Under-documented

Although I am fairly consistent with taking my camera(s) out and about with us, sometimes I leave the big one at home and am even too lazy to pull out my phone.  Other times, it's just too dark or the kids are moving too fast to bother trying with my phone.  Or I am too busy talking ;)

As a result, I don't always photo-document our every move (looking through this blog, it is kind of hard to believe though, isn't it?!?!).  This was definitely the case with some of our fun with friends over the break.

Before Christmas, we met up with Samantha and Ava (and it turns out there were some other friends there, too!) at Pump It Up for an open jump session.  We had never gone other than for a birthday party.  The kids had so much fun, and when the open jump session ended, we went to Chipotle for lunch.  I had some free kids' meal coupons to use up and hadn't eaten there since before even pregnant with Leighton, so I was excited to try it out.  Roy eats there sometimes at work and always has good things to say about it (which means a lot coming from Mr-all-mexican-food-tastes-the-same-and-is-mushy).

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Pauline packed us into her car with her and her 3 boys and drove us up to Wonderwild for an open play time.  We also met Jenny and the kids and Michelle and her girls.  It was BUSY with a camp group and all the other mommies and daddies looking for something to occupy their kids during the chilly days!  Leighton is pretty independent and Riley sticks so close to me I never get a chance to lose her, but Pauline's three boys are all over the place, so she is on constant watch.

After we ate lunch and wrangled the 5 kids back into the car, we turned around and saw how cute they looked all packed in.  We snapped some cute photos on our phones, and Pauline said, "All that busy and crazy and stress is worth it for that picture!"  Totally agreed.

A couple days later was Palmer's birthday.  His party was held at a place close us, but we had never been there.  We had one big gym space to play dodge ball and then kick ball.  Leighton was totally into it, of course, and luckily Riley really got into and played everything, too.  After running hard for an hour, we went upstairs to a room with giant bouncy castles and slides and some video game consoles.  Then it was time for some snacks and cake.

Later that afternoon, we met up with Kate and the girls at the zoo.  We had fun exploring and riding the carousel.

We got kicked out a little earlier than the kids wanted to be, but it was still Zoo Lights and they needed to set up for that night's ticket holders.

Friday was Roy's birthday, so we had dinner and dessert with the kids (cake and custard, of course!)

Then Lindsey came over to keep watch after they were in bed so we could head out on the town.  I pulled out my phone to snap a picture that night though.  Not of Roy or us together or even of the yummy snacks and second dessert we had (oops!), but of the wine list - just couldn't risk not remembering the name of the wine I liked!!

On the weekend, we had a warmer day finally and made sure to get the kids outside.  They played basketball, rode bikes, and dug in the dirt!

Yesterday was the last day of the break, and Pauline had a bunch of us over for a play date (WAY too cold for the playground - so crazy here this year!).  It was SO loud and chaotic, but no tears or fighting or anything!  The kids all had so much fun.

And now it's back to normal routine.  And I will promise to bring my camera to the next fun outing!