A Great Way to Spend the Weekend

Some very good friends of our family from residency flew to Minnesota this weekend, and we were so excited to have them zip up North to visit us and spend the night on Friday.  They live far away in Montana, and we don't get to see them often.  Not only did the grown ups have fun talking into the night (probably later than we should have since they have a newborn who doesn't do a lot of sleeping at night) but the kids played and played and played.  It was so fun to see them all together.  I spent most of my time snuggling up the baby, so there aren't as many pictures as you would think.  

For a brief time on Saturday their oldest girls stayed with us while the parents met up with a different friend for a bit.  We had so much fun playing.  It was 50 degrees out!  And sunny!  We were so happy to be outside!  The kids gave the swingset a good workout, and then, because our friends don't have many trees in their yard in Montana, we raked up a pile of leaves to play in.  They jumped and jumped and tossed leaves at each other, up in the air, and at me, which they thought was great fun.  We took all he baby doll strollers and wagons on a long walk around the neighborhood.  Mr. Sneaky Pants dressed up like a knight and rode a stick horse to protect us on the road.  It was quite the procession.  All the neighbors got a BIG laugh out of it.  So many people were out and about in their yards, and lots of them thought that all 5 kids were mine, because they are all just a little bit different in height, and all but one of the girls were wearing pigtails, which kind of made them look like they belonged together.    

Of course, Ya Ya taught them all about playing with cardboard boxes.  She brought out the whole cardboard village for the enjoyment of all.  At one point Ya Ya was intensely frustrated at The Banana because she kept running into some of the boxes.  Wise Loree said, "It's OK, Sarah.  It's tough being a big sister."  I had to agree.  

Little Evie was a bit scared of our cat, but by the end she was even willing to pet that fuzzy grey fur on Brutus' back.  

You can see a few more pictures of our friends here.