f-a-m-i-l-y

living in the ATL certainly has many perks. For starters, (and this is just running from stream of consciousness, not from order of importance) I can run year round with the cuties in the jogger--crucial for me when training for races while J is away. 

More importantly, though, as the tile of this post attests, we are very near family. When J is away, it is so nice to be able to scoot over to Mimi & Poppy's house and hang with them and the cousins. (*disclaimer!* Of course we wish we could be near all our family but since the greatest concentration lives in Atlanta, it can't be beat--we love you everyone!)

Anyway, this week was one of those J's-home-for-36-hours weeks so the Cuties and I headed North for a few nights. 

Night 1:

Indoor picnic with the fam

the Cakester thinks...when will my mom ever start me on solids?

(soon enough dearie...

it's just a bit more than mommy can handle at the moment)

in the meantime, play with your fun cuz

don't worry--you'll be best buds soon!

...Sweet Pea's really not as tough as she looks!

Day 2:

the ritual--Starbucks run with Mimi & Poppy

always means green juice & a bagel

this time Cutie Cakes and I got to tag along, too!

we headed back home to take the big cousins swimming

but it was all hands on deck so no pictures were taken. 

alas

they are GREAT swimmers these days, though--jumping off, no hands, and kick kick kicking around (while wearing their swim school vests, of course)!

the girls somehow still had enough energy to not sit still long enough for a decent picture. boo. they're still cute, though :)

Lil Miss was a sweetie and posed quickly for me 

(ie "Turn around, Lil Miss!"...SNAP!)

Cutie Cakes also posed nicely for me

always content with a thumb!

It rained like crazy on Monday night so, in lieu of running in the deluge, I ran out and bought a pizza special. I hadn't packed enough yummy veg for the kid but i figured she could try a slice.

Try = understatement

Eat = yes

She ate TWO slices by herself. And Lil' Miss ate one! 

needless to say i was impressed! all this just days after being confused by what a sandwich was! Way to make huge strides in eating "normal" people food!

Tuesday we hung out with the gang before heading back home for an afternoon at the natural history museum...post about that to come!