Tonight, we got together for an early dinner to celebrate my birthday. It was great to coordinate 5 families/couples and all the kids. There were 10 adults, 9 kids in attendance. Here’s a picture of the kids minus the twins who were in their stroller: 
Ted is the only one looking and smiling! Just getting everyone together is a success, and I could stop right there and that’d be a good story 🙂 But as they all know, that’s not my style.
So we got seated, and the table arrangement was dictated first by Mckayla and Peyton “needing” to sit together, and then we all arranged around that. Of course, it was my pleasure to accommodate the request because both girls enjoy each other’s company. I was seated across the table (a very long table) from Ashlyn, who sat with her parents, and Theresa and Martin, then the Brown’s sat across from Dave and half the Kao’s. The kids were all set up then we proceeded to order. Dave took the reins and started the list. We got a good assortment of food from salads, pastas and entrees. The adults were able to catch up regionally, as we all had stations to man. After dinner, while the plates were being cleared, the kids mingled a bit, and swapped places. Peyton told me she had to go potty, as is her usual practice during dinner. In the bathroom, she told me that Mckayla told her she could watch TV after they were done. Later, I found out Peyton asked for the phone. Peyton looks up to Mckayla, as she refused hand sanitizer from Michelle, but took some from Mckayla before dinner. She was very generous with her HK stickers, too, as she shared that with Peyton in the beginning. After her return from the restroom, the girls squeezed together to watch the phone. After his 5th round or so of food, Brandon went to go watch what Peyton and Mckayla were watching. At one point, Dave scolded Peyton for touching Michelle’s phone, which she was not supposed to do. She threw a fit and buried her face under the table in tears. She wasn’t stopping, so Dave sent her over to me. I wasn’t sure what I was to do about it, but she just buried her head into me. It was at this time that the wait staff came over and brought a huge piece of chocolate cake (that I’ve been thinking about ever since we talked about picking the restaurant!) They started singing their peppy birthday song, and all the attention was on us. Peyton did not surface, and I covered her head up so she wouldn’t hear all the noise. She was still trying to recover. Soon, Mckayla was very sweet and invited her back to sit with her. With that, and the ice cream that was sitting at the table, Peyton agreed. She cleaned up nicely, and then was back to her old self with Mckayla’s encouragement. After eating a few bites of his ice cream, Connor was in the mix. He came over to the big kids, then before we could get a picture, he ducked back around the table. I invited him to take Peyton’s look and find book, and I started asking him where things were. I had some cake left to finish, but since I rarely get to interact with Connor, I wanted to take the opportunity. He was totally engaged in looking for the objects, and when he couldn’t find it, he’d raise his hands up in the air. Brandon had come back, and he was helping Connor, too. Brandon wasn’t giving him as much a chance to find things, as he’d point out the objects right away. Connor flipped through the pages on his own, and Brandon was trying to help him find things. After everyone had finished their desserts, it was time to wrap up and go. I didn’t have my phone or watch, but Michelle told me it was 715pm. Wow! That was great time. The kids had already taken a bath after the fun run, so we just needed to get them home and brush their teeth. I told Brandon he had one less tooth to brush, and that he could spend more time brushing the ones he had left. I thanked everyone for coming, and got a special hug from Ashlyn. We went outside to take a picture of all the kids. Martin helped us do that, while the parents tried to corral all the kids around the twins. We hadn’t gotten them in a full picture yet, so it was our chance. We all said our goodbyes and headed in separate directions. While we were driving home, Brandon said he was tired and was going to sleep.Peyton said she was tired, too. I didn’t believe Peyton so much since she’d napped, but I could believe Brandon was tired, as he was looking pretty sleepy after he ate all that food. Dave had pleaded with him not to eat so much and throw up. Dave turned the radio up to have them stay awake. They were annoyed with us for interrupting their sleep, but we still had to get them home and brush their teeth. When we got home, neither wanted to get out, but Dave threatened to leave Brandon in the car. That got him moving, and thus Peyton as well. We brushed, changed, and got them in bed by 755pm. It’s 845pm, and neither has come out of his/her room. We ran that kid ragged this morning, and without a nap, he was TIRED. Maybe we should do that all the time to keep the bedtime routine easy peasy! I’d already set all their clothes out before leaving for the restaurant, so we were good to go for tomorrow. Thank you for all that came out. It makes turning another year easier 🙂
Here’s a picture I took while we were getting getting set up:
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I’ll have to look around the other blogs to find more pictures, if posted 😉