Weekend in Houston

This is a recreation of a telephone conversation I had with my sister Lindsey on December 18th before I decided to move to Texas as quickly as possible.  

Me: I'm just making sure its still okay with you if we come stay with you while we wait for our housing. 

Lindsey: Yeah, that's just fine.  I'm already getting the guest bedroom ready for you.  When do you think you will come?

Me: Well I'm hoping to be there by my birthday in February.

Lindsey: Well my plan for you is that you will be here for Rocklond's birthday in the middle of January. Actually, my real plan for you it to be here for John's birthday at the beginning of January - but I know that one is a little too soon to really happen.  

Me: Let me talk to Brandon and I'll get back to you.

A few hours later Brandon and I decided to move to Texas right away, a day later we were assigned our house, a week later we started packing our stuff, and two weeks later Lindsey rescued us in New Mexico.  And we really did make it to Lindsey's house in time for John's birthday. 

This weekend I drove with the kids back down to Houston so we could be there to celebrate Rocklond's birthday.  I'm glad we already had this little trip planned because the delivery date for our stuff was pushed back from the 17th to the 21st.  (Grrr)  I had no desire to spend a whole weekend in our barely furnished house.     

So early Friday morning I put the kids in the car and we drove the three hours to Houston.  I have to add something here.  Some of you may think it is weird that I say I live "only" three hours away from Lindsey.  You have to understand that this is the closest we have lived to each other in EIGHT years.  

We moved the car seats over to Lindsey's SUV almost as soon as we arrived at Lindsey's house.  She took us all to the Houston children's museum   I'm glad she drove because the Houston Freeway system has got to be the craziest looking thing I have ever seen   I would have been too busy gawking at the elaborate layers of bridges, ramps, HOV lanes, freeways, etc to actually pay attention to the road - let alone get to where we needed to go.  

Once in the museum we tried taking the kids through a little place called "Kidtown."  It was really cute. They had little replicas of buildings and the kids could pretend to work at different jobs.  Unfortunately my kids were just a little too young to really get what they were supposed to do.  I ended up taking them to the toddler and baby area upstairs while Lindsey, Rocklond, and Knoxx explored the rest of the museum.  

Charlotte and Lydia LOVED the toddler area.  It really was perfect for their developmental level.  Here they are playing in a car,

In a little house,

In a hole,

and ringing doorbells and opening doors.  They loved this one so much that they now pretend to ring a door bell every time they open our closet door.

Derrick wasn't feeling very well.  Most of the time he wanted me to hold him.  He didn't even smile at his reflection like he normally does.  He did like looking at toys that I would show him.  And at the very end he enjoyed sitting in the car for about 5 minutes.  I kept telling him, well at least you got in for free so it's okay you aren't having a good time.

Charlotte and Lydia are so cute with Derrick.  They are really good at including him.  So when Charlotte saw that he was finally playing with something she came over and sat with him.

Lydia found a slide and went down it over and over and over again.

Lindsey joined up with us again and we took the kids out to a little patio where they could play with tricycles and fisher price cars.  We fed the babies while the kids played.  Derrick and Knoxx are so cute together.  They are only 10 days apart and they have the same coloring (fair skin, platinum blond hair, blue eyes) They are also the biggest baby chunks!  Both of them weigh around 20 pounds.  Derrick is taller, but Knoxx is heavier.

Charlotte and Lydia loved driving around in the cars.  

Then we went outside and the kids played with a water area out there.  It was a little advanced for the girls, but they still had fun.

And then it was time to go.  The kids were very ready for naps.  We tried taking a cute group picture, but as you can see Lydia was in no mood to be part of the group.

So we went back to Lindsey's house.  All the kids (except Charlotte for some reason) slept on the way home.

Later that night Lindsey got a babysitter and she and I went to a baby shower for someone in her ward.  We had thought about leaving the babysitter with all 5 kids, but in the end we took the babies with.  Neither boy was feeling very well and we didn't want to leave a 15 year old alone with them.  Both boys fell asleep and stayed asleep for most of the party.  Even though I didn't know anyone I really liked getting away from the twins and relaxing with other women.

Saturday was Rocklond's Robot Birthday party.  Lindsey modeled tons of qualities that I would like to one day emulate.  For one she is incredibly artistic.  She drew all these robots.

She's also great with large groups of children.  I don't know how many little kids were at the party, but there were A LOT.  And she kept most of them occupied and having fun the whole time.  Here are some of the kids making robot hats.

Here's Lydia modeling her's.  Charlotte spend most of the coloring time drawing on her cheek.  When I saw that I just laughed and said, "that's my little artist."  Then Lydia wanted in on the fun so she drew some lines on her face too.

Lindsey took the kids outside to play games.  This one is Red Robot, Red Robot.  

And then they played with the parachute.  I could tell Charlotte and Lydia were younger than most of Rocklond's friends.  They liked to run under the parachute and stay there.  I felt kind of embarrassed about it, but later Lindsey told me, "I remember when all those older kids were the ones who wouldn't come out from under the parachute."  That made me feel better.

And then it was time for cake.  This was one of the main reasons we we at the party.  My girls have become obsessed with birthdays and birthday cake.  Ever since John's birthday they have mentioned his birthday cake at least once a day.  The other night I was reading to them a conference talk. I said, this one has a story about a boy named John.  They immediately started singing, "Haaapppy Birthdaaaaay, toooooo you, John." and asking for "Happy Cake."  I knew they would love to be there for Rocklond's birthday.

Lindsey had made cupcakes after I put the girls to bed (and fell asleep in the process) on Friday night.  One of the pans she used kept setting off the smoke alarm.  So she couldn't finish baking the cake for Rocklond's party.  Using her awesome improvisation talents she turned a mixing bowl into a robot cake.  It looked so cool.

As predicted Charlotte, Lydia, and Derrick loved the cake - or at least the icing.

Lindsey was so great at making sure everyone got a cupcake and ice cream.  She is so cool under this kind of pressure.  I would have been like, "Whoa, too many people all around me at once."

The party was so fun.  I think I'm just going to hire Lindsey to take care of my kids' birthday parties. She's so talented.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing.  Our (literal) dirty secret of the week was that each of the five kids had been battling a combination of diarrhea and/or throwing up for the past several days.  Even the adults were not spared in this problem.  So on Sunday we decided it was best if we all just stayed home from church.  It's not something we would normally have done, but under the circumstances it was the best decision.

It was nice to just relax.  The kids had a great time playing with Rocklond's toys and jumping on a mattress.

Derrick and Knoxx bonded some more.

It so great that we live relatively close to each other.  Lindsey and I didn't have any cousins our age so we like that our kids can experience something we never could.  And of course we are super happy to get to hang out together.  When we were little and would fight my mom would always say, "She's your best friend, and one day you are going to live far away from each other and wish that you could see each other."  I'd always roll my eyes when she'd say that, but it turns out she was right.

Today we came back home.  As fun as the weekend was, I think Derrick prefers to be home.  He'd been super clingy and almost lethargic all weekend.  As soon as we came home he started crawling all over the house and giggling again.

The girls were already talking about Rocklond's "Happy Cake."  So in their eyes it was a great weekend.

I had fun too.  But I'm happy to be home.  If all goes well our stuff should show up tomorrow.  I hope so, because I'm beginning to wonder if Brandon will make it home before our couch does.