HE IS CHEWING GUM!

Original Jen (numero uno!) happened to be a mere two hundred miles away this week, a far cry from the usual 1050 miles, so of course we got together. We both drove 100 miles to spend a few hours together.

Her children are utterly adorable. It was hard to resist the urge to squish them. Her oldest son Goose had a running commentary on EVERYTHING that had the rest of us laughing out loud. "I'm chewing gum. The gum is in my mouth. I'm enjoying the gum. Are you happy that I am enjoying the gum? The gum is no longer in my mouth. The gum is in my stomach!" I can see how it might make me want to rip my ears off at some point, but for three hours it was super cute.

Buggins, Jen's baby was only slightly larger than Molly, but he was walking and running all over the place. I said hello to him when they first arrived and he almost started crying, but later in the day he even smiled at me! And Buggins is even starting to talk, labeling busses, trains, and ambulances as "CAR".

Jen looked great and is doing such a great job mothering. She seems so comfortable in the role. She will of course live forever in the minds of my children after buying them not one huge hot chocolate covered with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a cherry, but TWO hot chocolates with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a cherry. However it isn't the multiple drinks that stand out right now, but the fact that the cherries were really, really, bad.
ROUND ONE:

ROUND TWO:
I had been looking forward to a visit with Jen were we could sit and reminisce and talk about things not appropriate for little ears. Instead we had a visit with all the children (save for our oldest two) where I enjoyed watching the interaction between my children and my best friend, and I had an opportunity to enjoy being with her children, super adorable as they are.

AWWWWW:

Dare I say our visit was even better than what I had envisioned? It's true. I only wish that we could visit together more often than every year and a half.

When we arrived home their was a letter waiting for Noah, with a Star Wars Stamp that thrilled both Noah and Matthew, and inside was a lovely letter from Jen's husband with the recipe for his amazingly addictive cheese straws. Mmmmm. Thanks guys!