PARK POTLUCK PICNIC PARTY

We've had a really good, fun weekend: 2 playdates for the kids (painting with Azure on Saturday morning - photos forthcoming, and a potluck picnic playdate at the park this morning) and 1 for ourselves (dinner at Sandy's tonight), and some quality family time at home in between. It feels great to spend time with friends, and even better to see our kids so happy, playing with their buddies! Many thanks to Amy and Katie and Sandy for helping put together such a fun weekend!

We finally got to meet Leo! (He is SO cute and little and squirmy!)

The playground was a huge hit! There were puzzles, 3 slides, a ladder (James can climb ladders now - perhaps I should add that to his "Latest and Greatest" column?), swings, and lots of Manu's toys to play with.

James drank a LOT of water. I swear every time I turned around he was over at the water fountain, but at least he stayed hydrated! (He didn't eat much, of course...)

At one point, I turned to hear James yelling "Ba-noo, look up at ME!"

They were absolutely adorable, running in circles around the playground and sliding together. It warms my heart almost as much as seeing James and Cora playing nicely together. There's just something special about kids reaching an age where they truly connect with their friends and appreciate them. Honestly, I was floored this weekend by James. On Friday night, I told him that we'd be going over to paint with Azure in the morning. First thing Saturday morning, as he was sitting on the potty and chatting with me, I asked him what we were going to do that day. He said "Paint!" And when I asked him who we were going to go see, he said "I go paint Azure!" He remembered, and he was SO excited! (Don't worry, I explained to him that we were going to paint WITH Azure, not actually paint Azure...) Then, on the way home from the grocery store yesterday evening, James started asking for "Will Will". When I told him that we'd be seeing Will at the park the next day, thinking I would make him feel better, he literally whined and cried all the way home, wanting to go to "Will Will's house, not James' house!" So this morning, after breakfast, he was thrilled to hear we were going to play with "Will Will" and "Ba-noo!"

Cora kissed lots of boys today. That tends to happen when you're the only girl in the bunch...

Speaking of Cora kisses (Will and Manu each got some as well), and Cora cuddles, she had quite the thing for Christina today. It was SO cute! She went right to her when we arrived at the park, then repeatedly wanted to be held by her throughout the morning, even calling her "Mama!" to get her attention. You all know what a shy, Mama's girl Cora can be, so we thought it was super sweet that she was being so friendly with Christina. (And at the end of the night tonight, she was so snuggly in Philip's arms that we thought she might go to sleep as he was rocking her - what a little lover she's turning out to be!)

And finally, here are my poor, banged-up kiddos. Cora bumped her head 3 times at the park this morning, with the first faceplant being the worst (she hit the edge of the metal stairs, which resulted in an immediate blue mark that swelled quickly). James scraped his chin back on Monday, but decided on Friday night that he needed a band-aid to make it feel better (and we obliged, because he was picking at it anyway and we figured the band-aid might stop that). At least they still cleaned up well for our dinner date tonight (and might I add, they had 3 baths/showers each today - a definite sign of a good day!) When we told James we were going to Sandy's for dinner, he threw his arms up over his head and yelled "Hooray!" And when I asked him if he wanted to dress up, he said "I wear a towel!" Apparently, "dress up" to him means costumes (since his towels turn him into a frog or a dinosaur, I ASSUME that is what he was getting at by requesting a towel as attire for a dinner party...)