We absolutely love having Wesley (my brother) living with us. Besides the fact that he is just a pretty awesome person to be around (so calm, such an encourager, an awesome cook) having him around is just, plain and simple, nice after him being so far away at Seminary for the past 3 years.

Every morning he is in the kitchen making his coffee around the time I am getting the girls up and bringing them to the kitchen for breakfast. I enjoy starting my mornings with him in my kitchen too! He usually heads back to his room to drink his coffee and read much to Little Bug’s dismay.

We had to establish some boundaries for Little Bug because, when Unk first moved in, Little Bug thought he would be at her beck and call! And so boundaries were established: If Unk’s bedroom door is closed, she is to leave him be.

You know Little Bug pushes her limits and it wasn’t long after this boundary was established that I found her laying on the hallway floor outside Unk’s closed door. She was whispering under the door crack, “Unk! Can I come in?!”. Before that, she had told me, “But I just want to peek on him!” when I told her she needed to leave Unk alone because his door was closed!

Unk parks his car in the driveway and since he moved in, every time we arrive at our house, from the backseat I hear an excited voice say, “Unk is home!!!!!” if his car is in it’s place on the driveway. If his spot is empty you’d think the world had come to an end by the same little girl proclaiming, “Awww, Unk isn’t home!”. As if anytime she is home, he has to be home as well.

Sweet Pea’s birthday was an action-packed day. We woke up and had our little family celebration. Wesley took pictures as the four of us sat on the living room floor opening and playing with Sweet Pea’s birthday presents.

Dave and I were leaving for our weekend get-a-way after work that day so I had last minute packing to do (for me and the girls) and we were going over to my parents at 11am for her traditional family party for the girls on their actual birthdays. Needless to say, that morning got a little hectic. I could feel my stress level rising and I had to take a moment to prioritize and choose what was most important.

I ended up leaving the kitchen a mess and the birthday toys spread all over the living room floor as I corralled the girls to the car (along with all their stuff for the weekend) and we headed to my parents’ house for the family party. It was either leave the house a mess and enjoy the time with my family of four on my daughter’s birthday or clean up and miss out on that family time.

I knew I could clean up when I got back to the house later that afternoon while waiting for Dave to get home from work so we could hit the road. Well, when I walked in the door I walked into a clean kitchen and all the birthday toys stacked neatly on the fireplace in the living room.

THANK YOU, WESLEY!

I text him later to tell him thank you, thank you, thank you and he just simply said, “I thought it would help you all get on the road quicker.”

He is just so thoughtful like that and…….we just love having him around.

And then, when we got back from our trip, the next morning he took the girls out to swim and I used that time to unpack and do laundry and it was so incredibly helpful in getting my family back in to the swing of things after being gone on vacation for a week.

This was me peeking on them from my bedroom window:

I may make him stay until he gets married.

- Elaine