Practice Makes Perfect!

January 11th rolled around and it was finally time to start the wedding celebrations.  We all met at the church for Andrew and Maria's rehearsal.  My expectations were low, but I really really wanted our kids to do good.  I never realized how much pressure is on the mother-of-the-children-in-a-wedding!

How perfect that all three little girls wore gold!  Totally not coordinated, but so very precious. 
 The ringbearers and flower girls were ready to rock and roll.

A very quick, and yet surprisingly good, picture of us five!

The boys had their roles down pat.

Mama Hays had also done this a time or two before, so she was good to go with Andrew.

Then it came time for the big test.  Would they all walk down the aisle?  Would Lila let Jackson hold her hand?  Would Madison and Jackson decide it was wrestling time halfway down the aisle?  We honestly didn't know!  I'm so happy to report that they did their job wonderfully.

Everyone learned where they were supposed to stand...

where they were supposed to sit...

and what technology I was going to use in order to keep them quiet during the ceremony!  Too bad it didn't work quite this well the next day, but we made it through.  Thank goodness:)

After rehearsal, we headed to dinner at Casa Milagro.  We sat by this sweet couple--hard to believe it's already been over a year since they got married.

After dinner, the kids all got really sweet gifts and notes from Uncle Andrew and Aunt-to-be Maria.  The girls got pearl bracelets with their initals on them (so cute!) and Jackson got an Amazon gift card.  I have saved the sweet notes and put them in all of their baby books because I think they are such wonderful keepsakes.  Lila, Jackson and Madison, you probably don't know it yet, but you are blessed beyond measure by the uncles and aunts in your life. 

Stay tuned for the wedding!

Good Times at Great Wolf Lodge

On a whim, we decided to take the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge a few weeks ago.  We'd had a gift card for the lodge (thanks Meg and Travis!) for a really long time and for once we actually had no plans all weekend.  Amazing! 

I made sure to get us a room that had bunk beds in it.  What is it about bunk beds that is so exciting to kids?  I really don't know, but they loved their Wolf Den!

Big brother took the top bunk and Little Sister settled into the bottom one.

After watching videos of the lodge online, they were so thrilled to finally be there:)



Even though it was 4:30 by the time we got to our room, the kids were begging to go to the water park that evening.  We caved pretty easily and everyone got their swim suits on and headed downstairs.  When we arrived at the entrance, they asked Jackson to get measured.  Turns out he is a smidge over 48 inches, which means that he was good to go and could ride anything in the park.  Yay!



Our first adventure was getting into the wave pool.  Let's just say I've swam in warmer water before.  Thank goodness we warmed up to it a bit, and seeing the kids enjoy it so much made it alright, but it sure would be nice if it were closer to 90 degrees than to 80:)  I know, I'm spoiled, but it was a little cold!

We all wondered how Lila would do when the waves started.  No worries, she LOVED it.

And so did her brother.

After a very fun 2 hours in the waterpark, we were ready to go shower up and have dinner. 

We ate in the main restuarant and were so pleasantly surprised with how good the food was.  I ordered a dinner salad with my salmon and when it got there Lila said, "where's my salad?" I made her a little plate and she chowed down on it.  How many 2 year olds do you know that eat salad?  I was at least 13 before I ever tried it!

Good thing we got a little nutrition in her, because after dinner we hit up the Sweet Snack Shop for some ice cream.  Check out the serving size of 1 scoop!

 

We ended up going to bed kind of late and then sleeping in the next morning.  No one in our room woke up until 8:50am.  Genius!  Our room was so cozy and dark and the kids just snoozed with us.  It really was nice.  We all enjoyed the breakfast buffet and then went over to story time in the lobby.  After it was over, the kids went on the Wolf Walk and learned about different animals.

This place is so cool!

At the end of the Wolf Walk, the kids got to make origami wolves--a fun, easy activity.

Then it was time for our white legs to get back in the water.  Good grief, I could use a tan!

They jumped the waves again just like the day before...

and then Daddy and Jackson went down the orange and turquoise slides at least 6 times.  Lila, my brave little girl, wanted to go, too, so we climbed all the way up there.  Too bad they said that she wasn't quite big enough.  She's ready, whenever she gets the green light, though!

Soon after all that sliding, we spotted the basketball pool.  Oh, my!  J man was in heaven for sure now.

We took our lunch back up to the room and then had a few hours of downtime.  It was so NICE.  Jared and Lila took a nap, while Jackson and I snuggled and watched football.

After this little pixie had gotten her some rest, she was ready to get back out there!

It doesn't take a lot to make her smile.  She loved the smallest things, like these miniature fountains.

She also really liked the kiddie pool.  See those slides in the far back right?  The blue one was super fast.  She went down it three times all by herself.  We were so proud of her!

After hanging out in the kiddie pool, Jackson was ready for a little more adventure.  Check out those orange, green and yellow tubes way up high.  It took a little convincing, but we finally got him to try one.  And he LOVED it!  We took turns going down with him in the double innertube.  He must have riden at least 10 times and probably would have gone all afternoon.

We played until early evening and then decided to mix things up a bit, so we took the kids to dinner down the street at the Rain Forest Cafe.  They loved it from the moment we got there and they got to see a lifesized crocodile.  We walked inside and they were thrilled to see all the fish.  It was so fun to be able to have chicken fingers while watching the elephants and gorillas--a kid's dream, I tell ya.

Our table was right next to the tigers--very cool.  

The next morning Daddy had to go to work (it was a Monday) but Jackson wasn't starting school until the next day.  So, after getting the kids a donut and myself something from Starbucks, we hit the waterpark one last time.  Lila had been talking about the big bucket for two days straight, and we spent a lot of time watching brother ride these slides and waiting for it to dump over.  She squealed every single time.  The very last thing that Jackson did was stand underneath it and let the 1000 gallons of water come crashing down on him.  That's a lot of water!  It was the perfect way to end our time there.

On our way out, the kids asked if they could take their picture with this exhibit and wanted their souvenir wolves to be in it, too.

Great Wolf Lodge, we will most definitely be back! 
We had the best two days and made lots of good memories.  Isn't that what it's all about?

Happy New Year

After being perplexed by Blogger for the past two and a half weeks, I am happy to report that I am back on track!  Big thanks to my friend Carole for the help.  I have to go back to NYE to pick up where I left off, so here goes!

The hubdog and I spent NYE with his brothers and their significant others.

We had dinner at Del Frisco's and then hung out at the bar until after midnight.  We enjoyed being with each other and the people watching was pretty good, too.

I am beyond lucky to be able to call both of these girls my sisters-in-law now:)

The next day we hosted a New Years party at our house with kids and all.  It was so much fun!  The girls loved wearing their party hats...

and the boys loved chowing down on all the yummy food, especially the nuggets from Chick-Fil-A.

Even though it was pretty chilly outside, Jackson convinced some of the guys to go play with him. 
He had a ball, and I'm pretty sure they had fun, too:)

The kids loved playing with all of the new toys, like this princess tent...

and I really enjoyed hanging out with my good girlfriends.

College Football, Media Room and Beer.  The three ingredients that are guaranteed to make all 6 of these guys happy:)

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's to a great 2013!

Things I missed

The last part of December got so crazy that I missed a few things.  Here's a quick recap!

Shelley and Warren took us,  Andrew and Maria, Scott and Lyndsie to see Cirque du Soleil's Christmas show.  Three out of the four Hays men showed up wearing the same light blue button down shirt.  Too funny:)

Jackson really enjoyed Pajama Day at school.  He got to take his pillow, stuffed animal and a good book.  How fun!

We celebrated Shelley's birthday at Main Street Bistro.  We all enjoyed the good food and had a great time visiting with each other.  Happy Birthday, Memaw!

Lila had her first holiday party at school. Madison got to go, too, and was a big helper with the craft.

After craft time was over, it was time for their book exchange.  Such a cute idea--they got to open a present and now have a new book to read at home.  Love it.

The next day Jackson had his Winter Party at school.  They played Holiday Bingo...

got to decorate and eat sugar cookies...

and then get ready for their snowball fight.  Since no good snowballs were to be found, the kids got to wad up tons of paper to use instead.

Ready, set, go!  They had a ball.

Right after the party was over, we headed over to school to watch Maddie sing in their Christmas program. 

It's my favorite program of the year.  They sing a few songs, the Kindergarteners do a reinactment of the story of Jesus's birth, and then they sing a few more songs.  Short and sweet!  And so cute. 

Lila loved watching the show...Jackson said he liked it better when he got to be on the stage last year:)

Fast forward 8 days, after all the Christmas festivities were over, and it was time to celebrate with Maria at her bachelorette party.  The wedding countdown is on for sure!  Only 10 more days to go!