Party time

Some combination of the boys and I attended parties this past weekend and had a blast! Thomas was out of town with his buddies for a guys weekend and MaSha was in town and spent time with the boys and me and helped us out.

Friday night was a little trying with a code brown issue and a vom on the carpet (neither one of which happen often AT ALL) so I was really glad that my rugrats kids waited until I was on my own to have these magical moments [insert sarcasm]. It was a tough night. It's times like these when I really appreciate having Thomas around most of the time and when I think of how brave, selfless and strong single moms are, and just how much I admire them. That's a tough job.

On to the good stuff!

Saturday we went to Grayson's shark themed pool party! I took both Stokes and William with me to swim and Ryan stayed at home with MaSha. The boys had so much fun and even went off the diving board for the very first time! Our neighborhood pool doesn't have a diving board so it was really exciting to have this new adventure. Stokes had no fear, of course, and just marched down to the end of the board and off he went. The first few times, I was in the deep end to catch him after he jumped in. After a while though, he didn't even need me there waiting on him. He's a daredevil. William, on the other hand, was a little more cautious and would walk down to the end and then sit down on his bottom and I'd have to get out of the pool and get him off the board so that other kids could continue jumping. He actually did end up jumping off, on the side of the board, while I was holding his hand, toward the end of the party. He has to work up to these kinds of things. My friend, Stacey, Grayson's mom, is an amazing party planner and made the party and all the little details so cute and perfect. She was so relieved that the rain that was threatening to ruin the party stayed away! Toward the end, my boys did not want to leave. I basically had to bribe them with the fact that they could go home and see their MaSha!

William with the shark pic prop

Stokes

Time to eat!

Playing in the pool

Lot of friend and pool toys to play with

He loves the water

Here he goes!
He's waving to Stacey

Action shot

I'm trying to walk William as far out as possible

He jumped off the side (with my help) and Stacey's
dad was there to help him in the water

So cute!

Cake time

Happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, dear Grayson.....happy birthday to you!

Opening some fun presents!

Stokes, Grayson, William and Landon
Love these kiddos

William giving Stacey a hug

Stokes giving Stacey a hug

Later that afternoon, MaSha and I helped the boys drive their Jeeps on our road to a cul-de-sac to play. I've only ever let them "drive" in our garage and driveway (and some into our grass). There were tears and tantrums and a few tires riding up on the curb, but all in all, they did pretty well and it was fun, albeit hot and sweaty fun. I didn't get any pictures of our Jeep road trip. Sad. MaSha spent the night at our house on Saturday night and she and I watched a movie after the boys went to bed. It was a not-so-crazy slumber party!

On Sunday we took the boys to church and then we split up again. All the boys went to the nursery while I went to the 9:55 service and MaSha went to Sunday school. Then MaSha took Stokes with her to the 11:15 service and back to her house for the afternoon. She says he behaved during the service (with the help of the snack cup). Thank goodness! I took Ryan and William to the McCrary's house for a baptism brunch after their new baby, Madeline, was baptized at the 9:55 service. Madeline did awesome during the baptism and did not make a peep. Her brothers managed to solicit a few laughs from the congregation though. The brunch at Kasey and Justin's house was just beautiful. The food was great, they had lots of friends come to celebrate and there were plenty of kids for the boys to play with there.

Pictures from Madeline's baptism brunch:

All the Wills (and William)...both big and small
William is apparently a popular name in our
small group

All the Wills + Justin, whose first
name is actually William

All the kids at the brunch!

This progression is funny

LOL

What a fun bunch. There were even several kids that were missing from the picture....just being toddlers. HA!

Thomas finally got back from Knoxville around 5 or so and the boys and I were so excited to see him! He actually left Thursday straight from work and by the time he got home on Sunday, it felt like it had been way too long. We really missed him! MaSha brought Stokes back around 6 pm and we were finally reunited; it was a great feeling!

I learned that Dada is never allowed to have a boys weekend again - just kidding - but I did realize how much I miss him when he's not here and how much he helps us all. I also learned that splitting up the boys at times can be a good thing. It's more manageable to go somewhere with 2 vs 3 and that it's awesome for the 3rd little guy to have some one-on-one time with MaSha, whom they just adore. MaSha truly made the weekend so much easier on me and I'm grateful for all her help and support and love.