Barbeculicious

As a throwback to our ol' pre-baby hosting days, we decided to have a barbecue now that the weather is out of the 100's, and we have a wonderful extended patio. Keith laughed when I was taking pictures and said that I just wanted proof that we do things other than just work and take care of kids all day (which is partially true).

We had an awesome turnout and the backyard filled up quickly with friends and their toddlers. We went all out with burgers, hot dogs, chicken, sausage, potato salad, grilled corn on the cob, guacamole, pigs in a blanket, quiche, brownies, cookies, you name it! And that doesn't include all of the yummy food that our friends contributed.

I caught such a sweet moment with Monica feeding Madison, her son Matthew, and friend Sloan. Madison and Matthew were immediately buddies and spent time together playing and talking (aka sharing toys and looking at each other). At the end of the night I got to witness Matthew walk up to Madison and put his arm around her and pat her back. It was too cute!

I honestly don't know what I was thinking! Hosting a barbecue and taking care of the kids is really just too much. But thanks to our great friends, our kids were supervised, fed, cleaned and entertained as needed. I kept finding them in random places doing random things like sitting at this adult table eating off other people's plates while Payson kept putting his sippy inside the dump truck and then tilting it so he could drink out of it at the same time. Given his obsession with juice boxes I am surprised that he wasn't sitting in the middle of the table with the three juice boxes.

I just adore this picture of the Hickey triplets with parents Steve and Candace eating dinner out in the yard.

Here is Hayden sitting across from Payson and talking on the phone. Did I just hear her say "Oh my gah!"

Madison is totally enamored with babies and can easily spend over half an hour staring at a baby and gently holding their hand or foot. Bobbi brought one of her beautiful triplets (starting to see a pattern?), Sophia, and she and Madison were actually talking out loud to each other at one point. IF (did you see that capitalization) Madison weren't a triplet, she would make a great big sister. Once she has all of the words, I am sure she will ask to be one.

This totally makes me smile... the late nighters were all friends we met when Keith went to Harvard Business School, which led me down memory lane of the time when we lived the easy life of going wherever, whenever, however and with whomever. What fun we all had in Bah-ston!

Check out these amazing photos from my friend Betsy. Such talent! I am kind of embarrassed to have them posted so close to my lousy photos. :)

You can see more of her work at Betsy Marie Photography.

Madison... love this girl!

All three playing together with a dump truck, and nicely too! It does happen from time to time.

Payson's hair used to not grow on the sides so we had to give cut it or else he would sport a natural mullet (which is not quite his style). But now that it is growing evenly we're letting it grow messy, I mean, grow out so we can see what his curly hair will do with a little length.

Earlier in the day we attended a friends' 2nd birthday party and Payson, Madison and Hayden were such big kids eating in the grown-up chairs. We had lots of food rolling around and off the plates but, all in all, mealtime was a success despite the lack of a belt, buckles, and such.

Last Sunday Nunie and the girls played dress up with their cousins' princess dresses. They loved it!

Seriously? How can unfixed hair look this marvelous?

Last weekend Keith and I received a very special treat! My Aunt Nancy was having a crazed moment, and she offered to watch the babies so Keith and I could get away for some much-needed alone time. We left on Thursday night for San Antonio and returned home late Saturday afternoon. We had a wonderful few days of wasting time and, often, not even keeping track of the time we wasted! In under two days, we managed to see a movie, workout twice, eat along the Riverwalk thrice, stroll the mall, relax by the pool and chill around the hotel.

The report was that the kids did well at home and slept fine despite a little bug they all seemed to have. It cracked me up because the report on the first day was, "They are perfection! We are having a wonderful time" which changed the next day to, "Everything is going great" which changed again the next day to, "Things are fine, the kids are down, and I am resting." Clearly the novelty wore off and the level of energy went down with each day (if not each hour!). I could very much relate!

The kids are now even closer to and more comfortable with Aunt Nancy, who they exuberantly greet with "hi's", hugs and kisses when they see her. Thanks a million Aunt Nancy for a very memorable time away!