Final Playgroup (boo)

Playgroup!!
Originally uploaded by Justin and Kelly Webb

We had our last "official" playgroup on Wednesday...an absolutely perfect way to spend my birthday morning!! The boys & I were thrilled to head to Renay's house...we hadn't had our big group together for playgroup in awhile and it felt good to hang out again. The kids were very happy to see each other again too...lots of running, laughing, mess making and hardly any arguments which was delightful. Caleb and I joined this awesome playgroup when he was 10 months old - crazy to watch all the changes in not only him, but the other kids as well. We are missing Logan in this pic, but if you click on the photo there are some pics w/ only kids and he's in those.

I will REALLY miss this group. So will my boys. While I was putting Izzy in her carseat, Caleb seemed all panicky and asked if we could please send all of his friends a map to our new house....very good idea. I purposely did not tell him that this was his last playgroup b/c I didn't want him to be sad. Naturally, he just figured this out. As usual, Darlene helped me get out the door w/ all my kids and offered to help watch the kids while I pack this coming week. See how wonderful my friends are here??

I think the only thing that made it easier for me and Caleb to leave playgroup that day was that Nicole (the babysitter) was at our place to "play with Caleb while Sam & Izzy napped" so I could spend the afternoon at a spa (my b-day present from Justin). Delightful. The kids also brought me breakfast in bed and had the cutest (and biggest!) flower arrangement made for me... real white daisies mixed in with paper daisies w/ the kid's faces in them. Adorable. The boys put alot of effort into it and I think all 3 of them were proud of it. :)

The other thing that kept me from being too sad about my last playgroup was that I knew I'd see my parents on Thursday. They were in the city to watch Fiddler on the Roof (original cast's final performance....very cool for them to see). They spent the night downtown w/ Mary & Dick (family) and they all headed here Thursday morning. Mary & Dick headed back to Nebraska before lunch, but my parents stayed until about 7:00pm. My dad was in charge of the boys and my mom helped me w/ Izzy and packed a few boxes for us! I think my dad had them outside the majority of the time and he got in a nice workout himself...the boys asked him to go for a walk, but they decided that they wanted to ride in their new jeep instead (nice WALK). Anyway - when they were furthest from our house, the battery died and my dad pushed them in the jeep the rest of the way. hahahaha. Next time, I suspect he'll tell them to ride their bikes....or possibly pull HIM in the wagon (payback). :) Anyway, it was nice to see them for they day and it felt good to get some boxes packed and some of my favorite breakables brought home already.

Today was supposed to be rainy, so I told the boys we were going to do art projects all day. We ran a few errands this morning, but spent the rest of the day working on Father's Day presents. We headed outside after Sammy napped, but I didn't realize it was 94 degrees (w/ heat index) until we got outside. Yuck. I didn't feel like dragging the sprinkler out, so I told them that all the matchbox cars needed to be washed. We got out the bucket of cars, a bucket of water and we sat in the shade and got all the matchbox cars as clean as could be (they wanted to wash them 2 times). That ate up 45 mintues. Brilliant. The boys biked after that. Sammy is getting good on Caleb's old bike - - he still throws a tantrum every time he wants to turn around (b/c he can't) or gets stuck (which is ....oh, every 15 seconds). Every time he rides he gets better, and I remember Caleb going through this too. The difference though, is that Caleb let me help him. This is what it's like with Sam:
Sam: (Screaming)
Me: Sam, why are you crying
Sam: Because I can't GO!!!
Me: Here, let me help you start, then you can go.
Sam: NOOOOO - I want to do it by myself!!
Me: Okay, then push hard with your legs.
Sam: I CAN'T!!!
Me: Well, then let me help you.
Sam: NO!!!!!
Me: Sam, you have to get off the bike if you dont' stop crying. Let me help you start and you can do the rest by yourself.
Sam: (screams again after another unsuccessful attempt at getting started)
Me: (pushing the bike to get him going)
Sam: DON'T HELP ME!!!

Then he rides down the block with tears running down his face, but a huge smile on his face....because he is peddling all on his own, on a big boy bike and he loves it. Until he has to turn around. Then we start all over.

I think I need to teach him how to drive that jeep afterall....