The Gallos' Visit

Well this post is long overdue! My last post was about Lauren's baptism, and now I need to share about the rest of our wonderful week with the Gallos.

When Rachel and Michael planned their trip, we decided to keep it a surprise from my dad and my three kids. I picked the four Gallos up from the airport on a Saturday and drove them straight to my parent's house. My dad thought my family was coming over for my youngest brother's birthday party. He had no idea I was bringing out of town guests. It was so fun to watch my Dad's face light up with surprise and joy when he realized who was walking into the house!

An hour or so later, Andy and the kids showed up. They were also very excited to see "Benny," as they call him and Baby Lauren.

All the kids wanted to take turns holding Lauren.

 She was less enthused about the idea.

And now with Ben!

This is how Ben smiles when you tell him to smile for a picture. I love it! (This is also how Joey smiles when you tell him to smile for a picture.)

This was (almost) the whole crew for Timmy's birthday.

The birthday boy and his nephew!

Later in the week, Ellie and I got to hang out more with Aunt Rachel, Ben and Lauren while Joey and Hannah were in school. Ellie and Ben were so cute together and held hands as they walked around the backyard.

And this one wasn't so sad about the photo shoot this time.

On Thursday, my mom, sister, kids and I drove down to visit my grandma. Here she is with three of her great-grandkids (Joey and Hannah were in school again). Lauren was very sweet and content, so my grandma got to cuddle with her the whole time.

Playing on the courtyard outside my grandma's place.

Thursday was also Andy's birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures from that night. We went to my parent's house for dinner and my Uncle Kramer, Aunt Kim and cousin Brian came up to meet Lauren. That night we came home with one less kid because Ellie stayed at Nana and Bubba's house to spend the night!

So she got more snuggling time with little Lauren! Ellie got to spend the whole day with Nana, Aunt Rachel, and her cousins.

They went to the beach to feed the birds!

That evening they came over to our house for another little party because Friday was my sister's birthday. (Yes, we have a LOT of May birthdays around here!)

Cute family of four!

The five Krause grandkids. This is the best picture we could get of all five of them. At least one of them is looking at the right place. ;-)

My Dad and Princess Sweetness

We had a wonderful visit with my sister and her family! A HUGE thank you to my fabulous brother-in-law for thinking up this trip in the first place!