Illinois: Round 3

So last weekend I went to Illinois to see my wonderful friends JR and Aly. These two have really been some good friends in my life since I was first going into high school. Aly helped me figure out a lot of things about life just by being a great example, loving me well, and giving me tons of great advice along the way. They moved to Illinois about four years ago and I have missed them terribly, but I usually try and go to see them once a year or so. It's been so exciting to see their family grow from one kid, to three kids, and then this past March to four kids (crazy!) I've gotten to see them through hard times and through good times, but through everything they are such a strong light on a hill for the Kingdom, and I love that (so much).

Anyways, so I got to spend all of last weekend hanging out with them and getting to know the kids better and to hear what's been going on with life. It was amazing...I think their kids are my favorite in the whole world of kids. Here they are:

This is Foster. Or Frostie, or frost man, or foz, or bug. Either way, I love this kid. It's funny, if you go back to July 2008 on this blog you can see my first visit to Illinois, back when it was just Foster, and he looks so young. This past weekend I could actually carry on a conversation with him, it was so strange. We had a couple of epic pillow fights and some interesting conversations. He was so amazed when I told him that I flew here in an airplane. He responded "To our yard?" I laughed so hard and explained what an airport was to him and he was like "Really?" His amazement was adorable.

This is Paisley (or peanut), she is the girl of the girl-boy twins and number two in the line up. She is way prepared for the terrible twos that are coming up in a couple months, but I think she is still so precious. I was watching the twins and Foster on Saturday morning and I needed to take a shower, so I told Foster I was leaving the door open in case they needed to get me for some reason. Well, halfway into my shower, this little face peeks around the shower curtain smiling up at me and it was little Peanut. And I didn't know what to do, so I was just like "Hi Paisley", and she stuck her little arm in the shower and offered me a teddy gram (I had given them teddy grams for snack), and I wasn't sure how to respond (because I was in the shower) so I took the teddy gram from her and said "Thanks Paisley" and she beamed at me and offered another one of her teddy grams so I took that one too. I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I ate them. In the shower. It was tasty.

This is Charlie Jude, or judderbug, or dudder, or if you're Paisley, then JuJu. He is number three and the boy of the boy-girl twins. It's so funny, I always seem to come around during potty training season. Frostie was being potty trained two visits ago and the twins were being potty trained this time around. I suppose I'll have to make a another visit when Betsy is getting potty trained... Charlie is so great. I loved playing the blow dryer game that I used to play with Foster with him. You know, the whole zap him with the blow dryer, he screams and runs away, then he cautiously sneaks back up to me and waits for me to zap him again, repeat until tired or hair is dry. It's a pretty great game for two year olds. I can't wait to play with Betsy. Anyways, as you can see, Charlie loves driving already, and he frequently took me for a spin around the block, you know, no big deal.

And the newest addition to the Dakin Clan....

Betsy Jean Harper

Oh, the many faces of Betsy, aka blues, aka blue bells, aka bitsy (if you're me). We are birthday twins (sort of) We were born less than 12 hours (and twenty years) apart. So naturally you can imagine how amazing she is. Of all the kids, Betsy is most definitely the most laid back and she's the youngest. She smiles like 85% of her life and causes her family to dream big dreams. I grew so attached to this one over the weekend and I wish I could hold her still.

We realized that I usually come visit after every round of kids, so somebody jokingly asked me when my next visit was...I don't think Aly and JR are looking to have more kids any time soon but I am WAY looking forward to get to know these guys as they grow up and turn into people. It's so exciting! It was so fun also to hang with Aly and JR and just to hear how God is blessing their lives and rocking their worlds. JR is back in school trying to get to med school. I think that that is so awesome! We got to talk about calculus and chemistry...you know, things up my alley. And I always enjoy getting to hear whatever Aly has to share with me because she is such a good older sister who cares about me and my life, and always has some awesome wisdom about life and relationships to offer me. It was such a refreshing visit and I really wish that I could have stayed for longer.