MoBot and more

Spring is (duh) one of the best times at MoBot.  I have very fond memories of going to MoBot with a few girlfriends in the spring of 2007.  There were 4 of us who went, and 3 of us only had one kid, the last had 2.  It was a perfect day, slow and warm, the trees were beautiful...happy day in my memory.  And I have loved it there since...and have tried to recreate that day and hit the trees just right every year since then.  Haven't quite made it, but this year we did. 

Our good friends Rachelle and her family were in town for their spring break.  Her oldest boys, Jackson and Thomas, Z LOVES.  He has missed them terribly since they have moved.  Really, we have all missed them, so we were so glad to have them in town to play with. 

We met them at MoBot Saturday morning with Erin and her kids, totaling 12 kids (we had 3 total in 2007). 

Here are the oldest 3...holy moly...5 years is a long time!  Look at those sweet babies!!!!

Sigh....

Anyway, the day was beautiful.  The trees were perfect, as was the company. 

We really are quite a herd, but just look at those 12 blessings!  Sweet, wonderful kiddos, every one. 

That evening they all came over for dinner, and we grilled steak and hotdogs.  3 families, 18 people.  That's a lot going on in my house.  And it was raining, so we couldn't even kick the kids outside.  But they did great, all of them, and played well and obeyed and had fun.  The adults even had some time for conversations, and we all managed to eat our dinners.  I think there were at least 3 cups that hit the floor, maybe more, but floors clean :) 

The next night, Sunday, Jackson and Thomas spent the night.  It was the first time that we have had anyone spend the night, and the first time they had spent the night...just about the only people I would trust to spend the night at my house or have Z spend the night there. 

The boys did great, had fun, didn't fight, fell asleep quickly, didn't get up too early, didn't wake up in the middle of the night, and weren't homesick.  Whew.  That's all I ask for! 

Monday morning we went to the Zoo.  It was the first official day of Spring Break for most of the city, and it was a madhouse there (which we figured it would be).  I lost N for a minute (kind of freaked me out) and had to leave the others with friends while I ran back to look for him.  I was incredibly grateful that I had put them in their new orange summer shirts that day...it made it very easy for me to spot them.  I have no pictures from that day, my hands were way too busy trying to hold hands and my eyes were too busy just scanning and counting 1.2.3.4. over and over ;)  We decided to ride the train and had to wait 30 minutes just to get on (for the record, I have never had to wait at all before!). 

We got home, had quiet time, and decided to go back out to the Magic House.  Since Rachelle was just in town for a short time she wanted to cram it all in, and we wanted to do as much as we could.  Thankfully, the Magic House was not as crowded at 4:00.  Will came and took the big boys, so we just got to hang with the littles, and we had the section we were in almost to ourselves.  It was great :)

We were so glad to have our friends in town!