Boys! Lots of boys!

Two weeks ago, my friend Brooke had her 3rd baby....three kids seems to be the new normal in our group of friends!  While Chad and I have always discussed having three kids, it never occurred to me that the majority of our friends would have three.  Don't worry, we aren't going to take that leap yet but it is nice to see how our friends handle the addition of a third child.  So far our friends continue to impress us with their amazing ability to successfully raise three kids!

  Brooke has two boys who happen to be Payton and Owen's buddies.  Being the world's most fabulous the good friend that I am, I offered to pick her boys up from school on her induction date....while she was off welcoming their newest addition to this world, I would be watching the boys....that is 4 boys total in case you lost count....two 4 year olds, two 2 year olds....and, obviously, two of those kids are my own and they aren't the calm, quiet angels you would think they would be....I was in for a treat!  

The big boys decided against napping.  In lieu of naps, we made cards for Jack's Mommy.  I knew that Jack's Mommy had a baby girl, a beautiful sister, Sydney....but I couldn't tell Jack.  The discussion at this table was priceless as he talked all about his new baby to Payton.  

The cards

Cute side story....Payton was making Miss Brooke a card....he wrote "UGH" on the card and turned it around to ask me what the card said.  I wondered why he had written "ugh" on a card to a new mommy....I explained that it said "ugh" and tried to explain what that meant.  He said, "oh, that's silly....how do you spell hug?  I was trying to write HUG."  It was so funny...he had actually done a great job of sounding out the word and despite getting the letters a little out of order ugh and hug do sound a little bit alike....he's learning!! 

Jack drew a Clems@on Tiger paw on a card for his Dad and a UNC on the card for his Mom...good job buddy!  

Proof that I did have all four boys awake and playing...safe and smiling!

Brooke and Jeff welcomed baby Sydney around noon and the proud papa picked Jack and Drew up around 5 so I actually only had four boys for about 4 hours.  The good news is I survived!  They were actually pretty good and the fact that they are the same ages was helpful.  Payton was by far the worst kid of all...which is somewhat expected when he's in a group.  It was a beautiful day so I was thankful to be able to play outside and with all four boys we had a pretty good game of football going!

Later on in the day, more proof that my kids are TROUBLE!

Owen, happily dumping this toy bin out....again!

He was so happy to spread the toys all over the room!  

In the pile, he found a pirates sword....

....he must have been copying my facial expression because I have a feeling I was looking at him the same way :)

Amazing that this same mischievous boy is such a great artist!

This is the artwork he brought home from school that day - Noah's Ark - and one proud Momma who wants one of her boys to be a little artistic!

Congrats again to Brooke and Jeff.  Thanks for proving to me that I can handle 4 boys for an afternoon.  Even more important, thanks for having a beautiful baby girl.  She may not be mine and she may not be family, but I look forward to buying her a few super cute baby girl outfits!  So happy to see that having a girl, after two boys, is possible!