Weekend Wrap-up!

Oh my, what a weekend! I think that this is the first time that a Monday sounds good. Routine is a good thing! I will miss Carl though when he goes back to work.

Evie had a birthday party yesterday. That's the story of our life these days. We only attend parties of our favorite people as a way to cut it down a bit. However, we really like a lot of people. Joshua's party was so much fun. His sweet mom, Sara, did not miss a detail and orchestrated the perfect train party. Not a detail was missed. Each child was given a ticket and circulated to eight train-themed centers. They dressed up like Sir Topham Hat, shoveled coal, worked train puzzles and sorted the mail at the depot. Evie loved it all! Her favorite part was the train ride through the neighborhood. It was a bit brisk for a train ride but it was worth it to see Evie enjoying herself so much. After a few train rides, it was time for a train themed lunch. Evie loved eating her turkey train sandwich. It was an exciting morning and exhausted our sweet girl. She slept for nearly four hours after that adventure. Henry slept great too which was a real treat for us to have both kids asleep for the same period of time.

We had an early dinner and then watched Evie put on a show with her dress-up clothes. Evie kept us entertained while we watched the South Carolina primary results roll in on television. I tried to watch a movie with Carl but fell asleep. He watched, The King's Speech and thought it was very good. Maybe I will try to sneak a movie in during nap time this week.

Morning came too soon! Someone always wants to wake up at 7 and this morning that someone was Evie. We went to early church. Evie was reading to "her cousin" when I picked her up. She kept telling me and everyone within ear shot that this girl was her cousin. Perhaps, her name was Mary or Lucy but she was not related to us. Henry did not fare so well in the nursery this week. He was not happy at all when I picked him up and did not settle down when we went back in the church. Carl and I decided to head out after communion because Henry literally never cries so we knew something was wrong with our little guy. It was so sad to see him with big tears and gasping to breathe. He perked up after a feeding and a nap.

Carl and I did a major clean-up of the house to prepare for our small group to come over for dinner. Carl did most of the cleaning while I ran to the grocery store. It's pretty easy to cooking-wise because everyone brings something. Carl grilled pork tenderloin and I made two pies along with an appetizer and a dessert. Dinner turned out well but it was a madhouse! Eight adults and seven kids for dinner is a bit overwhelming. Thank goodness, that a few of the kids had youth group tonight so that cut our numbers back a little. We made it but barely. Carl said he was so in shock the entire time that it was so wild and I gently told him that's the way it is with kids. We will  finish the year but will probably either skip small group next year or do one without kids. Evie was a major pain! I am sure it's hard to have so many people in your house playing with your stuff when you are three. Some of the big kids were not so sure about her but she sure loved them! Maybe loved them a little too much. We enjoyed the fellowship with friends - it's just getting to that part. That's the hard part for us, getting dinner prepared, served while entertaining the guests and taking care of our kids. It's a lot at this stage in our life. We really have enjoyed getting to know the other couples. I may feel differently in a few days but after three timeouts for Evie, pillow fights with tears in the den, a horrible storm and chocolate pie smeared from here to there - it was a little much. We have to host one more time and I am thinking a nice cookout would be fun and a little easier to manage.

We were so busy doing this weekend that we did not get around to taking many pictures. In the morning, Valerie is coming to take pictures of Henry and Evie for their six month and three year portraits. Wish me luck, my first time doing a photo shoot solo but I wanted the pictures done while Henry was still six months old. Hope your week gets off to a great start!