BUSY BUDDIES

Will and Lauren came over to hang out with us for a few hours while Al and Christina attended a coworkers going away party, and James and Cora were so happy to have company! We ended up unintentionally breaking the night into 45 minute increments... Legos (boys in James' room, girls in the kitchen), dinner crossed with I Spy (to encourage kids to finish their ChickFilA nuggets - no taking a guess until you take a bite!), hide-and-seek (me against the kids - Jay "helped" me hide in obscure places while maintaining innocence to keep the kids off my trail - it was particularly funny listening to Lauren repeat every single phrase that another kid said, she did great all night in keeping up with the big kids!), and finally dancing to YouTube Lets Dance 4 video tutorials (thank you Auntie Taryn for that idea - I giggled so much watching them that my cheeks hurt!)

Cora threw in a few ballet moves here and there, and Lauren did her best to copy everything her big brother did, but the boys really stole the show. Those little wiggly booties were cracking me up! (Not to mention James' one-footed stomp/tap and side head bounce reminiscent of a couple of well known SNL characters...)

The videos I took are too long to post on Blogger, so click HERE to see Ghostbusters and HERE to see Gangnam Style. Don't mind the peanut gallery in the background (Jay didn't know I was filming). There was also many renditions of Let it Go and What Does the Fox Say, and one time through of each of Roar and Moves Like Jagger. I highly recommend this activity if your kids need to get some energy out and you want to just sit back and supervise...

KENNEDY KIDDOS

Al and Christina had a wedding to attend this evening, so we got to keep Will and Lauren for a few hours. The kids played really well together and surprised me with their choice of activities. Instead of trucks and biking, they spent most of their time drawing and crafting and playing games.

We always start a playdate with a little downtime on the couch until everyone acclimates. Paw Patrol to the rescue. (The kids also used this opportunity to learn how to share Cannon, passing him down the line every few minutes.)

Lauren was more patient than I would have been with Cora's sticker micromanagement...

Short walk before dinner. Lauren and I were cold.

Hot chocolate and marshmallows after dinner. The kids approved.

BUENO BABYSITTING

 We had the chance to hang out with Manu and Leo without their parents this afternoon/evening so Sophie and Alex could go out and celebrate her upcoming birthday. Our kids couldn't have been happier to have their buddies over to play, and we were thrilled that they all did so well together the whole time. As all parents know, kids have their good days and their bad days, and we felt lucky to catch all four of these cuties on a good day!

Going in circles to avoid the rain

...mostly. Leo was bound and determined to hang out in the cold rain and splash in the puddles. Give that boy dirt, water, and a stick and he'd be happy for 8 hours straight.

Our little glider can hang tight even in a dress!

Playing doctor

I felt so safe having all these doctors around...

Batman break!

Bedtime movie wind-down (watching 'Rise of the Guardians' for the 3rd time this weekend). Cora had been sitting on the other end of the couch, and Manu nudged her with his feet, motioned for her to come up and join him, and she scooted on up to snuggle with him. Little player...

WACKY WEEK

This week the kids' school was closed in prep for the upcoming school year, and they had a really fun (yet kinda wacky) week at home. They spent Monday driving back from Arkansas from our camping trip, Tuesday with mama/then daddy watching Jacob and Manu, Wednesday and Thursday with Sophie and Manu and Leo, and Friday with "Mr. Mike" and Jacob. They were pretty pleased to be home all week playing with their toys, getting fresh air in the form of kiddie pool splashing and many wagon rides, and hanging out with some of their best friends. And the babysitting side of it all went great as far as we could tell. Tuesday was super easy for us, since having Jacob around was a HUGE help (probably the most polite child we know, plus he loves little kids and was more than willing to help them with every little task as well as entertain them). Wednesday Christina came by with Will and Lauren, which was an extra special treat, and since James, Manu, and Cora are 3-peas-in-a-pod, they couldn't have been happier to have "My Sophie!" over to watch them for a couple of days. Then on Friday Cora surprised us by being completely happy and at ease with Mike, even snuggling on his shoulder and convincing him to kiss her baby doll. We'll leave out the details of poop stories, tantrums and time-outs, naptime battles, etc., since the kids (ALL of them) were generally good for everyone - and you really can't ask for much more than that! 

Thanks again Sophie and Mike - we really appreciate your help this week!

(And we owe you!)

WILL'S IN THE HOUSE

You can call it babysitting, but to us it's really just a playdate. James and Cora were so excited to have Will over this afternoon/evening that they actually listened to everything we said this morning, with the threat that if they didn't behave, we'd tell Miss Christina and Mr Al not to bring Will Will over. They were quite worried we'd follow through. Luckily they don't know we'd never do that. Once Will was here, the kids had a blast showing off for him (and probably scaring him with their wild behavior, loud voices, and daredevil climbing tactics). Hopefully he didn't pick up any bad habits while visiting...

At the end of the evening, James requested Madagascar (for the FOURTH time since Friday), and Will actually joined him on the couch for about 10 minutes:

 Then he and Cora needed something else to do. So once they were into their jammies, we set them up with the light box and they played happily in the dark until it was time for Will to go home:

Other activities included putting together James' big boy bed and taking down Cora's crib and changing table (to be discussed in a later blog post), reading books, racing cars, reading books, cooking in the play kitchen, carrying things around in baskets and buckets and purses, and reading books. Will is as obsessed with books as Cora is. Bonus for us, since reading books is about the easiest entertainment a parent/babysitter could hope for! Not to mention we love that it's a great learning opportunity for all involved. 

It was definitely a good day, and we hope Al and Christina were able to unwind a bit as they prep for baby sister's arrival - in just TEN DAYS! We can't wait to have another newborn around to play with soon!