This last week we were privileged to have 2 of our wonderful nieces stay with us for a week. We had spent 2 1/2 weeks in DFW (visiting friends and family), and then came home for a day to prepare for the girls to come. Ever wonder how we got our blog's name? Xhaxhi and Halla are what these nieces and their young brother call us. They mean uncle and aunt in Albanian which is where Heath went on his 2 year church mission. We love our nicknames and it makes it interesting when we go out with them. On to the fun!
We met Mer and her sister in Waco to pick them up and then came home to have dinner.
This is when the girls arrived. They're excited to be at Halla and Xhaxhi's!
I think the girls were more excited about their post dinner Push Up Pops.
The next morning we woke up and had our traditional Xhaxhi and Halla jellybean pancakes. This tradition started when Sydney had her very first sleepover at our apartment when we lived in DFW.
This is the girls picking out their jellybeans and making smiley faces out of them.
After breakfast we went to our HOA's office to finally get our pool key. We've lived in our neighborhood for 2/12 years, have sent many waivers in to get it, but it just never worked out. Nothing like two eager nieces to push you in the right direction. It turns out we were "invisible" in their system which is most likely why we never got our key. Glad we solved that problem! So we headed home to go swimming to find out that the pool is closed on Mondays for maintenance. Boo. So we settle in for some game playing on the Wii and call it a night.
The next day we got sun screened up and headed back to the pool. While entering the gate two girls pulled me off to the side to tell me they were leaving because there was a dead rat in the pool. Oh man... So I go and check it out and sure enough there is a dead rat at the bottom of the pool. So we call the HOA to tell them about it and they send someone over immediately to take care of it. I felt bad for dashing the girls hopes two days in a row so we decided to take them to Gattiland (a pizza buffet and arcade room place). The girls loved it. We got to watch The Lorax while we ate then we ran around the game room letting the girls play games.
The girls playing mini air hockey at Gattiland.
Wednesday we finally got to go swimming and the girls had a ball. Then we took the girls to Chuck E Cheese with my brother Matt and his friend Beth. We all had fun racking up tickets so the girls could get a bunch of junk to take home. You're welcome Ben and Mer :)
This is Malla on one of the rides.
Thursday and Friday we pretty much hung around the house, went swimming, and played games. Friday, Ben and Mer came into town and we all went to eat at Chuy's then hopped over to the Outlet malls.
Saturday the girls went to see the movie Brave. The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent just hanging out and having fun.
More pictures to enjoy:
Each night Heath would sing the girls before bed. He would sing their favorite Xhaxhi song "I don't want to live on the moon." from Sesame Street.
Sydney is our sensitive soul. She was upset because we couldn't find goggles that fit her. She ended using her old one and had tons of fun so it worked out. I felt horrible walking through the store with her all teary eyed. I was like "I promise I didn't make this 7 year old cry" :)
Eating Donors- Heath's specialty that he learned on his mission.
The girls flying kites.
The girls loved playing with our two dogs for the week. They were such good helpers. They loved walking the dogs, giving them baths, and feeding them.
Malla LOVES dogs. She is trying to get a kiss from Ally.
Success!!
We call this Origami Malla. The girl is flexible and would fall asleep like this anytime we were in the car.
Other fun moments were Malla calling me MarshHalla while she was here. I started calling her MarshMalla a while ago and so she decided she would call me that. So cute. And we of course had our usual discussion with Sydney that Austin was still located in Texas and was in fact it's capital. This started during her first trip to visit us in Austin years ago. She had said "When we get back to Texas.." So it's been a running joke since then. I'm pretty sure she gets it now, but pulls our leg and acts like she thinks Austin is outside of Texas. They are so much fun.
We can't tell you how much we loved having them here. I was of course worried about going from 0 kids to 2, but they are such great girls it was easy peasy. We did learn a lot about having kids though. We're used to staying up late, eating whenever, going out whenever. With kids, you do a lot more laundry, dishes, and cleaning. You make sure they are eating before you, going to stores takes longer, and you worry A LOT more. BUT the good far outweighs the changes. You have giggling girls around, you get lots of hugs, and you get to hold tiny hands while going into the stores. You get to kiss boo boos, play games, and tuck them in at night. It has been so sad since they left. No more My Little Pony playing on the TV, no dolls laying around, or girls reenacting Peter Pan, or folding tiny laundry. We hope to do this every year-make it a tradition. Ben and Mer keep telling us that we made their Summer, but really they made ours. So glad we got to have them here.
