it's been too long!

we've had a wonderful last few days with my best friend, kristi, and her kids. she called thursday to say, "we're coming tomorrow!", and that was music to my ears! after almost a year since we've seen each other, we were way past due for a visit. do i need to even say that we've had a ball? our kids just picked up where they left off last summer...lydia leading the crew, steven attached to the first guitar he could find, ethan dragging out every single toy for his friends to see, caroline traumatized at everyone playing with her toys, and meredith wearing my shoes! shepherd was such a dollbaby, and amelia was so happy to finally meet these friends she's been hearing so much about for the last several months.

i started clicking away with the camera the minute they walked in the door! this boy has grown a ton since the last time i laid my eyes on him... isn't he a.dor.a.ble?!


we started the weekend with a trip to lowe's to build a helicopter. the boys were really excited. i promise they were!



there... much better!


as we were lining up the kids for this shot, kristi told the family next to us, "we haven't seen them in a year. that's why we're taking pictures!" and i laughed and said, "ummm, we take pictures almost every time we come to lowe's!" look at them making their helicopter noises...


i love pictures of these five together. even in the aisle at the home improvement store!


i humored kristi when she wanted to take all the kids on a walk to their old house. at noon. in july. but how could i say no!? here we are before the walk... the last time we took this same walk, we only had three kids between us. what a difference three years can make!


we also spent plenty o' time in the pool at leigh and deb's, where kristi and her crew stayed. (thanks for your great hospitality!!) i definitely prefer to be in the pool at noon in july!


masks were all the rage this weekend. apparently, this one was one size fits all.



and you never know when you might just get a little icing in your eyes. better safe than sorry.


i can't believe i did not get an "after" shot of meredith vs. the fudgesicle. i'm pretty sure that meredith won.


kristi and kristi held a cheerleading camp in the pool as well. lydia loved it.



so steven had to try. steven loved it.



so meredith had to try. meredith didn't love it.


these girlies have gotten so big since last summer. they win the best hair awards for the weekend with their curls. :)


for some reason, i ended up being the only adult in the pool one night with five kids. five squealing kids. so this is how i felt by the end of the night...


while we were swimming, brian was taking really cool pictures like this one...



and amelia stayed busy chewing on her chubby fingers.




and shepherd tried to crawl in the pool five thousand times.


one night we headed out to the beach so that the kids could overdose on entertainment and sugar. we made a visit to the toy store, the carousel, the train, and the ice cream shop!



the next picture was taken right after the one above it. it was so fun to watch this girl's wheels turn. :)


when i saw this toy, i had to laugh. i am sure caroline would love for all of our wooden spoons to be used as puppets instead of the rod!


steven has such a special place in my heart as my son's first friend. i love this boy.



we let the kids ride this little train all by themselves. they felt so big.

we made sure the door to their train car locked, and we gave them about 25 rules to follow in our absence.


the "conductor" (more like el conductor) promised he'd watch them for us, but i was honestly more assured by the presence of other moms on the train. el conductor wouldn't steal our kids with witnesses there, would he?! (and seriously, brian was following them with the camera. never fear, grandmas. we are not totally stupid.)


anyway, the kids loved their little 5 minute ride down the road, and kristi and i loved our five minutes of uninterrupted conversation. next, we hit the carousel. again, lovin' the five kiddos together.


and this child was a baby at my wedding. a baby. and now she is a very helpful almost 6 year old. (sigh.)


we spent monday, our last day together, just hanging out at our house. here's the obligatory picture of all the kids on the couch. they've come to expect it.



ethan got so tickled every time he found waldo with mrs. kristi.

the older kids played so well together in ethan and caroline's room. i'm pretty sure they managed to employ every single one of our toys over the course of the weekend.


(caroline is potty training!! hence the girlie without pants.)

they formed their very own marching band, complete with harmonica, drum, and clompy princess shoes from the dollar tree. they marched up and down our very small hallway. over and over. and somehow, amelia still took a three hour nap.


aren't these babies sweet?!?! we joke that two of our children have got to get married one day. i mean, there are several ways that could work. so this picture has potential to make it in a wedding slideshow one day. :) haha.


and so does this one! ha! lydia and ethan got the biggest thrill out of catching bugs outside. every time lydia found a bug, she would exclaim, "bug catcher! bug catcher!" and ethan would congratulate her profusely, "lydia! i'm so proud of you!" they were a great little team.



and here's meredith checking out the prisoners.


this picture may be my very favorite from the weekend. she and caroline will be quite a pair in the years to come...


here's one more of sweet shepherd. he was just a jibber-jabberin' the whole weekend.


the kids weren't the only ones to have fun. even with seven kids to take care of, kristi and i end up laughing with each other and at each other most of the weekend. we are self-proclaimed dorks, and we love to be dumb together. isn't that what best friends are for!?


we played a little joke on brian, which probably won't be funny to anyone else. (hence, falling under the "dork" portion of this blog post!) kristi brought her laptop and wanted to use our wifi network. well, brian is like mr. CIA when it comes to passwords and our privacy (which i greatly appreciate!). i was on the phone with him when i got the network password off his computer in our room, and i said, "can't i just email myself the password since my laptop is with kristi in the living room?!" he exclaimed, "no! write it down!" so kristi and i had a good (dumb) laugh about brian and his security issues. later that evening, brian was meeting us back at leigh & deb's for dinner and more swimming. when he showed up, kristi said hello to him wearing our network password on her shirt.


brian got a good laugh out of it and then came home immediately to change our password. :)

besides being goofballs together, kristi and i also found some quiet time after the kids went to bed to pray and encourage one another. it was so hard to eventually go to bed, even after chasing the kids around all day. i just wanted to stay up all night to fellowship with my friend! we have shared so many ups and downs, times of plenty and want...and at the end of the day, it is a true, true blessing to have a friend with whom you can bear your soul and know that she will love you and turn you to Jesus.


well, they stopped by our house this morning to play for a few more minutes and to say our good-byes. we delayed the inevitable for as long as possible, and we all cried as they loaded up their van and drove away. i am hoping we will see them again in a few months. we agreed that a year was just too long. a year was too long to go without sharing our days, our jokes, and our tears. a year was too long to go without kissing on each others' babies. a year was too long to go without hearing our children naturally laughing and playing together in the next room as if they did this every single day. a year was just too long to go without being together.

SO, i look forward to seeing my sweet friend and her family again before too long. until then, here's one last shot of our crazy crew:


(caroline-2, meredith-2, steven-4, ethan-4, amelia-6 mos., shepherd-1, lydia-5)
thank you, God, for our friends.

(believe it or not, these are just my favorite pictures from this weekend. there's more here if you're related to these kids and did not get your fill. ha!)