Nashville Trip

We got back from the lake on Sunday, pretty much wiped out. I drove to Nashville the next day to "spend" with my family there. My dad's sister Robin, her husband Duncan, and my three little cousins live there. I love hanging out with them anytime!! This week, my uncle's job as a pilot for Southwest took him away for four days, which would be hard for any mom, but especially one with LITTLE kids-- Caroline's 4, Luke's 2 1/2, and Jack is 5 mos. I usually can't go for long stretches of time, since I teach and all that, so we grabbed this chance for an extended visit. We went to the pool, the mall, a Mexican restaurant, and on a nice long walk to their local playground. We built a "cave" in the living room (and had a picnic in it!), watched "The Letter Factory," read books, potty trained, blew bubbles, took baths, and a whole host of other daily things. One of my jobs was to figure out how to work their digital camcorder & its software, then teach my aunt everything I'd just learned. That was a fun challenge, especially because their camcorder is really cool! We burned our first DVD successfully! :) I also took lots of pictures, some of which I think turned out rather well.

I enjoyed the kiddos of course-- both Caroline & Luke are VERY verbal, and come up with the funniest sayings. Jack is just a huggable, squeezable, kissable bunch of smiles. I LOVED carrying him around in a baby sling while I did stuff, or watching him smile when I talked to him. Some examples of the Copeland wit:
-- Caroline, upon me saying goodnight, sat up startled, demanding "who said those words!?"

-- Luke, wishing with a penny: "I wish my birthday in the next 5 minutes."

-- Caroline, running around making growling noises, "I'm practicing being ferocious."
And my favorite: Luke, finishing his sister's Bible verse rather... revealingly:
"Every good and perfect gift is--" "MINE!"
Glad to be back... and off to finish cleaning my house!
--Christina