Just Call Me Alice

I've been waiting for Shelley to post about my trip to NJ because I didn't want to upstage her and she finally came through! So, this is MY side of the story!

It was sooo good to see Shelley. It's been almost a year and a half since we last saw each other. That's way too long. That's too long for two people who speak on the phone sometimes several times a day and have rarely missed a day! It was also good to get a little bit of a break from the craziness of my house. I did take Andyn with me but Shelley's boys totally kept her entertained. So it really was very little work.

Here are a couple of pictures of her hanging out with the boys. She LOVED them.

At first she called them all "Sissy" (which is what she calls her siblings) but after a couple of days she was actually trying to say their names. Here are some pics and a video of the little "cave" that the boys made for Andyn to play in. She loved it!!

I think Sam asked his mom for a baby sister at least 3 times the first day we were there!

Early in the week Shelley started calling me Alice - from the Brady Bunch. It became a little inside joke. Whenever I would ask her if she wanted me to do something she would say "Sure! Why don't you get on that, Alice!" All kidding aside, I just wanted to make her life easier. I didn't do a lot. But what I DID do I felt she appreciated.

I also got to take one of her Zumba classes. It was a total blast! She's so good at what she does.

We ate something chocolate everyday. We made these mini cookies

and this .

And I made this

for her because her kids don't like lasagna and so she never gets it. They seemed to like this recipe, though! I swear it was like we were both pms'ing! Look at this!

Now, Shelley teaches something like 10-12 classes a week so she can eat like a horse and not gain any weight. I, on the other hand, cannot do that! I had to have gained at least 5 pounds!

All in all, we had a great time relaxing, watching t.v., staying up late chatting, and Shelley enjoyed playing dress-up:

I took the boys to the park one day, made them French Toast for dinner, and made them call me Aunt Steph (JK). Man, Shelley, I miss you already!

I was really worried about the flight home because it was going to be 4 hours long right before Andyn's bedtime! But she was a champ! We got REALLY lucky and nobody was sitting in our row so we had lots of elbow room!! Toward the end of the flight I did have to take out my last resort: Marshmallows! Here are some photos of Andyn with marshmallows between her toes... Hey! It kept her happy and busy!

And her she decides that Bear needs one too:

PS What she said about me and the snoring thing is ALL LIES!! :) If you listen carefully on the video above, at the end, Shelley mocks my moaning!