A healthy dose of chaos

Having three beautiful children in just under 3 years brings a fair amount of welcomed craziness to our lives here at the Thames house, but adding three more kiddos for a few days brought it to a whole new level! One of my very best friends, Courtney, was able to pack up her three kids on Sunday and come visit me from the Tri-Cities, while Rick packed up for a four day adventure in Las Vegas with his friend, Aaron, beginning on Monday.

Courtney, the kids, and I spent 3 days playing around the house, going to the park, battling the dreaded bedtime routine, doing multiple head counts, and visiting the Oregon Zoo. All in all the kids did really well together, especially considering they had never really spent any extended amount of time together before this visit. Court pointed out one day that we almost had a kid at every age: Grady (6), Sydney (will be 5 in less than 3 weeks), Riley (4), Tyson (3), Justin (2), and Cooper (1)... how's that for a spread!

We wore the kids out on Monday and Tuesday- withholding naps and running them ragged at the splash pad and zoo respectively, helping make bedtime the second two nights not as bad as the first. So after the kids went down, Courtney and I were able to enjoy some great conversation, bowls of ice cream (her), wine (me), indulge in the season finale of the Bachelorette, and discover that we are both slightly obsessed with Glee... Ok, me more so than her, but I'm pretty sure she'll be close behind now that I let her borrow the first half of season 1 to catch up. :)

Riley and Sydney

We got an up close and personal view of the polar bear's backside!

Tyson was enthralled with the mechanical dinosaur on display at the zoo...

And ever since Disneyland, Riley has become quite the poser in pictures... for this one, she found the flowers, asked me to take a "pretty picture" of her in front of them, then proceeded to pose like she was showing off her glass slipper. :)

Cooper was asleep in the stroller for the next two...

Definitely one of my favorite shots from the whole visit... all SIX kiddos lined up having a snack at the zoo. :)

Getting some air on the "jumpoline" as Justin calls it! :)

Running around chasing each other...

The youngest two boys filling the lawn mower with gas...

And another cute picture of the girls...

I am so glad we all got a chance to hang out... although next time I think Courtney and I will try it without the kids. :)

Rick arrives home from Vegas tonight and the kids are so excited to see him! It's fun to have the tables turned, with Rick doing the solo traveling and me staying home with the kids. This is one of the pictures I sent to him while he's been gone so the kids could say hello!

It sounds like Rick and Aaron found some fun things to do, including a David Copperfield magic show and some comedy. I think I am most jealous of his visit to the Hoover Dam!
I love modern cell phone technology... Rick and I were able to share pictures with each other and use FaceTime on our phones so the kids could see and talk to him a few times. We're looking forward to having him home again tonight!