8114 is a Revolving Door!

I LOVE having a full house!  However, I'm beginning to realize what a hot commodity peace and quiet is too :)  Our revolving door week started on Friday morning with my mom's arrival.  We picked her up from the airport pre-lunch and immediately drove her out to the new house site!!!  We met Brandi and Kaitlyn for lunch and then showed them our new neighborhood too.  We had a great afternoon on Friday just hanging out and enjoying cozy chili for dinner.  

Dutchess arrived Saturday morning to spend a long weekend with us.  Jackson was THRILLED to see her!  We went over to Firehouse for lunch, came home for naptime, and then headed out for a really fun evening.  We started out by meeting the Yanceys and Buerstattes at Five Guys for dinner.  It was super yummy, and the kids enjoyed their group date :)  Then we came back to our house, dropped off the husbands and kids, and then my mom, Susie, Brandi, and I went out to see "No Strings Attached."  It was such a cute movie, and we all enjoyed our girls' night!  We hung out at our house for a little while longer and then everyone headed home.  


Josh was supposed to have a football game on Sunday, but it was rescheduled, so we took advantage of our evening and went out to dinner.  We tried the newest Great American Restaurant: Ozzie's.  It is Italian and it was SO good!  We were all very pleased with our meals!  

On Monday morning, I woke to several missed calls and a missed text from Brandi--she was in labor and ready to drop off Kaitlyn at our house!  I felt bad I had missed the calls--I just didn't hear my phone :(   Luckily, they got to our house in plenty of time and then headed off to the hospital.  My mom and I kept our original plan of heading over to Potomac Mills for some shopping--we just took Kaitlyn with us!  

Around dinner time we finally heard that Baby Liam Seibel Buerstatte had been born at 4:30pm!!!  

After putting the kiddos to bed and eating dinner, my mom and I headed over to the hospital to visit the newest addition :)  Liam is SOOO cute!  I loved getting to snuggle him!  

Chicago had a HUGE blizzard headed its way, so my mom changed her original Tuesday late-afternoon flight to an early morning flight.  She and Josh left here around 6:30 Tuesday morning :(  I was sad to have her visit shortened, but I know she was happy to beat the weather home.  On Tuesday morning, I was quite proud of myself for getting both Kaitlyn and Jackson out of bed, fed, and dressed in a timely fashion!  LOL  Then it was like the old days of trying to squeeze in a shower for myself!  After all of the necessities were accomplished, Jackson and Kaitlyn helped me bake a cake! They loved being helpers!

They played SO nicely while we were waiting for Scott to pick up Kaitlyn to go the hospital to meet her new baby brother!  They loved taking turns pushing each other/riding on the firetruck and in the stroller.  It was so cute to hear Jackson say, "Sit, KK!"  "KK turn!"  "Jackson turn!"  They are such good friends :)   While Kaitlyn was off meeting her baby brother, Jackson and I had lunch and a little down time.  Kaitlyn came back to our house to nap, and after naptime we tried a baking activity.  

Well, first we had a snack of the cake they had baked earlier :)

I had prepared everything to make cake balls (separate blog topic!), but the kids weren't as interested as I had hoped.  I had everything ready for them to dip the cake balls and decorate them with sprinkles, but I think there were a few too many steps.  So, we moved on to my art activity: stamping!  My mom and I bought some big rubber stamps and big stamp pads at Michaels the other day, and I thought Jackson and Kaitlyn would have a blast. Not so much :(  Jackson probably could have done some more with some help, but I just didn't have enough hands to help each of them and once they started smearing ink on their bodies, it was time to close up that shop too.  I was so sad that my activities bombed :(  Around this time, Lora arrived to pick up Dutchess.  That led into dinner, baths, and bed.  


Both Jackson and Kaitlyn woke up a bit early yesterday morning, so they were showing their sensitive sides...  We went over to Katherine's to play with Liam and Colin (now we have TWO Liams in our life!), and that was a lovely diversion!  By the time we got back to our house, Brandi and Scott were just pulling up with lunch (and Liam!).  It was nice to have lunch together before the Buerstattes left as a family of four :)  


Last night Rachel came over for us to babysit while Susie and Joe went on a date!  I was hoping Jackson would be excited to have yet another person to play with, but he had reached the end of his rope at that point.  Rachel had a grand time playing with his toys on her own, but Jackson spent some time just decompressing in front of a couple of shows.  Everything that was packed into the last few days was really fun, but it was probably A LOT for such a little guy to handle :(  Today we are having a tv and pj day for mommy and Jackson :)