Weekend with the Hirst Kiddos

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of keeping Ellie and Charlie so that Adrienne and Damian could have a very much needed babymoon.  We had a fantastic time and the kids loved every minute of having their friends at our home.

When the kids first got there I snapped a few group pictures.  I knew it would probably be my only chance !

Saturday morning Jay helped the kids to build a huge tent in the living room.  At one point all 4 kids and Jay were inside.  What a fun daddy!

Jackson was so funny and wanted to help Ellie put on and take off her shoes at every opportunity.  She seemed to like it as well as she would call to him every time she needed help with anything.  He also insisted on helping Charlie with everything as well.

Besties Charlie and Baron loved every minute of their time together.

They were always right next to each other no matter what was going on.

Love happy little Charlie.

At one point I was making lunch and heard the boys hysterically laughing in the play room.  I walked in to see this. . .

I may be wrong but I don’t remember Jackson playing this much with anyone at this age.  I think he was still doing parallel play.  But these guys are serious buddies.  I love it.

Sunday the kids had a blast playing at church between the services.

Sweet little Charlie.

Jay had the “bigs” in his car because he had taken them to home depot to do the kids project and also to US Toys to play for the afternoon.  I had the “littles” and they were thrilled to be together.  They held hands and laughed and played the whole time. 

What a great weekend!  I just wish that I had more pictures of all of the fun that the bigs had.  Thanks A & D for trusting us with your sweet babies!  We’d love to have them again soon.

Extreme Living Room Make Over

Last month my awesome MOMS play group surprised us with an amazing make over of our living room.  It was so incredibly sweet and generous of them and I just can’t even explain the difference it makes in our home.  Here are a few before pictures:

This is the room while we were taking everything out.  But boxes (and “time out” pack n play) aside, you get the picture.  Dark wood paneling circa 1978. . .ugh.

Jackson (still in his pull up from nap) loved helping us take everything off of the shelves.  Of course here they were also a “catch all” for all of the sanding supplies.

Jackson also loved sanding!

Jay (and Heath for 4 days) spent every night for a week sanding, caulking and using wood putty prepping the room for primer. 

Thanks so much for your help Uncle Heath!

Jay was very detail oriented and it really paid off!

Friday night the group came over and we all primed away.  What great friends to do all of this work in our home!!!

And then Saturday we were at it again. 

Frozen cappuccinos were a hit.

Jen and Landy are both master painters!

These guys are the best!

Bart left a little message for us on the back of the tv!

After the weekend the room was looking fantastic.  All that was left was the trim and the bookcase.  Also you may be wondering where all of the kiddos were during this time.  Adrienne (who had masterminded this whole project) kept most of the kiddos at her house all weekend.  She by far had the hardest job.  Luckily I was able to farm out Jackson to Jaclyn on Saturday and Gaga took both boys all day Sunday.  Thank you so much to everyone who donated an entire weekend to painting and child care! 

Even after all of the walls were painted Landy, Jessica and Jennifer wanted to come back and finish the trim.  Rumor has it that I’m not a very good painter.  That being said I was on kid duty while these fabulous ladies finished the room.

These sweet kiddos watched Tangled during what would have been their nap time.

The final day of painting the kids were having a blast together.

The room is not yet decorated but even with out being totally back together you can see the massive change.  Thanks so much to all of my sweet friends for this most wonderful surprise, we are LOVING our new living room!!

Ta Da!!!

And as usual thanks so much to Lesley for picking all of our colors!

Jack and Bear

This is kind of long but I finally got Bear on film saying a few words.   And you can kind of hear Jack in the back ground calling his daddy and telling him how much he loves him. Love my sweet little guys!

Jack’s Haircut

A few days ago Jackson walks in and says, “hey mom, my hair was in my eyes but don’t worry I took care of it.”

Of course I told him that he was NOT allowed to use scissors to cut his or anyone else’s hair and that it looked silly and needed to be fixed.  Then he went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror and said, “actually mom, I look prrrrreeeeetttttttttty great!”  Even though I don’t want him doing it again I hope he keeps that great self image forever!