As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my cousin Aaron, his wife Jen, their little man Spencer and his baby sister Alexandra came to stay with Kylie and I for a few days during Thanksgiving.  We loved having them because we get along so well an have a relaxed, easy-going, fun time when we're together.  Oh, and on a personal note, having Aaron around makes me feel validated in my absent-mindedness.  I swear if I didn't know any better, I'd convince you he and I were separated at birth... he and I can relate all to well when it comes to having mental lapses in seemingly routine, everyday tasks.  See some Windex in the fridge?  Good luck figuring out if it was Aaron or me that put it there.  Wondering why half the cabinet doors in the kitchen are opened?  It's eeny-meeny-miny-mo.  See someone looking around the house to find his keys only to realize 6 minutes later they're in his hand?  It's a toss up.  Cell phone in the trash?  Take your pick.  We are truly brothers from another mother.  Aaron and I prefer to think of it as creative genius.  Jen and Kylie?  Not so much.  If nothing else, it makes for cheap entertainment.  While they were with us, Aaron and Jen wanted to do some custom photography with the kids, so we loaded up and headed up to Chestnut Square in McKinney late one afternoon and stole a little Texas sun for these Bostonians.  I say Bostonians, but they bleed scarlet and gray and will always be Buckeyes before anything else. Here's my favorites from our session that day as well as a few extras from later in the week. Leading off is Spencer and his rock star hair.  Bask in it's awesomeness for a moment.

And then there's sweet, sweet Alexandra.  She loooves to be held.

Here's Aaron doin' his best frog impression with Spencer on his back.  Aaron was suckin' wind after about 6 leaps... which is 4 more than I coulda done.

Breakin' out the Buckeye gear.  Future OSU cheerleader?

Spencer's probably gonna grow up to be some sort of intellectual smarty-pants like his dad, but if that rocket science stuff doesn't work out, he's got a back-up future in photographer assisting.

Hey, here's Goofus and Galiant.  I'll claim the Goofus role simply because of my goofus smile.  Zoinks... I've lost my smile and can't find it.

These next two were taken out on the front sidewalk around 5:15pm on Thansgiving day.  [not pictured: A nikon SB-900 flash on a small stand with a 24" octagon soft box on camera left; Aaron and my buddy Jeff holding up the fabric backdrop Alexandra's sitting on (with Aaron holding a small, cheap little video light for a little hair light action); Jen at camera left chanting in vain, "It's peanut butter jelly time! It's peanut butter jelly time!" trying to get Alexandra to crack a smile; me behind the camera wondering what the neighbors walking and driving by are thinking of our little Olan Mills-ish ghetto mobile studio set-up on the front lawn on Thanksgiving.]

A little more front lawn action the next day.

And finally, a little behind the scenes look at some real brother and sister love in case you were thinking Spencer and Alexandra where all smiles all the time.  Our sessions weren't completely drama free, but for the most part the kiddos were awesome. Thanks for coming Aaron & Jen!  It truly was great seeing you and hopefully we can make a habit of it.