Hanging out with friends

Dear Abigail,

This weekend was so much fun, and guess what, we stayed put the WHOLE time! Can you believe it? Friday morning was a little more exciting than normal for you. Mommy had a dentist appointment, so you went to work with Daddy!! Oh, do they love you at Daddy's work, especially Miss Pam. Every time I call Daddy and she answers, she tells me how precious you are and how much she wants to babysit you!! Daddy said you did real good at his work, and was even a little bit shy. Kind of unusual, at least after about 10 minutes. But he said you had fun!

After I picked you up, we ran a few errands (of course) and headed home for lunch. I was super excited to have discovered that you love chicken salad, and, thankfully, not allergic to mayonnaise, as we once thought... I discovered this when Miss Auburn and the kiddos were over and you kept eating all my chicken salad sandwich! So, since we had some left over, we decided to have a girly girls lunch! I made you a chicken salad sandwich and me a chicken salad salad, and we put it on our girlyest girl plates and we had fruit cocktail and even yummy veggies fries (okay, not real girly, but you saw them and insisted). I wanted us to sit inside on a blanket, but you insisted we head outside to eat lunch. Well, little known fact around here, it's SUPER hot, especially at lunch time. But, we ate outside, and it wasn't as spectacular as imagined. Still, we had our first girly girl lunch, and you ate it up!

After your nap, Miss Kristin and Jacob came over for an afternoon swim. It was VERY refreshing after the lunch episode. Well, the pool was... We got in the pool first, and then you decided to linger over to the kiddy pool. Well, we didn't care, so we decided to join you in the kiddy pool, but man alive, it was like stepping in a hot tub! That water was sooo warm, we couldn't handle it! So we got back in the big pool and you continued to take a bath, I mean a swim in the kiddy pool! It was a fun afternoon swimming, for sure. (no pictures, though...)

Well, just as soon as they left, the next round came! The whole gang was finally getting together again! That's right, it was Baby Grant's big debut for the weekly Friday night get together! Everyone came over to the house and we had pizza and chips and dip and, wait for it, Gigi cupcakes! Well, the adults did - unfortunately for you guys, we ate those after you went to bed!! sorry... What a good time everyone had. We all just kind of ate wherever - our house was not prepared for 12 people to dine, but we all made do:

Here was the girls table...

And here was the boys table!

After lots of pizza, the kiddos headed up to the play room. We tried to keep you 3 up there without parent supervision, but that lasted, oh, I don't know, a total of 3 minutes. Precious, tiny Ellie somehow knocked the gate down, so we decided to just join the fun!

Of course, EVERYONE wanted to see baby Grant, especially you. You went right up to Miss Erin and said "Hold Baby?". Mommy thought this was funny, but thought what was more funny was Miss Erin's face! No way you were holding that baby, not yet at least!! You were real good though, very gentle to him and sweet. But then you got easily distracted by your toys and your other friends! You kiddos had so much fun just running around, playing in the tent, pulling every possible toy out! Good times. Next thing we knew, 8 o'clock!! It was time for bed...

Look at you and Ellie matching!! And we didn't even plan that one!!!

And we thought Baby Grant and Ryan matched, but it wasn't exactly! Still, we were pretty excited about our first sleepover of the kids, even if this was the best picture we could get of the 4 of you together!

Aunt Steph decided she would wind you up instead of getting you ready for bed...

Finally you all were alseep, and sleep you did! Saturday morning you slept in, which meant Mommy and Daddy slept in, which meant we were all happy campers that day! Mommy was so well rested, she decided to cook waffles for breakfast! Well, I'm not sure how often that will happen. Daddy immediately decided he didn't want waffles, and would prefer a bacon/egg sandwich. So it was down to just me and you. Well, you decided after tasting the waffles and syrup, that you wanted peanut butter toast! How did I get stuck with the family that doesn't like waffles! Torture, I tell ya...

After 3 different breakfasts, we decided to venture out and look at more lots/houses since the other one is not working out for us as planned (long story, maybe never to be told, as we're trying to forget about it...). Anyway, we ended up driving a long time, and ended up eating lunch out at one of Mommy's fave - Tin Roof II. And, I was so excited, you ate some of my quesadilla! This excites me because it's kind of a strange combination of sun-dried tomatoes and feta and chicken all in a quesadilla, but you loved it!! That made up for the pancakes, for now at least.

After a good nap back at the house, we got things all picked up and ready because guess what, the gang was coming back over (minus Uncle Jaybee, Aunt Steph and Ellie - boo for them having other friends, right?!). Daddy has been dying to grill on that Egg of his, so everyone came right back over! We didn't even take down the pak n' play!! This time, you and Ryan were able to play outside with the Daddies while the mommies and Grant stayed cool inside!

The mommies were trying to fry up some okra, so we had to keep you out, but the 2 of you looked so cute trying to come in, knocking on the door, begging!

I'm pretty sure you got in at some point, but only to be shuffled back outside! Mommy finally smartened up and got the bubbles! You were trying to catch them with your bat at first, but then you wised up and started just chasing them.

Ryan would chase after the biggest ones ...

And then, POP!!!!

After a good dinner (Daddy made delicious hamburgers and corn, and the okra wasn't too bad if I may say so myself!), and after a pretty sweet meltdown from you, we decided to get you in that bathtub ASAP, and of course, Ryan joined us. This bathtime fun wasn't as enjoyable as the last go round, and there definitely wasn't any pictures! Once you two got in there, you decided to take some of those moves that Clara Lee pulls on you and try them on someone else. That's right, you took a cup of water and poured it on Ryan's head while we had our heads turned for a split second. And pour Ryan can't get water in his ears right now either... Well, he didn't like it, and you didn't like him being upset, so you sat there with your 2 pointer fingers plugging your ears! HA!! Oh, if only that worked. I so would have used it at that meltdown during dinner!!!

Well, after a quick bath to say the least, both of you headed to bed...

Sunday was a little less active and after another sleep in, we decided to drive around a little more. This time you took you a quick cat nap and then watched a little Elmo - still, you were tired of riding in the car. Daddy took you to the neighborhood park while Mommy got lunch together and then we all laid down for a nap - Ahhhhhh, that's what we were looking for....

After a fairly calm afternoon, and quick visit from Papa that night, we wrapped up our weekend with a bit of ease...

See, we don't have to go anywhere to have an exciting weekend!!! Love you!!!