My sister and her two daughters (ages 4 and 5) came down to visit for the weekend. We had it all planned out, the gear was prepared, the menu was laid out and we all had a great time. It was three days of Hurricane Toddler at our place and we’re still recovering but it was a fun weekend nonetheless even though I had a nasty cold (started Thursday – worst on Saturday).
They arrived Thursday night, got everyone settled in, ordered in Swiss Chalet and everyone hit the sack.
Friday – we went shopping (first groceries, then the mall)! The girls got ready (and had fun trying on Aunt Val’s winter gear including hat, gloves and purses).
We had Greek for lunch the girls loved the Greek salad and potatoes. Not a huge splurge on the shopping – I think we were between seasons – winter stuff is on its way out and spring stuff is just starting to come in. I only got a sweater, some jewelry and lots of stuff at Fruits and Passions (soaps and lotions – thanks to a gift card received at xmas).
It was an early day and we got home and watched the Barbie Perfect Christmas movie (yes, a bit late but it was cute). Supper was Italian night: Macaroni meat sauce, garlic bread, caesar salad, tomato/mozzarella/basil salad. Yum!! These kids eat really well – Maddie is a hoover and will eat anything you put in front of her. Sienna has some oddly adult tastes. Neither is big on sweets, love fruits and veggies and can eat a whole tub of kalamata olives if left alone…
Here’s Maddie chilling on the couch snacking on cereal. The things that come out of this girl’s mouth are hilarious. “I want a baby in my tummy” was a new one. as was the girls’ rendition of Justin Beiber’s Baby Baby Baby which they sang to my husband Chris.
Saturday we planned an arts and crafts morning and worked on a bunch of Valentine’s decorations for the “party” planned for that night. Glitter, sparkly paper, glue, pipe cleaners, construction paper, ribbons… It was like a whirlwind passed through the dining room.
They each made a Valentine’s princess caterpillar (from an egg carton) with antennae, veil, ribbons and more sparkly stuff than our house has ever seen.
Concentrating on the papier-mâché heart:
We also made a Valentine’s garland of hearts, as well as paper lanterns for the Mexican fiesta that night:
Closeup of the princess caterpillars:
We headed out to Red Lobster for lunch where Sienna devoured half the appetizer plate of mussels to herself. Maddie loves salad so much she ate Sienna’s salad too. These kids are oddballs – definitely not your run of the mill eat-crap-all-day kids. After lunch we went back home for a bit of down time and then we decorated the house (above) to prepare for the Mexican fiesta.
While I prepared the food in the kitchen, on came the latin music and the conga line came alive!
Feeling Hot Hot Hot played, along with all the popular latin classics. There were some creative variations on the classic conga line, then there was running conga, turkey conga line (walk like turkey and gobble), wiggle your butt conga (that got a ton of giggles), knees-up-left-right conga (leg kicks and all).
The kids were having a blast. 
Supper was chicken enchiladas for the adults, chicken pieces for the kids. Everyone had refried beans and salad. Chips and salsa as snacks. And everyone went to bed pooped!
My sister and her girls, all conga-ed out and ready for food:
Sunday was departure day so we had a quiet breakfast. Where Maddie scolded mommy for interrupting her while she was trying to tell us a story. “Mommy, I’m trying to talk here.” Followed by “You don’t have to be a baby about it.” Hehehehe 4 years old going on 40.
Then we made cupcakes! Sienna wanted to wear my oven mitts and pose next to the just-out-of-the-oven cupcakes:
I did the icing (and started with large swirls at the top right, then quickly noticed I would run out so the icing swirls got smaller as I got to the end hehe). The girls did the sprinkles.
Perfection:
As I sit on the couch writing this, nursing my cold, I’m relishing the peace and quiet of our child-free home, but really enjoyed the weekend. It was a lot of fun. Hurricane Toddler left behind a trail of glitter, some leftover cupcakes, and a lot of fun memories.
