Adventures in Parenthood: A Shaver Snow Weekend

This past weekend we headed to the Sweet's cabin for the weekend to celebrate Dada's friend Eric's birthday. Between the three couples there were eight kids ranging from eight to six months! It was definitely loud, but it was fun watching the kids play together. Clarita was the littlest of the non babies and she was a little timid at first, especially with all those boys! She warmed up quickly and had fun playing with all of the kids! We headed up Friday after work and arrived in time for a yummy dinner of pizza, pie, and pizookies. The kids treated us to a dance party before bed which was awesome! After we put the kids to bed the adults hung out playing games and catching up. It was a fun night and we went to bed much later than most of us are accustomed to!

Purple sweat pants, why not?

Brooke's dueling thumbs!

After a disastrous night of both Clara and Emmett waking up numerous times Dada headed up to China Peak to ski with Fafa and I reluctantly got up to take care of the kids. The older boys had basketball so Brian and Eric took them down while Katie, Brooke, and I hung out with the little kids. Without the big boys Clara was back to her normal talkative self bossing Maddie and Hudson around even though they are both older than her. Emmett slept off and on and I relaxed with the ladies.

Matches!

Learning how to start fires with Katie

Reading to Emmett

Maddie and Hudson

The guys with Fafa

Brian had to take a nap

The guys got back for lunch and then the kids went down for naps. Clara actually went down early but only slept a little over an hour before waking up crying. We spent the afternoon watching it snow and playing games. Clarita discovered Sorry and was obsessed. Her favorite part was hitting the pieces off when a Sorry card was drawn (sometimes she yelled sorry and knocked a piece off when it wasn't time). Hunter was so patient with Clara and helped her learn the rules. We took a walk with some of the kids in the evening and it really started snowing while we were out. Clara loved it and Emmett was mesmerized (even though he was probably freezing because I didn't dress either of us warmly enough since I didn't think it was going to snow more)! After helping a car get unstuck we headed back to make dinner. After dinner the kids watched the movie, Hotel Transylvania, while we cleaned up. It was the first movie Clara had watched and she was enthralled! She had a running commentary going the entire time ("Look there's a murcielago [bat]!" "It eats us." "They're not real people, but they're talking like real people.") and the next morning told me that we should watch the murcielago movie at home. We all were exhausted and went to bed earlier Saturday. Thankfully the kids slept much better and Dada took Clarita up around 7:00 when she woke up. Emmett and I slept until 8:30 (well, with a couple feedings in there) and it was amazing! I actually felt like a real person again!

It's snowing!

Running around in their undies in the snow

Dance party!

Maddie's got moves!

The only time they were all still...watching a movie

Brian and Tyler

Sunday, after breakfast, the girls and babies went for a walk while the guys and kids sledded. When we got back Clara and I went for a couple of runs then she requested to go inside. Dada had a great run where his sled stopped but he didn't! We ate lunch and started packing up while Dada and the kids played sorry again. Clara cried when it was time to go and immediately fell asleep and slept the whole way home. Emmett did too, so it was a quiet ride for once! We had a fabulous time hanging out with good friends and watching all the kids play! The snow was beautiful and it was a great weekend!