Houseparty

The Mister's fierce travel schedule over the past month had left me with about $64 in OnDemand charges and a baseball-sized dent in a jar of Nutella when my completely awesome friend showed up with her two girls for a visit.  What a fabulous time of rejuvenation!  Something about throwing another mama and a couple more kiddos into the mix turns lots of long days into one long party.

My friend is as sweet as they come.  As I told the Mister, she is steadfastly and untiringly the mother I hope I am on my good {best} days.  She is so patient, so careful, so intentional.  When we reached the end of each day together, I'd be scuttling my children off to bed, beyond ready to clock out, and I'd come out to find her fitting in a little more back-scratching and story-reading with the girls.  She amazes me.

It's no wonder that her girls have inherited her sweet spirit.  They are gentle and caring, and a pure delight to be around.

The children absolutely loved playing with their houseguests.

We took them to a farm, of course.  :)

And we really, really tried to get a good picture of all five of them together.  Best we got!  Baby Girl is making a run for it!

The nose bleed section.

The highlight of the trip was these horses.  All the big kids--some with a little more trepidation than others--fed the horses the tall grasses.  Huge excitement on both sides of that fence.

Although the boys did not scream even once about the chickens this time, we were eventually forced to call it a day because Buddy Boy simply could not handle the extremely frightening flies and the terribly ferocious gnats.  Nuclear meltdowns over every fly-by.  And I do mean nuclear.

So...NAPTIME!

After which, we took an evening stroll to the fountains at the Capitol.

The wind was just right for maximum bubble production!

And this bench was just right for popsicle eating!

The next day brought a visit to our favorite local haunt, the National Building Museum.

Which was followed by a little quiet time at home, dinner al fresco, and a walk to the White House.

{Can you hear her screeching???  Everyone else can!  ;) }

We enjoyed one more evening together, and then these lovely ladies were on their way back home.

The whole visit was so much fun...five little ones happily squished into our kitchen, making gigant-o messes with spaghetti casserole; every bed and crib full at night; two strollers, double- and triple-stacked, touring the city.  One of my very best friends, who has known me over so many years now, with whom I did some of my best growing up, sitting right there on my sofa every night, ready to chat.  Parenting side-by-side and subbing in for one another throughout the day, getting to really know each other's children.  It was all just wonderful.

Anytime they want to come back, the boys are ready to hit the air mattress!