PLAYDATES

It's SO nice having Jay out of school for the summer! We have so much more time now to hang out together and play with the kids, taking them out for little adventures and just doing spur-of-the-moment activities. The kids and I took him to the Children's Museum for the first time today, and we were able to have a fun playdate with the Hancocks while we were there!

Coltin and James probably could have played at the Lego table for an hour...

Emma stayed close to her beautiful mama, all snuggly in her newborn adorableness.

Cora roamed a bit. Here she was thinking "Aren't you all coming in too?"James climbed up on the catfish, unprompted, multiple times...(When I pulled out his clothes for the day, he pointed at the shirt and said "Pirate!", made his index finger into a hook, and said "Yarrrrr!")I had to be sly and sneak a picture of Coltin with his daddy (since he isn't too fond of being photographed). He was having a "sit down" with his sippy.James wasn't too interested in the Scrabble board this time, but Cora had fun crawling around.And Coltin helped his daddy make an impromptu Mother's Day card, finding all the letters as Stirlin called them out. Except that the board didn't have enough P's and A's...You get the gist though, eh?

I made Cora a crown at one of the craft tables, but she wasn't impressed.I guess she just thought I was going to abandon her at the rock wall though, because she was fine as soon as I picked her back up, and wore her crown happily for the rest of the day. Jay made me one too. Except it was too small for my head...When we went underground, James surprised us by heading straight into the tunnels. (Remember, he was terrified of them 2 months ago?)And Cora followed right behind him! She is definitely our fearless child...After the museum, we headed over to the adjoining park for a picnic lunch. Cora was determined to get herself a PB&J sandwich. And we were determined not to give her peanut butter for the first time on a weekend when far from home and the pediatrician's office. Hold on there Sissy, you've still got over a month until you hit the 1-year mark! Then you can have all the PB and honey you want.She was happy enough with a chunk of bread though. Those new chompers sure make tearing up food a whole lot easier!
After a bit, Sophie and Manu joined us for some soccer and games and time at the playground.Manu thought he was pretty funny putting this turtle on James' head. James thought it was funny to dramatically knock it off. I lost count of how many times they did this...When Cora tried to take off with Sophie's phone, Manu went to rescue it. She thought he wanted to play with her, but he really just wanted that phone back!For the second time this weekend, James swung on the big swing like a big boy. He does great holding on, and is SO proud of himself!He wouldn't go down the slides by himself though. And he wouldn't go with Manu. I tricked him into going in front of me a couple times, and he rode down in Sophie's lap once. Too bad my photo turned out so blurry... it was pretty cute seeing him balanced on her knees, with her ever-shrinking lap between them (she's due with Manu's little brother in August). James says her name so clearly, and he's picked up on her sayings. When he first started saying "Whoops" we had to think long and hard where he'd learned it from. Too cute!It was hot and sunny at the playground, so we retreated underneath the play structures. Cora loved chasing the boys around, especially in all the little nooks and crannies us adults couldn't fit into!All in all it was a GREAT day. Jay and I were exhausted when we got home. Of course, the kids napped for the entire hour drive back from Jackson, so they were NOT sleepy. Cora nursed 3 different times and kept flinging herself off my lap to go play or crawl over to Jay and James on the other couch. James thought it was awesome and encouraged her to climb up on the couch with them, trying to pull her up himself, saying "Come on Sissy!" And who were we to enforce bedtime when the kiddos so obviously wanted to hang out together and snuggle?Or perhaps they were just working the system? Knowing we wouldn't make them go to sleep if they continued to be sweet and adorable? Sneaky little monkeys...