Birthday Bowling!

With all our polar vortex days this winter and the inevitable cabin fever that we all have, {which translates to everyone getting on everyone's nerves} we welcomed the opportunity to get out of the house and go to a birthday party!  It was a bowling party!  This would mark Lily's 1st time bowling also. 

We had crappy weather that day, some roads weren't clear, but we. were. going.

George ended up not coming with us and sleeping longer. That night shift is tough.  Andrew was looking forward to it, but got a migraine on the way, so he spent the entire party sleeping in the car.  Bowling alley + migraine = bad news.  Poor kid, between everyone in his dad's family having migraines and everyone in mine, he was definitely doomed to have them too.

Lily was a bowling machine!  She loved it!  Her first time literally, she got a spare!

It was tough to let friends take turns, but with the help of Victoria's daddy running the lane, she was better and he kept things in order!

She literally only stopped for snacks and pizza only because I made her. She even skipped out on cake! Of course, she asked for the cake on the way home and then was mad she didn't have any.

 

Lily and Audrey were dancing. ♥

Violet hung out from in her carseat and stayed toasty warm! She wore her best winter dress too. :)

It was actually the kind of party where all the kids had a blast with each other bowling, took a breather to eat and wish Dominic a happy birthday and then back to bowling!

 

 Happy birthday, Justin Beiber Dom! We love you!

I love our friends and their kids! We're so fortunate to have such a great group of people to spend time with and between 15 kids, there's always some kind of party!

Super Bowl Party in Pictures

Charlie looooooves the babies, so she got a minute when Miss No-Napper Violet wasn't screaming. 

The Lilys playing with the princess castle because they think they are princesses.

The boys and their video games...and food. I love that Stef's kids and always Logan just smile at the camera without a word.

Two of the sweetest girls I know...always making sure they take care of all the little ones. Sometimes that means playing with them, sometimes that means cleaning up after them or letting us know what in the world those little girls got into. I love Lexie and Audrey!

Violet finally crashed. Complete with phone sound machine to block out the noise.

Half-time entertainment...

 

The Peanut Gallery.

Andrew stopped in for a minute to check out the half-time show.

Lily in her princess dress up heels.

The other Lily with her hands upon her hips...when she dips, you dip, we dip.

 

Liam and Violet's 1st SuperBowl.  He was clearly a Seahawks fan. Violet clearly a Peyton Manning fan. 

2014 Super Bowl, out.

The Weekend is Ovah

Happy Monday!  Is there such a thing?  Umm, the sun is shining, we're one more day closer to warmer weather, so I'm going to go with yes...for now.

This morning started off slow due to a late night watching the SuperBowl with friends. It was a nice time just hanging out with our great friends.  I know I say this all the time, but we're so lucky to have such good people in our lives who love our kids {and us} where we can just be ourselves and relax.  So, despite the disbelief of the football game where seemingly only one team played, we had a good time. 

SuperBowl Party in Pictures

Violet's 1st SuperBowl

I awoke to a too early alarm, my husband's kiss, and a "hey, it snowed a little bit."  Got Andrew off to the bus. That kid is a trooper. Went to bed with a sore throat and I fully expected him to want to stay home this morning, but off he went.**  Violet is usually ready to eat as Andrew needs to wake up in the morning, so we were up for the day--mostly.  She and I doze after she's through nursing usually until Lily comes and climbs in bed.  I love my mornings with my girls, no matter how tired I may be. 

We headed East shortly after getting up to pick up Reagan to get her to school.  Her mom was worried about the roads since it had snowed some, but all the roads were clear except their street. Not ideal, but she needed to go to school.  The girls and I were up for the ride since I suspect we'll be stuck home again later this week.

Backing up to the beginning of the weekend, Friday after school, Andrew had his 14 year well visit.  I was curious to see how tall he actually is, since he clearly has shot up recently.  Plus I wanted to see how much Violet had gained since her weight check at 3 months 9 days before.  I grow 'em tall and slow to gain weight. That has been consistent for all 3 of them from day one.  Andrew is 5'9" which is the 95th percentile for height. 

After the doctor, we headed to the grocery store then home to make our traditional Friday night pizzas.  Lily has really gotten into wanting to help in the kitchen, so that's perfect for her! She loves to help with the cheese, especially.  A little on the pizza, a little in her mouth, a little more in her mouth, a little on the pizza. Andrew and I started doing this when he was two and now we've started again. Sometimes it switches to Saturday nights, but there's always a kid {or two} helping and something Lily now asks about each week.   Lily, Violet, and I fell asleep watching Despicable Me that night.

 

 Weekends have been really nice lately--filled with just the right mix of family time at home and friend time. 

 
**Andrew just sent a text asking me to pick him up at the bus stop...fever, chills, achy, sore throat...1st man down.