Weekend of Tuleys, etc

The weekend after Easter was jam packed with family fun, just not all our family. Last minute we had the privilege of keeping Katie Tuley's for the weekend. When I told Derek we would magically become a family of five over the weekend, his first response was that we would just stay at the house all weekend and not go anywhere. he had that deer in headlight look. What do you know, within the first hour he was ready to take on the city of Houston - and it was easy peasy.

First stop Friday night was Ciro's for dinner. Lissie (just turned 1), John David (2 1/2) and Justin had a blast sitting outside and playing bocce ball. They could technically all be mine, but I've gotten too much sleep in the last 3 years for that to be the case.


Justin had to show John David how to toss the ball high in the air.


At one point Justin was playing by himself since he is always the fast eater of any group. So Derek and I were left at the table with just the Tuley kids. 3 different times (let me repeat, three times) strangers came up to our table and told us how beautiful our children were. And Justin wasn't sitting at the table! We would just smile and say thank you. I wanted to say, "And don't I look great for having 3 small children?" But that would have made everyone feel awkward since they wouldn't be in on the joke.


John David had so much fun at the water fountain. The strangers would comment how crazy is was that one child had curly hair...


...and the other had straight. But then they would see my straight locks and Derek's curls and realize that's just the way our "children" came out.


JD & JT were fast friends. These two had not played together for a several months, but they played so nicely together.


John David just looked up to Justin like a big brother. And anytime Justin would make John David cry, Justin would quickly say he was sorry, John David would quick crying, and then they would move on to the next thing. These boys were best friends all weekend.



And this little missy was the most active one year old I have ever been around. So independent, so go with the flow, yet when Miss Lissie wanted something, she wanted in 2 minutes ago. But she was such an easy baby - so easy to be around. I loved how she would just cling to my arm when I would carry her around the house. I miss carrying around a little one like that - especially when they don't weigh that much!


The other guests we had Friday night were my brother and sister-in-law. They were celebrating their 5 year anniversary in Houston and decided to stay the night with us on Friday. So Saturday morning was loads of fun with Uncle Aaron and lots of kiddos. He and Elise have so many friends with kids that it was just natural to have them around in the morning.


The cat's meow was when Aaron gave the two boys permission to go wake up Elise with nerf guns and the Doha machine gun. They were in hog heaven!


Aaron and Elise left, and in came Lily form across the street. We were watching her for a few hours, so we became a family of 6 and headed out to Chick-fil-a. Lily being the youngest had never been inside one! Her parents were pleasantly surprised that she minded Aunt Shani just fine and had a blast on the indoor play area.


Can you believe this boy had never had chocolate milk before? And guess what, he loved it!


After the weekend, Derek nicely said there was a reason why God has allowed us to go so long without conceiving. He knew we needed more time in between the kiddos. Now that's being at peace with where He's has us, right?