An Old Friend and a New Friend

On Sunday, we enjoyed a visit from my college girlfriend, Bridget, and her gorgeous daughter, Grace. I hadn't seen Bridget since my wedding - but we picked up where we left off and caught up quickly. And the buddies have a lot of little girlfriends, but I'm not sure they've met any as sweet as Grace. They enjoyed showing off for her with their climbing and jumping tricks and Grace just giggled and watched the silly boys. Before we knew it, the afternoon had passed us by and it was already time to say goodbye. I hope it's not another 6 years before we see them again!

Pajama Party Play Date

This morning we hosted a pajama party play date for 19 of the buddies' closest friends. The kids all thought it was a blast to come over in their pj's, but truthfully, that was just my way of eliminating one task from my morning before everyone arrived. And what better way to spend a cold, rainy day than in warm pj's at home with friends! Some of the mommies (including me) stayed in their pajamas this morning too.
And, I was even lucky enough to get a kiss from my favorite blue - eyed son during the event. What a lucky mommy!

Road Trip!

The buddies and I are home from a long weekend road trip to Houston. We visited two of my college girlfriends and their families. Coincidentally, all of our husbands were out of town so it was just the three of us and our 6 kids under the age of four. It was quite a different kind of weekend than the ones we spent in college, but it was fun nonetheless.

We spent our days chasing kids, watching Disney movies, dining at McDonalds, baking cookies, and playing outside. And our nights were spent with three of my favorite things: red wine, chocolate, and girl-talk.

See the rest of the pictures from our trip here.

And as luck would have it, it is my turn to host our playgroup tomorrow. 23 of our favorite little friends will join us at our house tomorrow morning. Check back tomorrow to see my brilliant (at least I think so...) time-saving idea for the party.

Pizza Party!!

Does this look like fun or what?







Yesterday, at our weekly playdate, the buddies and I invited our triplet friends over for pizza party playdate today. We were so excited to see our little friends two days in a row! Our house was quite chaotic with five 2-year olds running around and just two moms to chase them. It was fun! And it made me grateful to just have my twosome!

Our Farmers' Market Adventure

This morning, the buddies and I met some friends downtown to explore the Austin Farmers' Market, a growers only, 100% local market. What fun we had! We filled our bags with organic oranges and grapefruits (and ate a few while there). Then, we discovered a stand filled with beautiful lettuce and radishes so we picked up some of each. And we couldn't resist the freshly baked wheat sourdough bread so we took a loaf of it home. Our favorite purchase was a pound of mushrooms, though I'll admit I was a tad nervous about serving them to my littlest family members since we purchased them from a couple of hippies. They were delicious and the buddies ate a ton of them with no ill effects.

After we had visited each of the stands, we spent some time enjoying the music of a band called "The Green Onions". Then, we walked to the top of a nearby hill and let the kids run around in the small urban park. Everyone enjoyed its nice fountain and had a blast splashing around the edges.

Once we returned home I busied myself creating a meal out of our newly purchased goodies while the buddies (and their cedar-allergy distressed daddy) napped. I am a bit obsessed with cooking these days and loved creating a meal from our market finds. When everyone awoke, we devoured chicken with mushrooms and swiss, a super-fresh salad, and roasted red pepper bruschetta (Ace and my favorite!) . I can't wait to return to the market this summer when the produce will be more plentiful.

Fun Times

The buddies have had a couple of fun days. Yesterday, we met our twin friends at a park for a playdate, just after a nice heavy rain. The park was one big mud pit. We arrived first and the buddies wiped down most of the wet slides (with the bottoms of their pants, of course). We're good friends, aren't we?






After our friends arrived, Ace, Ben, and their friend Matthew showed the other kids how to gather rocks and throw them in the "pond" (ie. giant mud puddle). After a few of the kids (including Ben) had waded a little too far into the muddle, I drew a line in the dirt and told all the kids not to cross it. Of course, our favorite triplet friends ignored me and went straight in, all at the same time. Their mommy had a lot of little shoes to wash when she got home.



Then, today was a rare day where we had nothing on our schedule, so we decided to pick up Daddy and take him to lunch. What a treat! After lunch, Daddy even invited the buddies into his office to pick a "sucker-pop" from his stash at his desk. We said a quick hello to all of his friends, ran down the long, fun hallways for a minute, and then headed on our way.

Fun at the Farm

This morning, we accepted an invitation to spend some time with my cousin and her family at their farm just an hour's drive out of Austin. We were all excited to leave the city behind us and run around in wide open spaces in beautiful 70 degree weather. It was a perfect day and after a week of very cold weather we couldn't wait to be outside.

Our hosts let us pile in the back of their pickup and took us on a tour of the almost 300 acre farm. We saw cows galore and all the beautiful ponds on the land. We can't wait to come back in the summer and go swimming! The buddies loved throwing rocks in the pond (though they got a little too close to the edge for my comfort) and also spent a good amount of time pretending to ride the lawn mower "tractor". And after lunch, they made bird feeders out of peanut butter, pine cones, and bird seed and then proudly hung them in the trees.

At the end of our very fun day, our two tired boys climbed into bed. Ben said, "I go a farm. I throw rocks!" and Ace said, "I go farm too! Ride tractor!" I think they liked it.

Four cousins and one Daddy, ready for the tour.

This is a scary picture. Ace was not getting ready to jump, but winding up to throw his rocks. The two moms behind cameras gasped when it happened but all was well.