Boys' and Girls' Weekends

Well, it was the final "Daddy Kidnapping" for the boys in our small group, as the last guy to have his first kid will be doing so in a couple weeks.  So, the boys went to a cabin on the Shenandoah River for the weekend, and we girls stayed with the kiddos and banded together to assist one another as well as hang out and have fun.

On Saturday morning, several of us mommies drove to Baltimore to visit Port Discovery Children's Museum. There were lots of places to run around and play, and some cute little areas.  Worth the discount visit!  Plus, Jovie really likes to hang out with friends lately, so she got friend time (although she was very concerned that Emerson wasn't there).

 Lately, Jovie has been loving to color and create.  Her favorite part of this area was "painting" rocks with water.  She kept going back multiple times, and spent several minutes at the station each time.

 Circle time!  Singing, reading...

 ... and ringing bells!

 Upon exiting that room, Jovie went straight for the coloring table, and was joined by her friends.

 There was a tots room to run around,

 and a little diner area,

 and a market, and tons of other things!

On the way home, I asked Jovie what she liked best about the museum and she named her friends and when "Jekka tawie me" (translation, 'Jessica carry me').

Peyton crashed almost as soon as she got into her seat, and Jovie crashed after a chic-fil-a car lunch.  Which was probably a blessing, because they were starting to bug each other by touching each other's car seats and sometimes even looking at one another.  :)

That night, we reconvened at the Mongelli's for a sleepover!  It was craziness and chaos, but also tons of fun.  We ate pizza, the kids played, and ate dessert, then off to bed!  Bedtime was not so simple.  Between arranging all of us, dealing with some sugar rush effects and fussiness, it probably took a total of two hours to get all the kids down to sleep.  After that, we girls chatted and sipped some wine, which was super nice and relaxing.  Depending on the kid, moms got between 3-5 hours of sleep that night.  Not the most restful night, but that's not the point of slumber parties, right?!

Our crew

 Guess who sat down first to color?  Jovie!

 Yummy dessert

On Sunday morning, we all split up and reconvened back at church, to once again assist in trading off kid responsibilities with one another.  I now know why there are some communities where the women band together to raise their children if the men leave them.  :)  These are some amazing moms, and I love learning from and with them.

Meanwhile, the boys had a much more quiet and relaxing trip.  While I wasn't there, the pictures depict football games, eating and floating on the river in canoes.  I'll post a couple pictures to show the sharp contrast between and boys' and the girls' weekends.  :)

It's such a wonderful blessing to have this group of friends to do life together!