Rhett and his cousin, Jaiden, were both SO excited when we told them that J was going to get to spend the night with us on Friday night! We met them after school, and they talked all the way home about pumpkin patches, their teachers, the songs they've learned at school, etc.. I heard R tell J, "Last time I was in Flippin, me and Granddad made a deer feeder out of a hollow log...I PROMISE." I loved listening to their conversation. Jaiden took a break from school talk to ask me what we were going to have for breakfast Saturday morning. I had not thought that far ahead. I knew she liked pancakes, but I'm terrible at making pancakes so I mentioned that we might go out for donuts. They liked that idea.

When we got home they played in the playroom, played doctor's office, went out in the back yard and practiced their kung-fu moves (first two photos below) and had races.

I like how it is a group effort to hold Crosby here:
Rhett says Jaiden is his best friend.
Saturday morning we managed to get out for donuts by about 8:15. R & J had already been awake for 4.5 hours by that point, so they were hungry. Yes, your math is correct, they woke up at THREE FORTY-FIVE a.m. They went TO bed pretty easily. They watched a movie in R's room, then Jaiden was asleep just minutes after I turned off the lamp. Rhett fell asleep not long after her, and they were sound asleep on the floor when I went to check on them around 11 p.m. But then I heard a noise that startled me at 3:45 a.m., and I went to check. They were both awake...talking and laughing. I told them in a sleepy, grumpy voice that it was the middle of the night and that they needed to close their eyes and be quiet. I went back to bed, and either I was so tired that I didn't hear them (very possible), or they did at least follow the second part of my request. Rhett told me the next morning (at 6 a.m., when they got up "for real") that they'd played in the closet until daylight.

Going out for breakfast:
All three kids ate three donuts each!
When we left the donut shop, Jaiden asked me if we could go to the park so she could show me how she could do the monkey bars by herself. So we went to the church playground for a while. Crosby hung out in his carrier, shielded from the morning sun.
Jaiden on the monkey bars, and Alexee trying to reach:
I think they quickly burned off all the calories from the donuts!

Crosby got to go up to the top of the playground equipment:

My sister made this picture of all five kids when she came to pick J up on Saturday. They were rolling in the grass in our front yard. (Crosby was very hungry and didn't want to participate.)

After lunch I told Rhett he needed to relax on our bed and watch a cartoon. I never dreamed he'd fall asleep. He's taken two naps in the last 2 1/2 years: one when he had the stomach bug and one when we got up at 4 a.m. to drive to Gulf Shores last summer. I thought he looked so sweet.

He slept nearly two hours, but even after he woke up he still seemed tired and grouchy. He cried several times about Jaiden being gone and said he wished she could have stayed another night. He said the playroom wasn't any fun without her there, and he didn't want to sleep in his room all by himself. They really had a great time together. They got along, and they were even very sweet to let Alexee play with them.