What a Week!

This past week my best friend Whitney came to town from New York with her family.

She has two little boys who are very close in age with Dylan and Isaac. Dylan is the oldest, then Lane, her oldest, and his birthday is the same day as Isaac's. He's just a year older. Then comes Isaac and less than four months later is Whit's other son, Reed. Can you imagine what it was like with four kids ages 2 and younger in the house? You can't even begin to imagine, because it was terrific.

Luckily Todd and I love Whit and her husband Brett. We all get along so well. I think Todd and Brett were just as excited to see each other as Whitney and I were. Isn't that funny? They all arrived late Saturday night which ended up being a great thing because her boys adjusted to the time change immediately. That helped so much! The one request of us was to spend time outside. It made me laugh because all week Brett wore shorts and a t-shirt, all of them slept in the basement with the fans on, and whenever Brett could manage it, he has doors and windows open for the nice fresh air. Our family froze, but hey, you want to be hospitable hosts so we just wore jackets around the house!

We had some fun park days, spent a day at the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, went to the zoo, and we even hired a couple of babysitters one night so we could go on a double date. It was only the second or third time Whitney and Brett had been out alone since having Lane. That's two years!!! We had a great time.

The kids got along so well too. I did learn that Isaac's only form of defense is his teeth. Sorry Lane!!! (And Dylan, but she's used to it.) I also learned that Dylan is a lover and a fighter. She absolutely adored Reed. She shared all of her toys with him and loved to say hi to him each morning. She even shared kisses with both boys, but if Lane got too close, she wasn't afraid to let him know he was on her turf.

One afternoon Whitney and I went shopping and left the dads home with the kids. When we got home we heard a very funny description of an altercation between Dylan and Lane. Apparently Lane got too close to something Dylan was playing with and Dylan wrapped his shirt in her fist and started pushing him down with her other hand. Lane just sat there and didn't know what to do. Here's this girl who's 7 weeks older, has him by a good 3 inches just wailing on him. Poor thing. We're lucky for two reasons. First, Todd immediately picked her up and put her in time out. And second, Brett did not seem appalled by our daughter's atrocious behavior. He relayed the story laughing the entire time. I just hope he really wasn't disturbed by her outburst. I'd hate for them not to come back because Dylan was violent!

Having Brett in the house was great too! He installed our kitchen cabinets and countertops, fixed my horrible leaky kitchen faucet, helped stain our side gate, made breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and even grocery shopped! I couldn't have asked for anything more. I have to give HUGE thank yous to Brett!

Between all the time we spent outdoors, Whitney still found time to send her resume to some firms here in Phoenix. I hope it works out because I'd love to have them nearby. Seeing each other once every year or so just doesn't cut it.

It was a great week with them and we were so sorry to see them go. Hopefully the job hunt will prove to be successful and we'll find our friends nearby soon. I can see the kids being great friends, and Todd and I having a lot of fun with a fantastic couple!