The Swanson Classics: Giggin' 'em with the Crawfords

Ok, so we're not actually Aggies, but we like Aggies. We have a few close friends and a few relatives who are Aggies and we like them just fine. And then we have Aaron and Kay, along with their sweet daughters, Carolina and Julia, who live down in Bryan, Texas...where the skies are maroon. We had the great pleasure of staying with them over the weekend. This was actually kind of a big deal because we've never really hung out with them for an extended period of time without the McNeely's, so we were sort of breaking new ground but it was a fabulous time.

The kids all had a great time together. Carolina enjoyed chasing Ethan around the house and leading Kate while all 3 of them joined together in a chorus of ear piercing albeit joyfilled shreaks; and little Julia just watched with amazement. They played with toys, watched cartoons, ran, you name it. Saturday morning was especially fun as we took the 3 eldest kids to a pond to fish. This was Carolina's first time and she ended up getting a hook stuck in her hand, but Crawdaddy made it all better. Ethan started showing up yours truly by catching 3 perch on his own with no help!! That boy LOVES to fish. He's still not big on actually touching the fish but he likes to catch them sure enough.

Later that day we all did some swimming in the backyard pool. It is one of those above ground circular pools and the Dad's were able to make a nice whirlpool for the kids to play in.

As the munchkins tired of swimming they were able to get out and engage in "pudding paint." A great activity consisiting of 6 or so small tubs of pudding with food coloring in them. The kids use paintbrushes or their hands and start painting with pudding...then they ate said pudding. This was extremely popular and there were some very interesting art pieces created before they were consumed. And last but not least were the water balloons. The best part was throwing them at the fence behind Ethan as he attempted to relieve himself in the backyard; he would not agree with me that that was the best part.

And finally, there was lots of great food. Aaron Crawford has made a name for himself on his cooking abilities. Night one consisted of hamburgers, but not just any burgers, burgers with bacon and cheese IN the meat. The next morning featured peanut butter pancakes with homemade strawberry/lemon syrup. We had roast beef hoagies with home made au jus sauce for lunch, homemade wheat pretzels for an afternoon snack, an amazing chicken pasta for dinner, and Kay whipped up a homemade Granny Smith apple pie for dessert. On Sunday Aaron made some simple breakfast tacos but then he grilled some bananas, apples, and watermelons...it was out of control.