What we did while Ed was out of town

 ...watched a lot of cartoons! :)
Seriously, though, after we returned from the beach, Ed was out of town for a week for work. We had a few afternoon visitors while he was gone.

My cousin Andrea came over with her two boys, Vince and Dominic. We ended up spending a lot of time flying paper airplanes off the deck.

The table worked as a great bench for reaching over the top of the railing.

Vince and Jojo, likely watching Thomas retrieve the airplanes from below. (The boys took turns doing that, and Andrea and I tried to take as few turns as possible--we wanted the boys to tire themselves out, and I, at least, didn't relish multiple trips up and down the steps!)

Lunch time on the deck!

The paper airplanes continued with my cousin Corey the next day who was passing through on his way back from Ann Arbor--and he, of course, was an expert on folding them!

Kathy came to keep us company over the weekend--after the boys went to bed, she and I started a project--a piece of artwork for over the mantel.

 Jojo with Piper, Kathy's dog

A gift from Kathy to match one she made for Thomas

A (slightly blurry....taken by a 5-year-old) pic of our work in progress. Can't wait to see what Kathy does to finish it!

Before Ed left, we'd decided to use the dresser in the guest room for the boys, moving their old dresser/changing table into the baby room. But of course the dresser needed to be repainted! Kathy decided to help get this project started, so she carried it downstairs, sanded it, and started priming it before leaving.

Thanks to her energetic start on the project, the completed dresser is in place!

Mary Beth took a similar photo with Jakin and Corban when she was pregnant with Annie, and I wanted to recreate the idea. The boys thought this was hysterical!