Thanksgiving

I figure I'd better get Thanksgiving blogged because Christmas is just around the corner. I seriously have had so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year that I just want to skip straight to it and the best part is yet to come. We have visitors coming this year!!! My sister gets in on Tuesday and my parents come a week form tomorrow. HOORAY!

OK, but seriously back on Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic, low key and yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Our friends, Mike and Rickie, were sweet enough to host us for a family-less holiday. Luckily we all love each other so much that we feel like family. The Bryners are big Utah fans and seeing as the Holy War of football games (BYU vs the U) was the next day, we thought we should get some good natured teasing in.

GO COUGARS!!Too bad we lost the game the next day :(

Rickie did the most amazing job hosting -- crafts, tables to color, beautiful tables, and my favorite was the slide show of pictures of our families over the years. Rickie did not get the memo that we were keeping things simple. It was really nice to spread the food out of 3 people so no one felt over burdened with cooking (although I did feel pressure since we were in charge of the turkey, yet still did none of the cooking) and then we just enjoyed each others company for the rest of the day.My cute girlfriends, Michelle and Rickie, are both super talented and amazing people. I'm in awe of everything they do.

The kids just loved playing with each other and doing all the activities Rickie had put together, like marshmallow turkeys.
Meanwhile, *some* people took naps and others worked really hard on dutch over cobbler. Poor Mike made a blueberry and peach cobbler.


Too bad blueberries and yellow cake make some repulsive looking green dessert. To quote Rickie, "Let's not make this a Thanksgiving tradition." I disagree! I think we should make it every Thanksgiving. It still makes me laugh to think about it, and isn't that the best part of holidays? All the funny memories!

The kids declined dessert (I'm not sure they actually ate anything) except for Sadie of course, who likes anything with fruit, no matter how disgusting it looks.
They still had enough energy to entertain us some more.

And the next day we put up Christmas and now I'm ready to party. BRING IT ON!

Gobble Wobble & Pumpkin Pie Plod

About a month before Thanksgiving, I got the crazy idea that it would be fun to put together a Turkey Trot down here so we wouldn't have to drive all the way up to Mesa and deal with all of that madness. Luckily for me, I have lots of crazy friends who were on board to help me out.
It sort of morphed from a little group run on Thanksgiving morning into an event as we started thinking of all the fun things we could do. The day of the race, I kept thinking of Field of Dreams as we watched everyone trickling over to the field. Ok, so maybe that's slightly cheesey, but it just goes to prove that if you plan something. . . people will come!!

We had race bibs, goodie bags, I baked pies for the winner, bananas and bagels, a water station, t-shirts (courtesy of the Maroneys) and over 100 people there.

I was so grateful for all my amazing friends and their families who showed up to run. We had beginning runners, kids,
families marathoners, pregnant women, lots of my amazing friends, strollers. . . I just know some really amazing people. The sweet Jandas came out to support Courtney (who did the long run) and ended up being the official timer and baby watchers.
First we sent off the Gobble Wobble (5.5 miles) and 10 minutes later lined the kids (and less athletically inclined adults) up for the Pumpkin Pie Plod (2 miles). I had decided to run the Plod with the kids so I could be back in time to over see everything at the end. I was running with Nate and the girls were way ahead of us and he was talking, yak yak yak. Probably a quarter of a mile in he looks at me and says, "I'm bored. I'm going back." So I ran him back to where the Jandas had all the kids and turned around to catch up with the girls who had the "sprint then walk" approach. When I caught up little Elise (5) asked if I would hold her hand while we ran, and of course I said yes. Well can you believe that little girl held my hand for the rest of the race -- all 2 miles? I kept asking her if she wanted to stop and she would smile and say, "No." Well that tiny little thing came in 6th and she even finished it in under 10 minute miles. I was so proud of her. She beat Ellie and the big girls. She beat her mom! Of course the next day she couldn't walk because her legs were so sore, and I feel terrible. . . but hey -- future super star.

The long race finished about the same time as some of the walkers were coming in. Skylar Larson killed it. He's 17 and in my Sunday School class. I told him about the race 4 days before it. He is not a runner, but he does play soccer so he thought he'd give it a try. He beat everyone of course. I was just impressed with everyone that ran that distance. We had a lot of youth who don't run do it, and some people just pushing their longest distance yet. Dustin finished 6th, so I was a proud wife.The whole morning was just so much fun. It was fun to be with my family and friends and fun to watch everyone enjoy themselves. It made me realize how lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazing people. I already can't wait for next year. It's going to be even BETTER!

Hooray for Birthdays

This year was one of my favorite birthdays EVER!! It has been a long time since we've been able to celebrate my birthday on my actual birthday since it's so close to Thanksgiving and it seems people are always in town and we're busy with other activities, so it was really fun to have a special day. Everyone was just so sweet and thoughtful.

It started around 6 am when Nate came out into the living room and I said, "Nate! It's my birthday!" He looks at me with his sleepy eyes, "It's your birthday? SURPRISE!" They had all picked out the cutest cards for me according to their sweet personalities and some cute new clothes. My girlfriend Maren came over to help me stuff goodie bags for our race and brought me a gift complete with flowers and a balloon. Pedicures with Rickie and Karen who also provided a special lunch, a pan of my favorite treats, plus a mini muffin pan I kept meaning to buy. Then the doorbell rang and it was. . . THE cake.

My sister sent me an ENTIRE Kitty Katrina cake from The Chocolate up in Utah. Heaven. I looked at Karen and said, "You are going to be so glad you are my friend today." It was soooooo good. Is my sister not the most amazing, thoughtful person in the world? She is so good at remembering things that make people feel special.

That cake is so yummy that I did not even do a good job unwrapping it. I just tore straight into it. I ate a piece of it before I had even eaten my lunch. It was so good that Sadie licked the frosting off of the half I was putting in the freezer to save.

Then I went out for ice cream with Bryce -- my birthday buddy. He's 12 and I told him we should go out for dessert for our birthdays. He picked ice cream, so I told him to pick his favorite place to get ice cream. He looks at me and says, "No, you get to pick where we go." I didn't have to heart to tell that sweet boy that I'm not a fan of ice cream. It still was so much fun.

Back home to drop the kids off with a babysitter and Dustin took me to Flemings to dinner (courtesy of a gift card from another sweet friend, Danika). I was on sugar overload but rest assured I still managed to eat to dessert.

And of course there were so many other sweet, thoughtful people who took time out of their day to do sweet things for me too. I was honestly giddy the entire day because I couldn't believe it was a whole day where everyone was celebrating me. I know that sounds so selfish, but it made me realize how everyone needs to feel loved and valued even if it's just in little ways.

Thanks you guys! It really was just the best day!!!

Shun the Sun

Last weekend, I ran my second half marathon for the year. It's amazing how your body can actually LIKE running for that long. My first one was just about getting through, but this one was about enjoying the run and I totally did.

I talked 3 of my great girlfriends (Rickie, Casey and Meredith) into running it with me, which always makes things more fun. I loved having Rickie to run with every Saturday and to check in with Mer and Casey and see how their distance was coming.

I highly advise a running buddy for long runs. Even if you're different paces, it makes such a difference to know someone is out there with you. One miserable Saturday, Rickie and I could only schedule our run for 5 at night. I think it was somewhere in the 90s that week and I was DYING. I never would have made it through without someone routing me on.

The night before we had our big Carbo-Load Dinner and sat around talking about how nervous we were, what on earth were we going to wear (the weather dropped 20 degrees over the week leading up to the run), how to drink water from a cup, and what our goals were.

Meredith came and picked everyone up at 5:45 in the morning, but I had been up since about 4 just laying in bed. It was really cold that morning and I huddled in the corner with my legs and arms scrunched up inside my jacket until start time. Rickie and I paced ourselves pretty slow at the start because we wanted to make sure we had plenty of juice left at the end. Looking back, we probably paced too slow since I never hit a wall and had plenty of energy left at the end. I lost Rickie after about 4 miles, but I after a few miles I found a girl that was just not going to let me pass her. We'd take turns kind of edging each other out and finally I said, "Let's run together." She was lots of fun to talk to and got me through till about mile 11 when I was ready to take off.

My last two miles were fantastic, and even better was turning the corner by the stadium and seeing my family all waiting for me and cheering. I finished in 1:54 (about 8:45 minute miles). I was really happy with my time, but there is still a part of me wondering what my time would have been if I had gone just a little bit faster in the beginning. The other part of me is glad I didn't because I hurt my left hip pretty bad. It wasn't horrible when we finished, but as the night went on I could barely walk. I'm now seeing a chiropractor trying to get everything back to where it should be.
The best part of the race: seeing my kids right before the entrance to the stadium.

The race was really well organized, the weather was great and my girlfriends are the best. I enjoyed pretty much every second of doing it and can't wait to do it again. Half marathons are seriously the best distance. Not so long that you the training takes over your life, or you have to worry about electrolytes and refueling, but long enough that you get a huge runners high, ots of personal reflecton time and you feel like you accomplished something` Who's in for the next half??

The Blur -- Intro without pictures

The end of October was kind of a blur to me. I had so much going, we all got sick, and Dustin was gone for 11 out 14 very busy, hectic days that I literally ended up sobbing on the phone so hard that my sister had to call my friend Karen to rescue me. I think it went something like this (please read in my over-dramatic voice):

"I'm soooo sick. I'm never going to get better and I have so much to do!" Kathleen then prods me to find out what exactly needs to be done and I rattle off a million things. She then asks me what actually needs to be done at this exact moment.

"I need to make treats to take to Ellie's Mother-Daughter spa party and I'm too sick and I told Dustin to buy something and he bought cookies that you can tell are store bought. " (like people would WANT to eat something I made if I was deathly ill?? Wouldn't they be grateful I bought it so it wasn't contaminated?) I think I also whined about needing to get up and shower and do my hair and I had no energy. And possibly that I didn't like the nail polish colors that Dustin picked out (this will prove to be an interesting fact later in the story, but 6 months ago I threw out all the nail polish after Ellie and a friend left some bottle open for Sadie to find who then painted a few dresses, their bed spreads and a couple of pieces of furniture).

Of course Kathleen, who totally understand a good mental break down when she hears one, calls our friend Karen who so sweetly runs to the store to buy lemon bread (which looks home made, but is also already cut, so I won't have to actually touch the pieces -- she is so thoughtful) and soup for dinner. We get in the car when Ellie starts sobbing. "Mom, I don't feel very good." And then she ran out of the car, to the side of the house and puked.

So we didn't go to her spa party and I realized that everything would be OK, because even if everything doesn't get done, my family was important.

And then when Dustin was cleaning up, he dropped one of the bottles of nail polish on the tile floor and it shattered everywhere, resulting in a huge mess which included me having to re-paint an entire wall before our party that weekend.

The Blur -- marathon post

OK, let's go back to October. I won't give you all the nitty gritty, just some of the highlights (all of which took place in 8 days).

Last year my friend, Sarah, introduced me to this WANDA WITCH and it is now one of the events I look forward to the most throughout the year. My girlfriend, Rickie, threw it with me this year and we had a few months of fun scouting locations and coming up with clues. She came up with some really great locations -- like the drive through at Chick-fil-A and this totally scuzzy motel.

It was so much fun to see all the teams really get into it with pranks and shirts. . .Of course it never is without mishaps. Like when the team our own husbands were on took the wrong cauldron. Oh well, you live and learn. Next year will be even better of course.
Don't they just look like the kind of thugs that would steal someone's clues?? More details can be found on the Wanda Witch blog if you're interested.

Sadie had a PRE-SCHOOL HALLOWEEN party. Cutest little witch I know!
The next big event was DUSTIN'S BIRTHDAY. He was in San Jose working with the Sharks, so he got to go to a game (in a suite) and they set him up with a birthday cake and put a little birthday greeting up on the Jumbotron. Much better than what he would have gotten here between tennis, t-ball, running club and school stuff.

I did take Sadie and Luke to the PUMPKIN PATCH on Dustin's birthday. We did the hay ride, fed the animals, saw the cutest little newborn piglets, decorated a pumpkin with religious stickers, hay maze, bouncers. . . All while dressed in long sleeves because I was trying to convince myself it was fall. It was not.
Next up was NATE'S BIRTHDAY! That crazy kid is SIX. Seriously, time does fly. Nate is so sweet and tender one minute and feisty the next. He is a slight perfectionist and so hard on himself, but he truly has the most amazing heart. He loves babies and will just randomly tell me how much he loves me. He always says please and thank you and gets excited about even the tiniest things. Including his birthday.

The night before his birthday we were in the car and he pipes up "Mom, I'm so excited. It's free dress day and Friday free time and my birthday and my party and Dad's going to come to school and sit with me and we're going to EAT!"

Nate had doughnut holes and diet coke for breakfast (for real! I figure my kids never have juice, much less soda, so diet coke once a year won't kill him), Wendy's with Dustin for lunch and then pizza and lots of other sugary things for dinner (ok, so I probably did more damage in a day than you could do in a year of drinking juice five times a day). And because he is truly my child, he asked for chocolate cake. I love him. We totally agree on chocolate cake being the most delicious thing ever. Except I eat mine warm and Nate won't eat anything hotter than room temperature. Side letter: Dear Nate, I am sorry I am not very good at cake decorating and you will never have some beautiful cake on your birthday. I hope you appreciate the fact that I do truly try to make something you will like. Love, Mom

He had a fun birthday party with 8 of his best friends (mainly because that is how many invitations the Star Wars set came with) and I stupidly invited them to bring their own light sabers. No one was injured and nothing was broken, so we'll just say it wasn't a good idea and leave it at that.
The next day Rickie and I ran 13 miles in preparation for our half marathon and then I spent the day decorating for the WARD PARTY. The theme was Hobo Halloween, so it worked well when nothing I had envisioned was working out well. I figured Hobos wouldn't care as long as there was food and fun. And there was. We had a great time, but I am now harping on Dustin to hurry and get someone called as Activities Person before the Christmas party.

Luckily no one's costume involved too much work. I probably would have done a better job on Sadie's hair had I spent more than 2 minute on it. But I was pretty worn out by this point.



Since HALLOWEEN was on a Sunday this year, we stayed home and had the Missionaries and our friends, the Christensens, over to make it a little more fun. I made orange hamburger buns for our orange and black themed meal and Brenna brought sweet potato fries. We played Wrap the Mummy, and the game where you try to get the cookie from your forehead into your mouth without touching it. Surprisingly the missionaries were really good at it. And then, my new favorite Halloween activity (probably because it involves chocolate) -- Monster Brownies.

And that was the last week of October. It was fun. The next day I took everything Halloween-y down. I'm glad it's over. Mainly because I am obsessed with Christmas.

Copy and Paste

For posterity's sake, I'm copying and pasting this from my sister's blog. I had totally forgotten this little gem and it still makes me laugh.

"Picture this thing:

... Shoving produce up her nose...

So we're sitting around the dinner table, having a very educational and spiritual round of dinner-time FHE with the bishop and his wife. Maddy is teaching us all about the Three Nephites when out of the corner of her eye she spots little miss queen diva, Sadie Rogers Michelle shoving peas up her nose.

A fit of outrage overtakes the bishops wife and she turns into someone who might possibly look like this: (picture deleted because what kind of sister puts a horrible picture of her sister on her blog??)
But with a lot more anger in her eyes, but just as animated, "SADIE! WE DO NOT PUT PEAS UP OUR NOSES. WE DO NOT PUT ANYTHING UP OUR NOSES, OR IN OUR EARS. IT WILL GET STUCK UP THERE AND WE WILL HAVE TO TAKE YOU TO THE DOCTOR AND THE DOCTOR WILL HAVE TO CUT OFF YOUR NOSE OR YOUR EAR AND HE WILL SAY, 'SADIE WHY DID YOU PUT A PEA UP YOUR NOSE?' AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE AN EAR OR A NOSE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE... (you get the gist...)"

To which Sadie replies, "AUNT LOLA WHY DID YOU PUT A PEA UP MY NOSE??"

Excusemewhat? How on earth did I get blamed for this?

So dinner continues on as if no one had threatened amputation and facial reconstruction, we're back in with the Three Nephites when Nate raises his hand. Madelyn, the washed up school teacher, grants him permission to speak, "Um, well Jackson put a ball in his ear, but he still has his ear, and they didn't have to cut it off."

Thank you, Nate. Thanks for bringing us back down to reality.

I'm Ridiculous

1. I just had a screaming fit over a fake plastic spider on the floor. Like literally jumped into a chair and didn't move for 5 minutes waiting for the spider to move before I realized it was fake.

2. We have a rental car right now while our car gets repaired (someone backed into us). The other day I could not get the car to start and the steering wheel was locked. I was running really late and FREAKING out. I tried turning that car on for 5 minutes, called Dustin multiple times, said a few prayer. . . before I realized I had *my* car keys and not the rental car keys.

3. Food I've eaten today: Chocolate cake for breakfast, chocolate cake and pizza for lunch, cheese balls for a snack, and pumpkin bars for dessert. Now I'm sick to my stomach.

4. I'm ready to go to bed right now. . .and it's only 9 pm.

edited to add this morning's redonkulousness. . .

5. I'm pushing Sadie and Luke for a run and I am DYING. I can't figure out why I'm having such a hard time and wondering how many pounds Sadie has put on since Spring, when I start wondering what that random noise is. Turns out I had two flat tires and the parking break was half way on.

Some sister love -- more like A LOT of sister love

For the first week of October break, my sister and her 9 month old Livy came to visit. I can't really recall what kept us so busy, but I seriously felt like I never sat down. So I guess the better question would be: what DIDN'T we do? Shower. Eat real food unless it was full of sugar or at a restaurant.

The poor diet started off when our fridge broke on Sunday. Monday was spent shopping for a new fridge instead of preparing for my sister to come, and the day she arrived we had both the old fridge fixed (for the garage) and the new fridge put it. Nothing to welcome you to your sister's like a ton of strangers, a mess in the kitchen and no food.

We did make it to Wal-Mart in an attempt to stock up on diapers and baby food for Livy, but unfortunately while we were there the 4 kids got a little distracted and we ended up getting stuck in a storm. Somehow we came home with these:
Ellie was so sad there weren't any matching jammies for her and insisted that she could fit in a size 5T. I made her go try them on and even then she promised me they were "so comfy." Now I'm making her wear them to bed every night of October.While Ellie's are a 5T, Sadie's are a 4T.

And there is no better way to start off a trip than by baking. We made peanut butter, chocolate chip bars which were so delicious that we ate over half the pan before I insisted Dustin take the rest to the church with him and hand out to whoever showed up for interviews (see -- it pays to visit the Bishop).

We also spent the night telling spooky stories with the lights off. My favorite was Nate's story, "Once upon a time, there was a spooky house. And in the yard there was. . .a tombstone. And. . . an R. . .I. . .P!"
Wednesday morning was spent shopping for food to fill our new fridge and feed my new family of 8. Fry's, Trader Joe's and Costco all in the same morning. My sister suddenly saw the appeal of food in bulk when she saw how fast our family can go through food. And Sadie and Luke barely eat. What will I do when everyone is a teenager?

We also celebrated Nate's birthday a little early since Lola wanted him to open up his AWESOME birthday presents from my Aunt and Uncle. When we were at the BYU bookstore this summer we told the kids they could all pick out 2 things. Nate was really stressed out because he couldn't choose. He got a few more things from his list.Luke seemed to want to take over all of Nate's presents. Either that or he was entertaining himself while we made dessert.

For his cake, Nate wanted brownies. Of course we had to do something fun, so we made them monster brownies.
Thursday morning we woke up and let the kids play for awhile. Luke and Livy were not big fans of each other at this point. Probably because Luke kept stealing whatever Livy was playing with.
Then I dropped Luke and Sadie off at Molly's, and Kathleen, Livy, Ellie & I met up with Karen and Chloe to do some shopping. We hit up Charming Charlie's, which is this cute new accessory store over at San Tan where everything is arranged by colors. Kathleen ended up with some really cute shirts on super sale and I got a hat and shoes. Then off for some more shopping where Karen and I took the fashion plunge and bought. . . skinny jeans.

After the mall Kathleen and I hit TJ Maxx because we just weren't sick of spending money yet. Kathleen got some really cute slub cardigans and I found the BEST thing ever. Well, Kathleen found it and I bought it.

When we were at Charming Charlie's, Ellie fell in love with this gray hat that she desperately wanted me to buy for her. It was $14 or something, so I told her maybe for Christmas, and I planned on going back to get it. The entire day she reminded me of what it looked like. So while we were at TJ Maxx, Kathleen picks up this hat and says, "You should buy Ellie this hat. It sounds just like the only hat, but it's cheaper." Well folks -- it was. . . the EXACT.SAME.HAT! For $6.99. So I scooped it up for Christmas.

Kathleen was really sweet and baby sat for us that night, so we went to Coup Des Tartes. YUM. Thanks sister for watching 5 kids. And not killing Sadie when she threw sand in Livy's eyes.Luckily she had the help of one awesome niece.

Friday we hit playgroup and then had to run out to buy some supplies for our super fun GNO. We thought it would be fun to do all sorts of things you did when you were a tween at slumber parties and I invited the few girlfriends left n town who actually know my sister (so please don't be offended that you weren't invited -- it will be repeated!)

First we went out for dinner at Pita Jungle. This is where Meredith, who had just been made over by Ellie, Lindsay and Caroline, totally offended our waiter by telling him he looked like Mose, Dwight's cousin on The Office.Lucky for us he had never really seen the show, but I'm pretty sure he spat in our food. It still tasted good.

Then back to my house for dessert, which Meredith so kindly made for us. It's cheesecake on top of a brownie with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries. Casey could stand to eat a few more of those.

This was followed by collages, which sound so juvenille (and they are), but holy cow we laughed so hard and had so much fun making them for each other.Plus we really know a LOT about each other now. This activity was followed by some low key mischief that involved me climbing over a fence and almost falling off of Karen's garbage can. People should not leave town the weekend of a slumber party.

When we got home we did some quick makeovers and then I sent everyone home, because honestly, it's not that fun to actually sleep at someone else's house when your comfy bed is so nearby.

You'd think by Saturday we'd be worn out from shopping, but we weren't. We hit up Anthroplogie for some birthday shopping, and then ran over to meet some of my girlfriends at another boutique. Then we hit a birthday party, the park and settled in for the night with frozen yogurt -- yes, I made my sister go off of dairy while she was here and she is so grateful to me for it.

Saturday was also the day we realized that Livy can get into a sitting position by herself. Too bad she would only do it at nap time and then cry because she couldn't get herself laying down again.

Sunday we entertained ourselves while Dustin was gone by baking more sweets (chocolate cookies with vanilla cream oreo ball centers) at the exact same time as the kids attempted to make a Halloween Gingerbread House (thank you Grandma Rogers!). This meant that there was flour and frosting everywhere and we pretty much used every bowl and measuring cup in the house. Oh, and I let the kids do this while wearing their church clothes. I am seriously delusional at time.At least the kids had fun -- and really, can you ever get tired of scary faces? Nate and Sadie mainly sampled, while Ellie did the work. I pretended to ignore the mess, but I was having a mental break down the entire time.

After I spent an hour cleaning the kitchen, I sat down and whizzed through a parenting book to help me regain my confidence. I'm pretty much a parenting expert now since I managed to speed-read that thing in just a few hours. Call me if you need anything!

We also got out the make up for another round of make overs. Lucky kids!
Livy decided she was far too busy to sleep by Monday morning, so I took her out around 5:30 to go for a morning run. My plan was to run 6 miles and have her sleep the entire time. By mile 4 she was still awake, so I thought I'd add an extra mile or two before we turned around to see if she would ever go to sleep. Instead she jabbered to me, so we eventually turned around and headed home. Right as we turned onto Pecos from the canal we saw a coyote. EEK! Luckily he was running across the street. I was pretty panicked, but Livy must not have noticed because she chose this mile to finally fall asleep. I think we were about a mile and a half from home by this point and going on mile 7.

We also attempted to mail 5 enormous boxes of baby clothes, baby bedding, winter clothes and Christmas presents on Monday. We loaded the back of the car up with all the boxes, 2 strollers, and got all 5 kids buckled in the car. Then we got to the post office and got Luke and Livy in the strollers, the kids carrying boxes and guess what. . . it was Columbus Day. So we loaded everything back up and went to the UPS store. Take that US Postal Service for taking off some made up holiday.

By now, we hadn't gone shopping in an entire 24 hours, so we were going through withdrawals and headed to another mall so Kathleen could take the kids to Build-A-Bear.Aunt Lola is so much more fun than Mom. Those bears even have underwear and accessories.

And of course while we were there we had to hit the GAP 40% off of everything sale. I pretty much wrapped up all of Ellie's Christmas list, but that place was CRAZY!

Kathleen and Livy got to watch Ellie's tennis lessons that night and then we rewarded ourselves for all our hard work by getting frozen yogurt again. Seriously -- shopping with 5 kids is hard work.

Tuesday was a sad day because it was time to say good bye. We started off the morning having co-op at our house with a total of 12 kids running around. Luckily the house was so trashed by this point that when they all left the house was actually CLEANER than when they came. Plus, the kids had so much fun with all of their friends.

By Tuesday Luke was officially obsessed with Livy
He wanted to hold her anytime he saw her and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. She was also finally warming up to us and let me hold her WHILE HER MOM WAS IN THE SAME ROOM.
We managed to squeeze in a few more games, like Guess Who, Crocodile Dentist and Charades. Some of my favorites:

Sandwich

A Ute

But then it was time to take her to the airport and this is how we all felt:

We miss you already! Come back soon!

And now you can see why I was so exhausted it took me a week to blog this.