Super Fun Family Saturday!

Well, we were due for some great family time after Doug had been gone all week and Saturday was just what we needed!  We originally were supposed to do our family photo shoot for our Christmas card, but we had to cancel that due to the weather.  I would've loved to have gotten that done, but it was also nice that we ended up getting to have a slower morning at the house together.  We also had plans for later in the morning.  Tav's friend (and Nate & Megan's son), Alex was having his 2nd birthday party at the National Aviary.  Our whole family was invited and it was such a fun event.  Lots of friends, so many cute kids, the Aviary is a great attraction that I haven't visited since before Koen was 2.  It was a great experience all around.  Megan and Nate did such a great job planning the party (I'm guessing it was mostly Megan's doing).  Here's the party review in pictures.  Megan had fresh crayons and owl and penguin coloring sheets.

Part of the party deal is that a penguin comes to visit the gathering.  We had a nice educational visit from "Kaden."  

My big boys were quite interested in the cute little feathered friend.

Penn was confused as to what on earth we were doing, but of course he rolled with it as usual.

Koen sat with some other older kids that came as siblings to the 2 year old crowd and here is Tav at the birthday boy's table (Alex is hidden behind Nate's arm).

The party in the "igloo classroom" at the back of the Aviary was fun, but we also got to walk around the Aviary at our leisure, which was such a special treat.  The boys enjoyed it very much, especially the penguins.  Here they are in what turned out to be a pretty cute brother picture in one of the big open-air rooms (flamingo in background).

Doug staged a sweet little picture of me and the big boys. 

I got one of Tav and I.  He was being silly and I caught a unique face never before seen on the blog. =)

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the birds, but I couldn't resist these amazingly colorful little guys.

I had to showcase a little bit of Megan's well-planned work.  Look at these adorable penguin cakes.  Of course, totally fitting with the theme!  

Megan had also purchased these adorable bird placemats from IKEA (and she had matching napkins too).  So well-thought out!  The favors were in the linen owl bags.  It was a star-shaped birdseed mold.  We are waiting out the hurricane before we hang ours up.

We headed home in time for Penn's 1pm feeding.  Doug actually kept the big boys out on a few errands for another 30 minutes (ah, to enjoy peace and quiet during a nursing session, such a special treat after last week!).  Here's Penn enjoying some exersaucer time before Koen and Tav got back.  Big eyes!

The boys had a restful afternoon and then we headed out again for another family outing!  This time to Grant and Deborah's (Miles' family) for a pumpkin carving party.  Again, a review of the evening in pictures...  Penn hung out on Doug's lap for the majority of the time he was awake while we were there.  He was so excited about the food Doug was eating.  With every fork or spoonful Doug brought to his mouth, Penn watched its every move, swinging his arm anticipating it to arrive at his own mouth or do something, but alas, it was just for Daddy.

Koen and Miles played so well together.  Miles has a lot of dress up stuff, so they enjoyed being all sorts of strong characters.  Here they are eating their dinners as Spiderman and a Knight.  Sure, Spiderman can time travel to the Middle Ages, right?

Tavin loved playing in their play area/basement.  Here he is making and then delivering some soup to me (or "toup" as he calls it).

Deborah is another amazing party planner and although this was a low key evening, she had thought of everything.  She even had little pumpkins and supplies laid out for the little ones to work on while the adults did the carving of the big pumpkins.  Koen was so thrilled!

Tavin didn't venture outdoors for the pumpkin decorating.  He just kept on playing downstairs until the moment we left.  Hard worker!  Oh and it was so cute, he was humming while he played most of the time (definitely a family characteristic).

This shot just gives you a glimpse of how many kids were there.  These are the kids in the mid-range.  There were also 6 babies and Koen and Miles.  Packed house!

It was such a nice, relaxed evening with our family and lots of friends.  We left just before 7pm in order to get everyone home for a not-too-late bedtime.  Penn napped great there and then was just groggy on the way home.  I fed him when we got home and then it was like he was still in a daze and he was just snuggling me, so I took a few pictures from my phone.  The first one you can see how he's just snuggly, the second one is funny because he totally figured out my phone was behind him and he was staring at it.  Oh well, snuggly moment passed.

Such a great day!  Doug and I had everyone in bed by 8pm and then got to clean up and chill out before our big day, Sunday.  All around, a wonderful day.  Great to be back together!