little brother

i have a new character to introduce. it's little brother. because we only have one extra room and the kids ages are too wide they have a little brother that lives about 20 minutes away from us. although they see each other at visits twice a week our family and his family try to get together as much as humanly possible and still have lives. this week little brother's family is going out of state on a pre-planned family vacation and couldn't take him. so. he gets to come stay with us. he is cute as punch. cute as pie. cute as a bug in a rug. all of those sayings-he's that plus. he is what every parent dreams their kids look like and his personality matches to boot. adorable. great hugger. always trying. and still has a touch of baby talk. ugh! i could eat him up. tonight he was playing baby tiger and accidentally bit my face. and even THAT was cute. anyway-we get him for a whole WEEK and we could not be more excited. and the kids LOVE getting to be together for more than an hour. today we took all 3 of them to see UP and we got popcorn and sodas to fully enjoy the movie theater experience. it was too much fun. and in the first 5 minutes of the movie we were all crying. younger said "this movie kinda makes my eyes teary." ya-no kidding! she told me as i was wiping my eyes with salty popcorn stained napkins. then we came home and had quiet time, which is code for paul and cheri need a nap. then me and older went grocery shopping. each week one of them comes with me and we go to sonic for a slushy and one-on-one time which is like opening pandoras box to their feelings. it's interesting each time. so i got some good bonding time in with older before the week begins. it's really hard for her to let go of her mothering/protector duties and having little brother here adds to her pressure. i always reassure her that paul and i will do our best and that she doesn't have to carry on that role at our house. younger was having issues earlier because her role as family princess has been compromised by the little prince. we'll have to be careful to still allow her to be our little princess this week. anyway-that's all for now.