Catching Up

I know, I know, it's been a while. I have had my hands full the last few weeks. So much has gone on! I do want to catch up with all the fun stuff so here's a run down of Jeff & Heather coming to visit. We packed them in our itty-bitty place for a couple of days and got to explore the Bay Area a little more.


When I posted about their arrival, I mentioned I would get the kids for two days while Jeff & Heather celebrated their anniversary. I've always thought I would have five or six kids. This was a good test run. Granted, I won't purposely have 5 kids under 5 and hopefully I won't still be in a one-bedroom apartment in the city!

I couldn't have made it without a lot of help. Addi and Jennie met us at the "secret park" to play for a couple of hours on Monday morning. Of course, the only pic I took was of "my" kids having a snack before they got there. I only had to do one (well, I guess it was two) potty runs in the bushes. No potty accidents, thank goodness! The kids played pretty great together. It was a little tricky with pushing both swings and holding William, but, like I said, I had a lot of helpful hands.


After the park, Ryan (18 months), Sarah and William all went down for naps. Jessie (3), Cassie (5) and I had some quiet time reading books and playing with the "Box of Fun" their mom left for them. It was bliss for a couple of hours.

Rog took pity on me and came home early - another must for a mother of five. I don't know how my sister does it when her husband gets home later ... I was so happy to see Rog by 5:30! Since we had the 5 kids in our one-bedroom apartment we decided to take pity on our neighbors and take the kids out for Family Home Evening. The venue: The Oakland Temple. The plan was to see the Book of Mormon art exhibit at the visitor center, but we ended up taking pictures on the temple grounds and watching a short movie in the visitor center with our rowdy group. I do have to say, it was super cute when Sarah walked into the visitor center, saw the Christus, and loudly exclaimed, "Hi, Jesus!"


It was 9:30 before we got home and the kids magically went right to sleep. Whew! Oh and in case you were wondering how we put 5 kids to bed in our apartment, here's how we did it. Cassie, Jessie and Sarah all slept in Sarah's "room." (Cassie was on Sarah's bed while Jessie and Sarah slept on blankets on the floor.) William was in his cubby in our room. (I promise, I will post pics of his little space soon!) and Ryan was in a pack&play the closet that leads to our bathroom. It worked great.

Here are a few pics of the rest of the week. FYI - Jeff & Heather and crew stayed with our friend Cassandre in Sausalito for the rest of their visit.

On Wednesday, we went to the Castle Park in San Anselmo. It took a little longer than anticipated because of road construction, but we had a great time.









Sarah CRASHED when we got home. So much play and so little sleep - and it was just Wednesday!


That night, Heather picked me up in Cassandre's Jaguar and we went to Nicks Crispy Tacos for dinner before heading to Wicked. We lucked out with a parking spot right in front. I can't believe we didn't take a pic of that! Wicked was FANTASTIC.


Thursday, we tried the Academy of Sciences. We didn't stay long because we got there a little late and it was a bit crowded. We grabbed McDonalds and headed over to the Golden Gate Park children's playground by the carousel. Now THAT was a big hit. The best was sliding down the giant slide on pieces of cardboard.










Friday night we had Cafe Rio night with Cassandre. Her first visit to our place in the city. We got to use our new trio crockpot. (I broke ours a few weeks ago so we got a new one.) I have to say the food turned out fantastic. We slow cooked our own black beans, pinto beans, and chicken. Rog made the tastiest pico de gallo with Jicama. Loved it. Unfortunately, Sarah didn't have a nap that afternoon and was a crazy person by the time everyone showed up. We didn't get to chat late into the evening like I had hoped, but it was fun to have one last hurrah before Jeff and Heather packed up and left the next day. I love this pic.


See, I told you I have had a lot going on ... and that was just one of the weeks I've missed :)