Good Times Spent With Friends...

Our very good friends Amber and Derek send "family updates" every other month or so to keep in touch with the ones they don't see nearly enough. We are included on the mass email, which I love receiving. It's so fun to haveemail to "catch up" with friends that seem so far away - or in my case - I blog. We get to hear how their summer has been going and follow their little Easton as he grows to be the cutest little toddler ever.
I received a new family update last week, in which they mentioned they had a plannedtrip to the zoo. I quickly wrote back offering them our free admissions tothe MN zoo in Apple Valley. (Remember..I promised to take Alexa to the zoo if she slept in her own bed. Well, that never happened cuz she was never able to sleep in her own bed for more than 3 nights in a row - so since they were just taking up space in my purse, I was happy that they could get used)
We had it all planned out - they were going to stop at our house at noon(Wednesday) and Adam would give them the tickets, they would spend the dayat the zoo and then meet us back at the house after work/school at 5 or 6 for dinner.
So, yesterday morning I laid the tickets on the counter for Adam to givethem. He picked them up, took one quick look at them and threw them back atme and said, "Look at the very last sentence on the bottom". So, I lookedand read, "Expires on 6/30/09".

"NOOOOO!!!!"

I jumped in my car on the way to work and tried calling Amber several timesand never got an answer. So, Adam had to call Derek to give him the news.BUMMER! They decided to still come up and go to the Como Zoo instead. They ended up getting there earlier than planned and found it to be rather busyfor the middle of the week and quickly figured out that Easton is still a little too young to really enjoy all the animals, so they ended up at our house early afternoon.
I was so bummed to have to sit at the office,knowing they were there, but still was able to get off a little early andpick up the girls to go play with Easton. Adam and Derek made the tacos and Amber and I played with the kids,reminisced and chatted about motherhood. We found it so amazing and actually almost comforting knowing that we are very similar couples and parents. We all agreed that we need to get together more often, but itseems like that is always said, and then never happens. We'll try, though.
Derek and Adam played a game of horseshoes before they left. Easton was soexhausted from the long day that he was just walking aimlessly around theyard, rubbing his adorable blue eyes.
Lillian adored little Easton. I think she was so excited to have a playmate her size, rather than tagging along with Alexa and her friends all the time. She would randomly run over to him and give him hugs and kisses. She would take his hat and put it on her head and then put it back on his. Little flirt.
We had a great time with the Schewe's and hope they come visit us again real soon.

We actually managed to get the girls in the house and in their pajamas after they left, but no sooner than that the doorbell rang. It was Inna and her little boy James from across the street asking if the girls could come over and jump on the trampoline. We caved and let the girls put their clothesback on and go play for a bit. James is 3 1/2 and has autism, so they have been asking Alexa and Lillian to come over and play for him to get used to them. He did very well at sharing his trampoline, swing set and toys. And hey - the girls were able to get a little more energy out, too.
We had a talk with Alexa last night about sleeping in her own bed. I triedthe zoo thing and that obviously didn't work - she could care less aboutgoing to the zoo now. I had to do something a little more dramatic, more of a stab to the chest kinda thing. I had to think of something that would affect her and then stick with it.

FRIENDS!!!

She has met SO MANY new little friends in the neighborhood and can't seem toget enough of all of them. They are constantly knocking on the door askingif Alexa can come play, ride bike..ect.

I had to do it. Take her friends away.

I told her (very nicely) that if she doesn't sleep in her bed all night thatshe will NOT be able to play with her friends. If they come knock at thedoor, I'm going to have to tell them that she can't come out and playbecause she didn't sleep in her own bed all night. That seemed to hit herpretty hard and she said she would "try". Adam and I were firm about this,but at the same time we told her that if she happens to wake up we wouldhelp her back to her bed and rub her back if she needed, just as long as shestayed in her own bed. No more sleeping with mommy and daddy.

What do you know. She slept in her own bed ALL NIGHT! She woke up once,went to Adam's side of the bed and asked, "Daddy, can you rub my back?" Hebrought her to her room, tucked her in and rubbed her back for a minute andthat's all it took for her to go back to sleep and stay there the rest ofthe night.

Pray for us that this works....because Lil is next!