Without You

Dear Abigail,

As I mentioned before, you are staying at Mimi's house for a whole week, by yourself! That means without Mommy or Daddy! You guys left Monday morning, and well, it's a little different around here. Sad at times, but Mommy & Daddy are making it. I thought I'd just give you a little insight into what Mommy & Daddy do differently when we are without our little girl for a whole week!!!

1. Immediately put the time out chair in a corner. :)

2. Went to eat sushi (even though I hate it...)

3. Saw a movie at the theatre.

4. SLEPT ALL NIGHT and even slept until 7:30 straight!

5. Organized outfits for you and Kate for the fall (yep, that's how I roll!)

6. Ate dinner A) past 6 and B) on the couch (this is how Mommy & Daddy had our meals pre 'family'. I will say, it felt weird...)

7. Slept all night AGAIN.

8. Got a pedicure and manicure at whatever time I wanted.

9. Saw another movie in the theatre.

10. Ate dinner out again, with Aunt Steph while Daddy ate sushi again, with Uncle Jaybee (did I mention Ellie's with her Nona all this week, too??!)

11. Slept all night AGAIN.

12. Can't even remember what I did on Friday day.

13. Went to a fancy, no kiddos allowed restaurant on Friday where we had to actually wait for a table for almost an hour!!! Now that my friend, is something we'll NEVER do with you, so feel lucky. But it did feel good to know we COULD wait an hour! And it was quite the delicious meal. Maybe when you're 12 we'll start waiting on tables instead of going to Mexican :)

14. Slept all night AGAIN.

15. Read a book while laying out by the pool!

16. Napped, a long time.

17. Went to a U2 concert!!!!!!!!!

18. Slept all night AGAIN!

By Sunday morning, I think Daddy and I were both ready to see you, despite the sleeping all night gig. We got up on Sunday and drove straight into Mimi's where you were running out the door before we could pull all the way up in the drive way. I think, despite the awesomeness times you were having with Mimi, you were ready to see us too!!!!

We missed you so much, but I'm so glad you got to spend a whole week with your Mimi. I know she loved it and everybody loved seeing so much of you!

Love you little girl!

Jake, Elmo, Baby Grant, Mimi & Rain

Dear Abigail,

The title says it all. Okay, well not ALL all, but it pretty much sums up our weekend. Let's begin with Jake...

Oh, Jake. That little rascal. You may be a little confused on who Jake is - he's better known as Ryan's little brother, but since he officially got named just yesterday (2 days after he was born I might add...) we will call him Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake. We're all so happy we can finally call him a name!!! He also may be referred to as Lance (but don't let Miss Leigh hear you say that!). Why you ask, well because he was born in an ambuLance on Friday morning in his driveway!!!! Yeah, in his driveway. In an ambulance. Born. Right there. Told you he was a little rascal. I'll let Miss Leigh give you the full details when Jake's old enough to embarrass, but let's just say when Jake is ready to go, there is no stopping him! So Friday morning we awoke to learning about old Jake's entrance into this world, and after a little pool time, we met Daddy at the hospital and went and visited Mr. Jake himself! He's such a cute, tiny little baby and was just so peaceful all snuggled up and being held. You were interested enough to glance at him, pet him a couple times, then your attention was set on climbing on the couch. Unfortunately the only picture I got was of Daddy holding him, and that pretty much is because we were constantly on guard as to what you were doing/climbing.

I know, you can't even see his cute face... (Jake's that is.) After our little visit, we met Aunt Steph, Uncle Jaybee and Ellie at Mexican and enjoyed a little running around outside. Saturday morning came soon enough and guess where we went??? To Sesame Street Live!!!! That's right, we got to see Elmo and all his friends sing and dance for us, and you got a little dancing in there yourself!

Here's right before we left - you were SUPER excited!!!!

The first one to come on stage was Big Bird and you about lost it! You kept screaming, hand to the mouth, (to help project your voice) "HEY BIG BIRD!! HEY BIG BIRD" steadily waving your hand enthusiastically! I seriously am not sure I have seen you that excited to see anyone. Maybe Mimi when you are hollering out your window, but I don't know... And it only progressed with each friend - and Elmo, oh Elmo - were you excited! You were pointing (and it looks like Ellie is "praising hallelujah" to Elmo!!!

You were so engaged...
Everyone was dancing on stage, so you asked Ellie if she wanted to dance with you!

And she accepted!!!

Did I mention Ellie met us there??! Fun times all around!!!!

It was lunch time after the show, so we all walked across the street (did I mention we were in downtown Nashville???) to Rippy's!! Now typically this isn't really a place for 2 year olds, but apparently during the day there is no age limit! So Mommy didn't have to say "We have a baby. In a bar." :) It actually worked out perfectly because we had a whole area to ourselves upstairs, with a little air conditioning!!! We ate and ate and ate (so it felt like) and eventually had to split you and Ellie up. Ellie was playing with you (i.e. poking you with her glow stick thingy) and, well, you weren't wanting her to. After a little separation, you two were fine and of course had to copy everything the other did, including potty time... (Aunt Steph always gets lucky with that, by the way. You'll need to thank her when you get a little older :)

We headed back to the house where Daddy TRIED to get you to take a nap, but alas, no luck. So we just got ready and headed over to Baby Grant's birthday party!!! Of course you fell asleep in the car, but we planned on that, so we just drove around a bit and let you get a little sleep - you needed it after your glorious morning and now we had to celebrate Baby Grant turning 1!!!!

Look how happy that fella looks to be turning 1!!!

Miss EP (and Mr. Jay, of course) went all out for the big first bday and had a picnic theme galore!!! It was super impressive, but Mommy wasn't surprised by it at all!!! That's how Miss EP rolls! When we first got there A) you were just waking up from your car nap and B) you were the only kiddo, so you decided you'd just chill on the swing until some friends joined you...

It didn't take long for friends to join us and the fun was on!!!! You kiddos jumped in the bouncy house and played on Baby Grant's new swing set and threw balls and ran in circles and everything!!! And, of course, since you 4 were all together, you HAD to get pictures taken...

You and Ryan are waiting patiently for the madness to end...

As expected, this was about the best shot we could come up with, or I could. Let's hope Miss EP's camera caught something a little better!!

You and Ellie helped Miss EP and Baby Grant open up all his presents!!!

(if you are wondering, Ryan was doing his own thing in the jumpy house!!)

And soon enough, you two got distracted by a couple of Baby Grant's presents... (that's his puppy AND his wagon.) You are trying to negotiate with Ellie about her turn to play with the puppy (like for real you are - it was tripping me out...)

Apparently she didn't like your offer...

Soon after presents, Miss EP announced it was cake time! Now, Mommy knew that meant first we had to sing Happy Birthday to Baby Grant and watch him eat his cake, but you, however, forgot you had to wait. BUT, you accepted (in order to eventually get cake) and waited your turn. And by waited your turn I mean constantly asked if it was your turn yet! AND, I think Miss EP forgot she had little kiddos watching another little kiddo eat cake because after watching Grant play and play in his cake, she then took Baby Grant off inside to take a bath after he ate his cake and didn't bring out yours!!! So to say the least, you had to REALLY wait your turn!!!! You of course asked and asked if it was your turn, and Aunt Steph tried distracting both you and Ellie...

We tried to get your attention on coloring, too...

But at the end of the day, the 2 of you knew you were offered cake, and were not giving up until cake was on the table (or in your mouth!!)...Here's you girls waiting (i think maybe growing impatiently at this point...)

Finally, you came up to me and said "Mom - I have an idea. Why don't I go get the cake?". Cross my heart, hope to, well, cross my heart - I promise you said that! So, I thought you know what, that IS a good idea! So Mommy headed inside to see if I could get someone's attention long enough to get us some cake!!!! Soon enough Miss EP came down the stairs with a sparkling clean Baby Grant and I politely hinted - fine, I flat out told her she had 2 little girls who were dying for some cake and could we please at least cut your piece! HALLELUJAH! Cake was to be served!!!! (and what a precious cake it was, might I add!!!)

Oh, so when we walked into the party we immediately saw said cake. You were SO concerned about the 'lady bugs' crawling all over the cake!!! You kept saying "But I don't want bugs on the cake - I don't like bugs"!!!! I'm pretty sure you changed your mind after waiting long enough :)

Clearly, cake was enjoyed by all!!! Not too long after we tried to get you kiddos to eat some actual dinner, but that didn't work, other than you eating 3 pieces of watermelon. At one point Miss Kay (Ryan's grandmother) came up to me and said "Can Abigail have another piece of watermelon? She's eating the white part."!!! Miss Kay was so sweet about it!!! And of course I said sure! After lots more of jumping on the bouncy house and playing, it was time to head home no doubt. You were a mess, and well, were in need of much needed sleep! Oh, and did I mention your Mimi was waiting at the house for you?!!!

That's right! Mimi and Pic-pic decided to drive up on Saturday (rather than Sunday) so she was waiting patiently for you at our house. Pic-pic needed to look at our new fancy house we're building and you are going back with them for a whole week!!! Without Mommy!!!! I think you will do just fine, although you are being super clingy these days to me, but I know Mimi and she can distract anyone...

So here's what we had planned for Sunday: swimming, looking at the house, grocery store, Ryan's Big Brother Party, and Carnton concert. Here's what happened: It rained. and rained. and rained. UGH. Swimming was definitely out, so we got dressed and headed to Puckets for breakfast, where I might add you ate very well! After breakfast, there was a short little window of no rain, although it looked as if it wasn't going to last, so we jumped in the car and headed straight to our house to show it to Mimi and Pic-pic. It was super wet on the inside, and it made Mommy even more nervous than usual with you galavanting around in there, but between Mimi and me, I think you were fairly safe (oh, and I guess Daddy and Pic-pic, too, although they'd get to talking about something and, well, forget to look down and see you hanging over the edge!!!). I'm pretty sure Mimi was impressed, especially when you showed her room, and she even had a few good ideas! After house touring, we headed home and the rain began again - heavy rain. We all just piddled for awhile (some of us slept literally all day - Pic-pic!), and, because Mommy and Mimi can't sit still too long (and because when Mimi comes up we ALWAYS have to go to Target), we decided to go to Target! And yeah, it was raining... It wasn't too long of a trip, but somehow you walked away with new mermaids - surprise, surprise. And not too long after we all took showers and started to get ready for Ryan's Big Brother party!! That's right, Jake was coming home and so Ryan had a big brother party and invited us over. Unfortunately, we were waiting until Ryan woke up from his nap and while we were waiting, you fell asleep for a MUCH needed nap. Pretty much right when you went to sleep, Miss Leigh called to say it was party time... We decided to just leave you be and Mommy and Daddy went to see Ryan (and his baby brother Jake!). You missed out on cupcakes, I hate to tell you, but I think you will have plenty of opportunities to see Ryan as a big brother (and of course, Jake!).

As you can imagine, the Carnton concert was out, at least for us. Apparently they still had it because it did indeed quit raining around 5ish but man alive, it would have been SUPER muddy, and wet - so I voted we go to Chuy's instead! And so we did, and you even got a special snack there!!! A push up pop, which was your first time tasting it and I'm pretty sure you enjoyed it. Daddy was happy because he loves those - Mommy can't stand them!!! ugh...

Anyway, after Chuys, we headed home and pretty much all went to bed. Monday morning came around and Mommy and Daddy gave you hugs and kisses and miss you already's like crazy, and off you, Mimi, and Pic-pic went!

You've got a big week ahead of you including a water park, lots of swimming, spending the night with Clara Lee, and I'm sure lots and lots more!! Mommy will see you on Sunday!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU! MISS YOU ALREADY!!!!

Weekend in Munford Wrap up

Dear Abigail,

Yowzers, did we have a busy AND fun weekend visiting the folks back in Munford! We headed in town on Wednesday and went straight to Papa Rob's, although Mimi begged us to "just stop by for a minute." Mommy knows better... We had to get to Papa Rob's because dinner was awaiting, and your tummy apparently was telling you "I'm hungry," or so you say. After catching up over dinner with PR, the two of you headed off to your usual pillow fight, but I think PR was a little shocked at how much you've improved in your toughness!! You're no Clara Lee just yet, but you were able to finally put up a fight, and I'm pretty sure you wore him out!! Gramma made it home and after a few hugs and kisses and a few 'looking at the birds', it was off to bed.

Papa Rob and Gramma were super impressed (and a little jealous) at how late you were sleeping, but I had to clear it up for them that you only sleep that late when A) you go to bed later than usual (which that night was just the tip of the iceberg of going to bed late...) and B) when you are sleeping right beside Mommy!!! It's a personal struggle I am going through, if you must know. I know I can sleep late when you sleep late, but you sleep late when you sleep with me, but I can't really sleep with you - so where do we go... Anyway, that's for another day.

So, Thursday rolled around and we finally made it to Mimi's. After picking her up we made a quick trip to the mall where we met Emily (and Aunt G - but Em stayed with us while Aunt G did her thing). After running after you through Macy's one too many times, Mimi finally decided on a swim suit and we headed to the pool! Mammaws pool that is. One of Mommy's oldest friends, heck, maybe the oldest that I still keep in touch with, anyway - Miss Erin was stopping by with her 3 girlies to splash in the pool. We had such a good time swimming, and Mimi and Mommy were super entertained my Miss Erin's ability to watch all 3 kids, in the pool!! AND, Ellis, who is less than 2 months older than you, can swim!! Like for real swim, with no swimmy thing. After watching Ellis swim back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, I knew you had it in you, too. Not to skip too far ahead of the weekend, but the next day, that's just what you did! I asked you if you wanted to swim like Ellis and you said yes, so you swam back and forth between me and Mimi, NO SWIMMY! Now, you have to learn to kick your legs a little bit harder, but Mimi's going to work on that with you. But you have no fear whatsoever of that water and I have to keep my eye on you all the time because you will just jet from the steps, face in, and swim right to me!!!! Mimi and Mommy were so proud!! So, we owe it to Ellis that you are officially turning into the mermaid you've been dreaming of :)

After swimming at Mammaws for the afternoon, we headed back to Papa Robs but first we picked up Madison!! She was staying at Papa Robs too and you guys had to get some playing time in. Papa Rob and Mommy loved it because we kind of had a little babysitter with Madison!! We had a good dinner, oh, and a special ice cream dessert Gramma made!!, and after a quick bath, you girls decided you needed to sleep in the same bed together. Hmmmm, wonder how this is going to turn out... I decided we'd give it a go, but unfortunately A) there were terrible thunderstorms that made the electricity flicker and was really loud and B) Madison wasn't quite used to the early bedtime that you abide by! You two didn't know, but I had the monitor on, so I could hear every word the 2 of you were saying. Poor Madison doesn't do well in storms and was doing a little of whining about needing her Mommy. So you, very grown up said "I go get Gramma for you" and Madison said no, she needed her Mommy, so you said "I go get Papa Rob?" and again, she said no. It was funny listening to you console Madison through her rough time and eventually we had to separate the 2 of you (after Papa Rob tried to give it a go by laying with both of you. That was funny because his patience lasted about 5 minutes top!!!). You 2 were asleep in no time once separated and of course, you slept like a log, all night, and barely got to see Papa Rob before he left for work!

On Friday, we headed over to Mammaws to swim again, but this time we had quite the crew joining us! Aunt Lizzy and Sarah and Emery were in town from Houston, so we went to visit them and Lynnie came over, and Em, and of course Mimi, then Gracie and Sydney and their Mommy and Katie Ann! And even some neighbors stopped by!!! We played all day at the pool and you showed off your swimming skills. Sydney showed you how to kick your feet really hard and you showed her how to put her face in the water! We all played and played and played, oh and ate and ate and ate. The only picture I was able to capture through pretty much the whole weekend until Sunday morning was these two...

Not sure what you are doing here, but felt like I needed to include it because it's the only water picture I got!

Here's you and Sydney eating a special snack!

That afternoon, your BFF was picking Mommy up because she was taking me on a surprise. It pretty much came out of left field and she told me to just be ready by 2:30. I listened, and boy was I glad. Your BFF took me to have a prenatal massage!! It felt great, and I'm pretty sure Kate enjoyed it too. In the meantime, you were hanging with Mimi and the million of other folk at the pool, and apparently you did actually take a nap! Not sure how, but everyone assured me you did. Sarah and I had to stop back by after the massage because silly Mommy forgot to give Mimi the keys!!, so you got to visit with your BFF a little more. But, again, Mommy headed out with Sarah while you stayed with Mimi (we had to go see a movie you just couldn't see... sorry...). I don't think you cared because you ended up staying at Mammaws pretty late and when I got out of that movie you were STILL not asleep at Mimis. Mimi assured me you were almost though... that Mimi. Saturday morning came and while we didn't do much of anything but play at Mimis, the morning slipped by us with no problem. Mommy and Mimi and ALL the other girls in our family + Emery (19 of us to be exact - and that's not including Aunt Ash-ash and CL) were heading out to see Beauty and the Beast at the theatre. Now, I struggled with taking you or not. At first I was like no way, not in a million years. But then you REALLY love Beauty and the Beast (that's even what you call dresses - you say "I want to wear a Beauty and the Beast") but at the end of the day, the show said you had to be at least 4 to attend. So I took their word for it and instead you stayed with your BFF!!!! It was a hard toss up, but I think you enjoyed Sarah more than sitting in a theatre for multiple hours. AND, Bebe came by too!! Apparently you three went to the park and played lots of babies. And I'm pretty sure you made both Sarah and Bebe laugh with your little phrases you have going on these days - particularly "You're kiddin' me" which sometimes sounds like "You're killin' me"! After a fun packed afternoon with Sarah and Bebe, you'd think we'd just stay home, but no, we ventured back down to Mammaws to get one last dose of Lizzy and the gang in. While we didn't do any swimming, you kiddos had fun running around all crazy and wild, and for MANY hours!! Oh, and John Michael is totally saying your name like crazy!!! And I got to hear him say "Nik-nik" although your name was the top choice, no doubt! Mommy had it set in her mind that we'd leave after dinner, but after dinner ended up being at least 8 o'clock, and then we were all having such a good time, 8 turned to 9, then 9 turned to 10! And you were still awake!!! Finally I pulled the plug and we headed back to Mimis where you quickly went to sleep.

On Sunday, we had planned on heading out pretty early to meet Daddy for lunch back in Nashville, but since you went to bed so late, you slept pretty late, and so did the rest of us. It was going to be way too much to get out of the house in time to get to Nashville at lunch time, so we decided to stick around a little bit. Well, guess who finally made it home from their beach trip and HAD to see you??!! Why Clara Lee of course! Aunt Ash-ash said she talked about you their entire way home from the beach, which apparently took a lot longer than expected. There was no way Clara Lee (or Ash-ash for that matter) was going to let you leave without a little visit! So, Mimi headed to pick CL up that morning while Mommy packed the car. Since we had a little time to kill, we decided to break out the sprinkler and let you girls just play for a little bit. And that's just what you did....

Can you tell CL was super pumped about seeing you??!!!

Somehow you always convince CL (or whoever) to pull you around, while you just sit back and relax...

Somebody loves them some Abby!

And you know there are baby dolls around if CL is around...

I'm not sure what the conversation is right here, but it looks serious, and looks like CL is really paying attention and listening!

It got so hot that morning that we decided the sprinkler wasn't enough, so we jumped in the pool to cool off. You showed CL how to swim, and while she was very firm on "NO" she did NOT want to put her face in the water, I do think you got her a little more relaxed in the pool!! Unfortunately, we had to end the visit a little shorter than wanted because we had to go see Daddy (it was Father's Day after all!!!) BUT never fear, my dear, you are headed back in literally one week to stay with Mimi, wait for it... by yourself!! And for a whole week! I can pretty much guarantee that A) you will learn to kick your feet like no other and B) CL will get WAY too much Abby time and will expect it all summer!!! We may just have to schedule another week, huh :)

Love you baby girl, oh, oops, little girl!!!!!

Daddy's Birthday

Dear Abigail,

Last week was Daddy's birthday and we celebrated with style! His birthday was on Thursday, but we just hung out at the house because we had a lot going on that weekend. Friday was the usual Mexican, but the Grugett part of the group couldn't make it so it was just us Clark's. You were fine with that because Ellie was plenty company, and the 2 of you ran circles around outside, including finding a few cicadas and picking one too many flowers. Saturday morning, we headed out early to get to the zoo before it got too hot and were able to catch a few monkeys making lots of noise!! You were determined to see the elephants so we headed there first and of course you spotted the carousel. Daddy got to ride with you this time because Mommy was a little worried Kate wouldn't like going round and round in circles. We actually ended up seeing a lot of the zoo, which is a bit unusual for us, oh, and you totally thought you spotted Ellie! A zookeeper was showing/talking to us about a little owl and while we were listening to her presentation, you started saying "Ellie! Mommy, it's Ellie!" Sure enough, there was a pretty little red head coming our way, and I had to look twice because I even thought it was her!! But it wasn't... Mommy and Daddy almost took a picture to show Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee how much they looked alike, but then we felt it might be weird to take a picture of some random little girl... Anyway, after the zoo, we headed straight back to the house to eat some lunch and take a nap because we had a birthday party to go to!

Saturday afternoon, we met the gang at Uncle Jaybee's where he had decorated the entire house with fun birthday party things. Balloons were everywhere, and signs saying "Happy Birthday" and all kinds of stuff. BUT, the most fun thing was the water slide that he set up!!!! You kiddos loved it - no question about it! It provided lots of hours of entertainment, not to mention lots of energy burnt, a personal fave of the mommies ;)

Uncle Jaybee grilled some BIG burgers and hotdogs and we had all the fixins necessary, including watermelon!!!

After an abrupt stop in water play for reasons we will not mention, you kiddos all got in the tub for a much needed bath. Uncle Jaybee decided to be Uncle Jaybee and scared you by turning on the water jets. Just about when I got you calmed down enough to finish up with your bath, Miss Leigh accidentally turned the jets on again!!!! It was quite the scene and to say the least your bath time experience was over!!! You got your jammie jams on and impressed us all with proving you were back to your old ways with sleeping over (or it could have been the 3 hours of playing on the slide - either way, Mommy is not complaining!!). We all got to sleep in on Sunday and decided to head to the pool for a little bit and then Daddy had to start preparing dinner in his new fancy dutch oven (yes, we got your daddy a cooking device for his birthday. I guess that's what you do when you older...) Papa decided to stop by for a visit, and then you and Daddy and Papa took a quick visit to see Ellie while Mommy got a little break. Soon enough we were all enjoying a fancy chicken something or the other dish, all made in a dutch oven :)

I would say Daddy had a pretty good birthday weekend, and I think you enjoyed it yourself, too!!!!

Love you!!!

Kate

Dear Abigail,

Well, it's official. Like for real this time. We have decided on a name for your little sister - Kate Westerman Clark. That's it! It's official. It's on the blog, so it has to be. As a matter of fact, it's SUPER official because I've already set up a blog for Kate - www.dayswithkate.blogspot.com. So for sure, for sure. Now, you may be asking "Why, Mom(because you like to call me mom these days...), are you making such a big deal about this being so official?" Well, my darling little girl/big sis, because I have changed my mind 3 times now!!!!! And with that, you've had to adjust to all the name changes. Well, all except for Peanut, which Daddy still insists on calling her and you sometimes do too. I started off with Elizabeth, and just when you started to call her "Lisbah" I decided that wasn't working, and Molly was a better fit. It took some time, but you soon adjusted to Molly, although you still throw in a "You gonna call her Lisbah?" every now and then. But, Mommy THEN decided Molly wasn't working either, and that Kate seemed to fit perfectly. I told Daddy and you and while Daddy accepted it (and liked it!) he did say I was not allowed to change it again, so that's another reason why it's official :) But you didn't seem to grasp the new name change and even though I say "I'm going to call her Kate" you say "No, you're going to call her Molly". But then... just today, you were looking at Kate's pictures on the fridge and you said out of nowhere "You're gonna call her Kate". YAY!!! You got it! So then that REALLY made it official, and then I decided to take the plunge by posting it (and creating Kate a blog!!).

I can't wait for you to meet your baby sister Kate. You are going to be such a good big sis! Love you little girl!!!!

PS - you keep telling me you are NOT a 'baby girl' so I told you I could respect that but that you will be my little girl forever!!! You accepted that. I hope future encounters are smoothed out as easy as that was!! xxxxoooo

Cincinnati

Dear Abigail,

This past weekend, we ventured off, yet again. This time, to Mister Matti or for those of us who do not speak "Abby talk" that's Cincinnati! Daddy, you and I got in the car on Friday and drove north to see Daddy's two closest friends (Mr. Mike and Mr. Scott) and their families. It was a real treat for all of us. While the Daddies get together every year, we don't get to see the mommies or the kiddos often, if ever, so we were all excited to get to hang out in the same city together. You got to meet Miss Sarah and Mr. Scott for the first time and their precious daughters, Lily and Caroline. Mommy had met Lily when she was a baby, like 1, but now she was almost 7 years old!!!! Time has flown by way too quickly. Fortunately, Mr. Mike had a business trip back in the fall, so we had already met his fam (Miss Jill, Daniel and Joshua) but it was good to see them again. So we arrived Friday and immediately Daniel had to start showing off his incredible baseball skills - keep in mind he's just 5, but he is awesome! You weren't too interested other than wanting a ball to carry and you soon figured out that Joshua (who is 2 months older than you) would push you around in his little car! I told everyone it's how you roll. You always figure a way to get someone else to do the work for you, usually Clara Lee. Some may call it lazy, but not me. I call it inventive, smart, showing leadership. :)

After a little bit, Mr. Scott showed up with "The girls". You were so worried about when the girls would get there, even though you had never met any of the girls! They finally came and Caroline was an instant friend. It might have helped that she brought you a goodie box that included bubbles, but I think you would have been instant friends anyways. The parents and kiddos instantly hit it off as if we had met just last weekend for dinner. And, luckily, Mr. Scott brought his kid sister (well, she's not a kid, she's 20, but she was a LOT younger than us!!) so she babysat ALL you kids while we went to dinner. Now that was an undertaking because it included bedtime!! 5 kiddos, 3 of them in a new house, 3 of them with a new babysitter, and somehow she managed to get all of you in your jammie jams AND in bed AND asleep, and I'm pretty sure it was by 8:30, maybe 9 (which was 8 your time. I was concerned about that whole time thing but it was no issue at all...). We were VERY pleased with Miss Ali and even asked if she wanted to do it again the next night!! Just kiddin - we decided we'd hang with all the kids, and that's just what we did.

Saturday we woke up and new exactly where we wanted to go - to the pool! Mr. Mike and Miss Jill got us all fed, we got all packed up and Mr. Mike said "Okay, load 'em up! We're headed to the pool" and before he could finish "pool" we heard a loud clacking on the roof - it was RAINING!!! We knew it would pass because there was not a cloud in the sky, but we did think it was pretty funny that right when he said "load em up" that it started to rain. You kiddos had no problem finding things to do in their new fancy big ole house. You decided hiding under the dining table seemed appropriate while some of the other kiddos decided chasing each other in circles was the way to go. Honestly, I'm not sure which was worse because you knocked over pretty much every chair to the table... Anyway, it DID quit raining and we did make it to the pool. And what an awesome pool it was...

We all swam for a little bit, then ate some lunch (their pool it so fancy it has a concession stand at it with PIZZA!), but then we had to head back to the house and get some rest. You, my darling friend, decided you did NOT need to rest, but I soon realized that it was probably because we were trying to get you to rest at 12 your time, which you usually rest about 1, so we didn't try to hard, and you made up for it in the car ride. Where did we go, you ask??? Well, we all piled in 2 cars and headed to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game, your first MLB game! Now before you think your parents have gone mad (because why else would we take you, a 2 and 1/2 year old uninterested in baseball to a MLB game when it was 98 degrees???), Mr. Mike was able to score us a box all to ourselves!!! That's how he rolls. And man alive it was just what we needed. It was fully stocked with ANY beverage of our choice (even a fave of Mommy's - Diet Root Beer!!!) and tons and tons of yummy food. All of you kiddos seemed super eager and interested in the game at first, all grabbing a seat and clapping along with the crowd...

But about 10 minutes into it, you, Joshua, and Caroline were clearly changing your take on the game. So we focused on other things, like food! And of course letting you run in and out and in and out and in and out of the box! Oh the glory of the box. Also, around the 2nd inning you discovered "Rosie". Rosie is one of the Reds mascot and she was dancing on the dugout. Well, you fell in love with Rosie and when she left, you wondered (and asked) where did Rosie go. So we looked and looked and looked for Rosie. As painful as this was to ALL of us, it did entertain our time a whole lot. See Rosie left and never appeared again. I tried explaining to you that maybe she had to potty, then maybe she had to rest and then maybe she had to eat a snack. But you didn't let that fly for too long, and we'd continue to look for her. We even had our nice waitress lady calling the 'office' to see if they could locate her, but no luck. We took walks around the outside of the box and you even ran into (literally) the owner of the Reds! Of course, it didn't phase you, or me for that matter, until Miss Waitress Lady pointed it out. Had I known that I might have asked HIM where Rosie was, I mean, come on, he is the owner and all so he should know. AND, to top things off, the Dodgers, who were losing by 4 runs decided to hit a grand slam some where in the 8th inning causing the score to tie. Guess what that means - extra innings. And with a fan like Daniel, there was NO leaving until a team won! Thankfully the ice cream cart came by and that, too, entertained us all for a bit. You got 'white' ice cream with M&Ms. To say the least, it was a special special day. You normally don't get M&Ms or ice cream, so to get them BOTH - yowzers!!!!

Of course, we continued to look for Rosie and finally I decided I would just buy you a Rosie. Joshua was with us, and of course needed a ball, not a Rosie, so we got him a ball. Good thing because that ball became the distraction for extra innings...

You and Caroline and Joshua played "ball" for a good bit, while we cheered (some of us begged) for a run! Finally by the 11th, maybe 12th inning, the Dodgers got a run (or 2 or 3, we all quit counting...) and it was time to load up. The game started at 4 and did not end until after 8, so to say the least, we were all exhausted. Because we snacked all afternoon, we didn't really have 'dinner' but you recognized that we didn't and just could not accept that all that junk food was your dinner. So we sat all the kiddos down at about 9 oclock (again, Eastern) for dinner and soon after you were sound asleep in the bed.

The next morning we played a little in the yard, cleaned up the huge mess 5 kiddos can make, and headed back home. We were home by 3, which was nice, but Mommy decided next time we could just stay a little longer with our friends. It was a fun fun weekend, but definitely too short! We can't wait to do it again either!!! Maybe next time we'll find Rosie though.

Love you!