Once upon a time, on an airplane ride back from San Francisco, there was a very crabby little girl who just needed a good nap. Her extremely patient mother did not get alarmed, but tried every reasonable persuassion to get her to sleep. Once all reasonable options were exhausted, the never-failing and always patient mother pleaded “If you just close your eyes and rest, I’ll take you to Chuck E Cheese when we get home!”. Given the inherent negotiation abilities of this wise young girl, she quickly fell asleep and awoke to tell her adoring little sister “We’re going to Chuck E Cheese!”.

And that little tale leads me to this weekend…..

Each morning this week Annabelle awoke and asked “Are we going to Chuck E Cheese today?”. When Friday finally rolled around I couldn’t resist any longer and finally had to appease the girls with that ill-fated promise from the airplane.

Chriss and Paul headed to Estes Park so Nathan and Jocelyn spent the night with us and joined us on our adventure. Gwyneth is still the Goddess of Tickets – she had one token left, threw it in a game, and hit the bonus of 75 tickets. The girl can’t lose. Jocelyn is a lurker — she watches the machines and sees which kids are winning the most tickets and swoops in after them to clean up. Luckily Jocelyn and Gwyneth were willing to share their tickets and all 4 of the kiddos came home with plenty of Chuck E Cheese crap prizes.

This tale has proven I’m a momma of my word and an awesome Aunt. I know that last part is true, because Jocelyn told me so.

We picked all 4 kiddos up from daycare tonight and I’m not exactly sure what they were up to today but they had worked up an appetite. They sat right down to the dinner table and gobbled up turkey tacos! They ate and ate and ate…  Even Hanna did a great job with her turkey taco meat, except when she was done her plate was thrown right on the floor. Sometimes I really forget what it’s like having a baby in the house. Lots and lots of food on the floor!

They spent the rest of the night playing with building blocks, making scary Halloween faces, and overall causing mischief.

I can’t say it enough – we had such a great visit! It was so hard to head home. I miss living near my family. When I’m with them life just seems like a piece of cake…..ok, maybe not a piece of cake, but certainly easier. The girls seem a little less nuts, time feels a little more manageable and I’m most honestly, overwhelmingly, inexcusably happy. I wish I could pack them all up and move them to Colorado. Until I can persuade them all to move here, I’m just going to have to love these visits, take lots and lots of pictures of my growing nieces, and cry when I head home. Luckily I have a trip to Chicago just around the bend so the tears don’t have to last for too long. I get to see both my sisters in one month and YaYa three times – I’m certainly a lucky gal.

YaYa doesn’t miss a birthday! Especially not Miss Eliana’s 1st. She got to spend some time with all 4 of the little ones. As usual she is a huge help with meals, baths, chasing after these maniacs….. They adore her and the feeling is mutual.

I took about 400 pictures of the 4 girls together and didn’t get a single one of them all looking at the camera!

They all look so stinkin’ cute in their party shirts! I made them just for the party and they got lots of compliments.

It is ugly here in Colorado. Lots of rain, too wet to play outside, and an unexpected late snowfall – where the heck is Spring? It’s mid-May!

When it’s too cold to be outside what better way to spend the evening than at Little Monkey Business with friends? The Tyler and Fessler boys and mommas joined us for dinner and play time. Rob had an appointment and Lanse was not feeling well so B played ‘dad’ for all the kids. He even managed to climb all the way up the gymnasium and send a very mad Rhys down the slide so Sheila could leave. Oh boy, was Rhys mad at him! I’m certain he’ll forgive by the next time we meet up (forgive – maybe, forget – doubtful! ha!). The girls ate lots of pizza, played hard, and wore themselves out.

Oh, how I enjoy my crafts. I love the digital scrapbooking, making invitations and party decorations, and now my new passion of sewing. The girls weren’t using their playroom to its full potential so we (and when I say we, I mean I) converted it into a craft room. Now I have a table set up for my computer and sewing machine, a place for my ironing board (key for sewing and the only time my iron gets used), and a cabinet for all my sewing and craft essentials.

The girls have been having so much fun working on crafts with me I knew it was time to hook them up. I moved their table into the room so they’d have their very own place and filled their old toy organizer with craft supplies. White paper, colored paper, construction paper, coloring books, crayons, markers, scissors, glue, paints. They. Love. It.

They spent the night coloring while I was sewing and embroidering their names on tote bags. A momma can definitely get use to this.

Picking up 4 kids from daycare is a piece of cake. B and I have it under control. Ok, maybe not quite a piece of cake and we’re not really in control…we just try and keep order in the house. Not even order, we just try to minimize the mass chaos. So far, so good.

They are 4 very smart little ones and we’re going to be in big, big trouble when they realize they outnumber us. I expect full-on-anarchy. But for now, I just appreciate the sweet little things. Annabelle kissing baby Hanna and sharing her toys with Andrew. Andrew eating an entire pb&j in 30 seconds flat and tackling B. Gwyneth hugging baby Hanna and chasing after the big kids to let her hide with them. Hanna walking around the house, sitting on my lap snuggling, and playing with the charms on my necklace.

Gwyneth told Hanna tonight “You can be my sister”. We told her that Hanna was Andrew’s sister and they could be very good friends. They can all irritate each other like siblings but there is lots and lots of love here.

We took advantage of a super cheap offer to see the Nuggets. Added bonus – it was at the event center just minutes from our house. For the low, low price of $6 we got to sit in the 6th row and watch our favorite players. The girls were way into the action. Gwyneth liked the buzzers, the squeeky basketball shoes and Rocky, the mascot. Annabelle liked the Nuggets dancers and shook her booty right along with them. After munching on popcorn, we headed home after the half-time show. The girls had a blast and talked about Rocky’s slam dunks the entire ride home.