DeCarlo News: A Visit

So I have an excuse for missing the entire last week in the blog world: I had house guests. So fun, but not much time left for blogging. So here I am trying to catch up before I have to abandon you again as I leave town for a visit myself.

My wonderful cousin and his precious wife and daughter came for a great visit last week. It started a little earlier than planned when they called and warned me that they had left a little earlier than they had planned and thus they would be arriving sooner. Like a day and a half or so. Yikes! So it was a flurry of activity as I cleaned up the party gear and switched to hostess mode.

I made a trifle for the first time ever. It was a Valentine's/birthday trifle, since my cousin's birthday was during the drive down, and of course, Valentine's Day was coming. It has: red velvet cake, homemade chocolate pudding (SO good! Did you know there was another kind other than from a box?) strawberries, whipped cream, and strawberry cake. And on top mini chocolate chips. Justin helped me lick the spatula after spreading the pudding and whipped cream. He approved! And the trifle got rave reviews. I might have to repeat that one.

Then I tried to get a picture of the boys and my cousin's 7-month-old daughter, Lexi. I think it shows their personalities. :)

We went to the Museum of Natural Science. They have a great butterfly dome. They also have some fun exhibits so we decided to check them out. My cousin, an artist, wanted to see the Faberge egg exhibit. His wife and I decided to go to the Bug movie in 3D instead. Lexi got to eat and Travis and Justin watched a caterpillar become a butterfly and then get eaten by a preying mantas. Travis refused to wear the 3D glasses, which worked to my benefit. I am not sure if I could have prevented the nightmares stemming from those images. Instead I heard questions all through the movie like, "How come that lizard has 2 tongues?" Travis actually enjoyed it. Then we went on to check out the butterflies.