Our Party of Five: How do Jon and Kate do it?

Lucas and I had a great weekend with good friends Feb. 21-22. Three of my sorority sisters have toddlers very close in age to Lucas and we have been saying how much fun it would be to all get together for a mommy/baby weekend. Well we finally picked a date and did it!

It was so great to get to catch up with everyone and see the kids interact with each other. They are all so unique in their little personalities but are definitely all going through the same milestones as 1 year old toddlers. I definitely would love to make this a quarterly or biannual event and even include the daddy’s in on the fun! We just spent time chatting and chasing wee-ones around but it was so much fun.

I really miss these girls and it is crazy to think that we all left Longwood 9 years ago to venture out into the real world….time flies! I knew when I met these ladies and spent those college years with them that they would always be an important part of my life. We all went our separate ways after graduation and try harder to stay in touch now with Facebook and blogging. It has been awesome that we all have reconnected and are sharing the parenthood adventure together. I love being able to keep up with all of their adventures and bouncing questions off of one another.

Lucas seemed to really like being with the other kids just like his little friends at school. He and Shanna’s little boy Grayson are only a day apart; Jaime’s little girl Ainsley, and Carrie’s little girl Addie are both July 2007 babies so they are just 3 months ahead of the boys. I do have to say that the girls were much more vocal-but, I think Lucas is breaking into that territory fast and furious! I actually think he picked up some of Ainsley’s habits from that weekend, yep Jaime- we have heard "Mines" this week ;) Ainsley is quite the social butterfly and provided some great entertainment for all of us with her singing renditions and strong willed battles with momma. But she is so sweet and smarter than some of us grown ups I believe! ;) Addie was so generous to share all of her toys with the rest of the munchkins. She was a sweetheart giving everyone kisses and amused me by reading to herself- so cute! I wish Lucas would pick up that habit! He loves to read with us all of the time but sometimes he really wants it at the most inopportune time for us- AKA getting ready to leave in the AM, etc. and gets mad if mommy and daddy say not right now. He knows what he wants and when he wants it that is for sure! Grayson was such a sweet easy going baby that just went along so smoothly with the flow. He and Lucas are both quite attached to their pacifiers, leave it to the boys. They were all so cute and so much fun to watch.

I think we were all a little nervous about bedtime but they did great. Carrie and Tim spread us all out around the house and everyone got a pretty good nights sleep. I must say, it is sad how pooped you are after a day full of toddler fun, 12 am bedtimes just aren’t what they used to be! The kids were ready to go for round two the next AM. So much so that after a few hours of playing, they crashed for super long naps. We really had a great time and look forward to our next group adventure. A BIG thank you to our fantastic hosts- The Hewitt family, and to Jaime and Ainsley for letting Lucas and I carpool with you guys.
We all were on the same page at the end of our adventure- how the heck do Jon and Kate and the Duggars do it?!?! I don't think I could could handle sextuplets, that is for sure ;) But give me a house full of toddler mayhem for a short while with great friends, ANYTIME!