It's official...

Summer has arrived! I'm sooo in heaven!

The kids got up from their nap shortly before 4, and I decided to take them to the new park in our neighborhood. I called Jodi (she lives across the street) to see if she and her daughter, Abby, wanted to join us. The kids rode their bikes and were so incredibly happy to be playing outside in the sunshine! Katherine was all decked out -- riding her new big girl Barbie bike with the Ariel helmet Todd and Caroline got her for her birthday. You could just tell she felt on top of the world! Right as we were taking the last turn into the park, she tipped over on the bike. She instantly started sobbing, and as tears were spilling down her cheeks, she said, "Oh Mommy, this has been such a BAAAAAD day"! What?!?!? You had playgroup at your house AND got to have lunch with Aunt Kelly AND now you're on the way to the park. For cryin' out loud girlfriend, it's been all good! LOL!!

Since the park was surrounded with the rubber chip-type things, I thought we wouldn't have a mud problem. Boy was I wrong!! When Caleb felt that he had sufficiently seen all of the play equipment, he decided that that it was time for a little run beyond the playground boarders. Let's just say that he was a mud magnet! His shoes and pants were covered up to the knee!! (Thank goodness that they weren't the squeaky shoes!!) Over the course of the 2 hours we were at the park, the mud kept creeping up his body. I'm not sure what happened to Katherine, but when I looked over at her, her face was covered in smeared mud! If being dirty was any measure of a child having a good time, then mine had the time of their lives! There were about 10 neighborhood kids there and then one girl from her preschool class showed up. What can be better than visiting a freshly opened park and knowing almost everyone there??? On the walk home, Caleb notice and yelled out two of his favorite things -- garbage cans (think Oscar) and basket ball hoops. Fun times.

When we got home, Matt was waiting for us. We chatted for a few minutes and got cleaned up before heading over to Andrea's. We were going to grill some shrimp for the adults and order pizza for the kids and I, but it didn't quite work out that way.... What started off as two sets of neighbors getting together for dinner turned into an impromptu neighborhood party. 4 families came out to join us in the backyard. (So there were 6 families total). Before we knew it, it was 7:30 and no one had eaten. So we called Casey's, and had everyone ate dinner on the deck. The highlight of evening for the kids was flashlight tag in the backyard. Even Caleb was running around with one, but the poor kid had no idea what to do with it. At first he was convinced that it was a microphone, and then he decided it was funny to shine it up his nose... LOL!! Oh -- and Katherine had a big first tonight.... There is a huge old tree right in the middle of the backyard. I saw two flashlights up there and realized that Katherine and Max had climbed the tree. If only I had my camera!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to weight watchers with Lisa and Kelly. Not looking forward to the guaranteed gain first thing in the morning! Let's just say it's been a bad week! Right after the meeting, Lisa and I are taking the kids to the zoo. Katherine adores her two step-sons-to-be, so she's really looking forward to it!

It's very late - the neighborhood get together lasted waaaay past my bedtime, and I can't stay awake any longer.