Remember when my in-laws were in town?

It was the end of June! I'm so behind. But these pictures and our time together were too good not to share. And I want to remember everything I can about our long weekend together. Also? I'm really glad that my brother in law, Marc, isn't a professional photographer (although he could be!), because I just might have saved a bunch of the pictures he took into my own iPhoto and uploaded them here. Copyright infringement, anyone? You'll know his shots. They're at the end and they're the amazing ones.

We ate all our meals out on the deck, which was so fun.

My mom stopped by one evening for a few hours to say hello to Rob's family. (Love this picture of her and Maddie!)

Rachel and I have the same fondness for babies. ;) They hadn't met Madeline prior to this visit.

If there was any doubt whether or not Robbie enjoyed his cousins...

We celebrated a lot of birthdays that weekend, including Grammy and Papa's.

A few from the party that Marc took, which I love...

This picture below cracks me up - Heather and I are lunging to protect Ellie from the pinata that is swinging in her direction, while she stands happily unaware of the danger. That little look on her face and her belly all popped out!? LOVE.

Gathering the loot.

Robbie's first taste of pixie stix. Once it went up the back of his throat sort of into his nose (remember how it would do that!?). I am a borderline bad mom and LOVED introducing him to these. "Here honey, pour sugar into your mouth! It's awesome!" Don't worry, I'm over it. It was great.

The musical card from Aunt Kelsey had Ellie totally perplexed and entertained for quite a while. She loved it. Open. Close. Open. Close. Repeat x 100.

What Livingston men do... they wrestle. (Here, Robbie and Papa.)

Blowing out her birthday candles.

These two were buddies all weekend long. It was adorable to watch their friendship grow.

Instigating...

...payback for the instigating he did earlier!

They spent all evening after dinner wrestling in the backyard one night. I had to scrub Robbie's feet and legs with a nail brush to get all the dirt off! The marker of a good day.

Nicholas and Robbie rolling down the hill in the backyard.

We took the kids to the DuPage Children's Museum one morning (I stayed back with Maddie and then drove over to pick up Ellie for naptime).

And just before everyone had to leave for the airport, we went to the Arboretum. A perfect way to end our time together.

Papa, Robbie, James

From left to right: Katelin, Nicholas holding Maddie, James, Robbie, Ellie.

BEST COUSINS PICTURE EVER! (Except that I forgot to put Robbie's matching Superman Tshirt on him... huge bummer.)

Family picture - always comical to attempt with so many kids.

Rachel and Marc, we cannot say it enough but thank you for how much trouble you went to in order to make this trip happen! It was so amazing. I wish we could spend time together with our kids like this every day. I'm so glad that we are family - you are so special to us.

And mom and dad, thank you for making the trip possible... for traveling with the DeBlocks and helping us manage all the kids while we were together. (Have you recovered yet!?)

We love you all so much!