The First McAnulty Cousin Night

Earlier this week, the two most beautiful, sweet, precious little ones you could ever imagine came to Grandpa and Grandma's house while their parents enjoyed some child-free time.  It was our first time to babysit four-month-old Evy at our house, so the excitement was very real!

Kam was eager to see her and immediately shared his little truck with her.

Grandpa's left hand is holding onto Evy's hand, and Kam's hand is in his right.
I love it.

Papa helped Kam hold Evy on his lap. Evy doesn't look too certain about it! 

Those eyebrows!

Kam still finds time to play with Zeek.

Such a hungry boy - eating with a spoon in his left hand and a fork in his right!

They were all extremely well behaved at dinner. 

Kam is such a good worker, he pulled some weeds for me after dinner.

Kam is not perfect though, he does not sit still and say cheese for pictures.
He sat long enough for me to take just this one.

Evy is still good at sitting fairly still.

Such beauty!

Zeek loves these kids.

Yikes, he just couldn't resist a quick affectionate little face lick.
 Dogs!! Sorry, Evy!

So I say to Will: We need to take pics with these two on our first cousin's night with them. In my usual kind, unselfish manner, I let him have them first.

Kam is pleased to demonstrate "patty cake" to Evy and goes through the whole thing with great joy.

It's just the cutest. So many cute pics of this.

Then it's my turn. "I want to get down" says Kam. But Kam, Nana wants a picture of us together! Say cheese! Look at papa! Please!

"I go play!" he insists.

Fine, go play then.

Ooh, look what I found! Water in the bird bath! So delighted!

Just have to touch it, don't we?

Oh, so sad, while Nana is in the house warming up the bottle for Evy, Kam gets his first time out from Papa because he keeps picking the flowers from the pots of impatiens even after Papa tells him not to. "I'm all done with time out," he announces after about 10 seconds. Oh, buddy, sorry, your papa is a tough one, he's gonna make you sit at least 30 seconds. Oops, when you're set free and immediately pick more flowers, Papa has to sit you down again.

Baby Evy made short work of the bottle and it's all going great. Kam decides to join us in the house for a few minutes, and Evy gets a little fussy as her bed time approaches. Kam chooses to go back outside with Papa, but somehow he slides the screen door all the way back and manages to pinch his finger. Next thing I know, I'm squatting on the floor with a loudly wailing child in each arm. That's enough to break a grandma's heart! Especially when grandpa's ears aren't what they once were and it takes him awhile to come help me! But a little boy's face lights up and the fingers feel fine when he can put them in a bowl of water with some ice cubes.

The bigger challenge was making sure the daughter-in-law doesn't come back to a crying baby the first time she leaves her at grandma's house. This grandma doesn't even want to even admit that the darling baby cried while in her care, much less be caught with a crying baby. After a little singing and reading and rocking and walking, then lying her on in the crib upstairs, she was content to lay there awhile. After Kam left, I brought her back downstairs, and when her parents came soon after, she was still as happy as could be.

Such a happy evening. Oh thank you Lord, and please bless us with more!