_______Lubbock 2009!

We finally managed our trip to Lubbock: 10 hours in the car with 5 kids and 2 sleepy moms.  Then when we arrive, 11 kids, 5 moms, and 1 brave dad.  I was a little nervous that it would be too crazy but we all had a blast.  The kids played great together giving us moms plenty of time to talk.  Here's some of the highlights:

We had to rig our dvd player so that all the kids could see it (a necessity for a 10 hour car ride with kids).  Pretty ghetto, but also very clever if you ask me!

When we first left my mom's house at 4AM, all the kids were wide awake with excitement and for about half an hour they were all talking at the same time.  Among the jabbering, Lindsay and I picked out:  Aubrey: "At Christmas you have to scream, but not in our family"  Isaac: "Is that a fight ball?"  Abby: "I pooped!" (she didn't really).  It was cute and eventually they all fell back asleep.

when we first arrived it had just started to snow and the kids were all outside playing in the leaves

Abby

Isaac

Amelia wasn't so sure what to think about it all

Lily

Aubrey

movie time

practicing for a ride on "The Polar Express" with Aunt Carly

feeding the babies

Uncle Matt makes breakfast

lining up to go play outside

on your mark, get set, GO!

All the Hobson kids (my mom's side of the family)

kids painting Christmas ornaments

Amelia mostly chose to wear the paint

back at home, dance time for the little princess

and some groovin' big girls too

at bedtime, the moms get their turn to play

all those precious pairs of shoes lined up in a row, ready for the next activity

In all, it was a fabulous trip and we plan to do it again for sure, especially because we love our Lubbock-based cousins so much!  The only disappointment for the weekend was that the little snow we got didn't stick. We went on The Polar Express on Friday night and I'll post about that in a separate entry because this one is too full (and I don't have those pics yet).  Thanks for having us, Matt and Robin!