Knock knock!

Only three days after Bryan's parents left, his aunt and uncle drove into town for a short visit over the weekend.  Don't get me wrong, I love having visitors but having more than 24 hours of advance notice would be nice.  That way I can at least make sure the room is dog-hair free and that the pantry is stocked.  The snow birds are flocking down from the north, and who could blame them with the weather up in Michigan being what it is.  Unfortunately, the weekend they were here, we were close to freezing temps with howling wind.  Bryan's uncle was a good enough sport to accompany us on walks with the dog but I'm sure it wasn't the weather he signed up for when he came to Texas.

Back in Michigan, Bryan's brother and sister in law have sent us pictures of the snow drifts against their barn and video of digging themselves out of three feet of snow.  Sounds like great March weather, don't it?  They're coming down for a visit in May when it will definitely be warm (probably hot).

I've never had so much room to host people before and the house is set up nicely for visitors.  After having so many guests roll through the house in such a short time span, I have a few overnight guest hosting tips:

1) Nightlights.  We have light detecting nightlights scattered throughout the house, with a health amount of extras in the guest wing.  Help your guests navigate through an unfamiliar space by giving them a little spark of light.  We bought a pack of 8 from Amazon for $16.

2) Drinkware.  When Bryan's parents came to visit, we bought them their own Texas-themed coffee mugs that they then took down with them to Corpus.  It was fun, personal touch that they loved and it was also convenient for knowing whose cup of coffee belongs to who in the mornings

3) Order takeout.  The weather has been.. well... Texas spring weather which means unpredictable and nasty at times.  When Bryan's parents and my parents wanted to get together for dinner on a weeknight, we hosted an informal pizza party at our place.  Prep and clean up were easy and we could spend our time chatting and making sure the parents got along (which they did).  We did the same thing when Bryan's uncle were in town last weekend - super easy.

Southern & Northern Family

4) Regular routine.  Include your guests in your regular routine.  I know that knee-jerk reaction to plan a full schedule of touristy things to do but that leaves you and your guests exhausted at the end of it all.  If you work them into the things that you normally do, you'll find that most of the time, they want to spend time with you and catch up.  I've taken way more guests than I expected out to the barn with me to watch me just do a regular hack.  They really enjoyed being around the animals.