Tuesday, November 24, 2009

FHE

Last night we went to Angies for FHE with some of our friends, the Allens. Stanton Allen is our dentist, and definitely the best Pediatric dentist in the valley, check him out at ABC Pediatric dentistry.

They are a fantastic family with the cutest kids that are all super close in age, just like ours. I remember when I met them their little girl Chloe was in nursery with Isaac. She was one of his first biting victims, which was so sad because she is sweetest little blond girl, so innocent. I also remember doing the math when I realized that they had an 18 month old when they were blessing their second daughter in church, maybe 14 months apart? In my naivety I assumed it was an accident, who could possibly want their kids so close together? They had their third child right after I had my second. How did they do that? Then I learned. They were actually quite inspiring to me, and suddenly I was lucky enough to PURPOSELY have my children 16 months apart. It is awesome. Crazy, but awesome. I'm grateful that she showed me it was possible and fun.

So there we were at the restaurant, 4 adults, EIGHT CHILDREN. It was insanity. But so much fun.

Their kids are better behaved than ours. Henry wandered around the restaurant playing blocks with the jam packets, and intruding on other families. Somehow, I just ignored him. And at one point, Dawson flew a paper airplane across the restaurant. I learned a few things.

1. Our lack of courage to take our kids out to eat has created restaurant monsters who have no idea how to behave.
2. Dinner is way too long for their attention span. Driving through McDonalds is better for their need to be Power Rangers
3. Don't show your kids the Power Rangers movie right before taking them to a restaurant.

But really, it was so refreshing to have some one else clean up my kids dinner mess, and socialize with some people that we think are incredible and as Julie said, "get" our family.

And Isaac and Chloe got along great. She handles his boyish nature so well, and thankfully has forgiven him for the biting incident. He can't wait to play with her again.

2 comments:

Jocelyn said...

LIAR!!! Our kids are not one ounce better behaved than yours. Not. One. Ounce.

We had a blast with you guys. We definitely want to do it again -- I thought your kids were great for dinner, but if you want to just do the kitchen sink then we're all for that, too!

See, for me, it has been a sanity saver some nights to just go out with our kids. It can get expensive and is sometimes crazy, absolutely, but it's all worth it when I walk into our house and the kitchen is still clean! :)

Thanks a million times over for the invitation. It was awesome.

Jocelyn said...

Oh, and I've found that with time and practice, our kids have gotten much, much, much better at eating out, so you're already way ahead because yours were right on par with ours! You'll be the poster family in no time!