MLK Day 2014

I think a few years ago I wrote a post on one of these Monday holidays a little embittered about how whoever made these holidays on a Monday didn't have kids.  It's still a little frustrating as it holds us back from our normal routine, but I gotta say that we are getting better at making the most of these extra days off.  Today makes a great example.  We had a nice family breakfast after which Penn and Doug read his favorite book about 10 times.  I love this phase where Penn is so into reading and labeling objects, etc.

About a month in advance or so, I made plans with a good friend, Adrianne, to have our kids hangout for the AM.  She homeschools and with Koen in school it's really tough to get our kiddos together.  I've been looking forward to this playdate for weeks and we all loved it.  Adrianne and I got a lot of chatting in because the kids were so happy to play together.  It was great to be at their place as my boys needed to get out of our house for sure.  Here are a few pictures I grabbed during our fun morning just watching the kids play and catching up.  Tav found some sports stuff.  He said he was a hockey player (he didn't realize it was a football helmet).

Carson is on the left.  He had a lot of fun following the big kids around, but he also took a big interest in Penn and hung around him, reported on him and just enjoyed him.  It was really cute!  Tav had been looking forward to seeing Claire and they enjoyed buddying up (especially since Koen and Owen spent a lot of time together).

One thing Penn really enjoyed was going up and down their staircase.  He was super comfortable at their house and didn't care being out of my sight or all the way upstairs without me.  I think this kid is working on getting over stranger danger!

Koen got a special treat of being introduced to the Wii.  He and Owen played bowling.  Koen was super excited that he won. =)  Look at sweet little Charlotte watching.  

I brought along some pumpkin bread that I made this morning just in case we needed a snack.  Of course the kids were happy to gobble it up.

I missed getting Charlotte in that first shot, so I got this precious one of her sweet smile.

Now there's everybody.  A happy crew!

Penn had Cheerios for his snack.  Charlotte was watching his every move.  Adrianne and I gave her a couple of Cheerios and then Penn started to do the same.  Then they were friends.

It was a great morning.  Thanks so much, Adrianne!  We've missed you and your crew, so it was great to have this fun time with all of you.  Thanks so much for hosting!  Can't wait until summer (for many reasons) so we can see each other more often again!

We headed home around noon, fed the boys lunch and then Doug took Koen and Tavin to meet Alex, Delia and Huxley (who we also do not get to see enough of during the school year) at the Carnegie Science Center.  It was free for all due to MLK Day.  Therefore it was crazy packed, but they still had fun and enjoyed the museum and probably moreso their time together.  Here are the pictures I received via text from Doug during their time there.  They are such sweet friends!

So, big MLK Day!  I think we spent it wisely.  My boys are going to be tired when they arrive home in a minute.  I'm headed to the kitchen to cook up dinner as I think we might eat a little early and get these boys to bed ahead of schedule!