The Yates Family: Pajamas, Pancakes, and Playgroups

Eight 2-year-olds + Pajamas+ Pancakes= Chaos! We hosted our weekly playgroup this week and borrowed an idea from Peyton’s school- We had a pajama playdate, read If you Give a Pig a Pancake, and decorated/ate pancakes. So fun! All of the children sat in a circle while I read the book- amazing. Peyton has told me numerous times that he did a good job shearing (sharing) his toys. And he did!

We were so lucky to find this playgroup. Rewind time to about a year ago. I had just moved back to Dallas, was living with my inlaws, and felt absolutely miserable and nauseous since I was about 6-8 weeks pregnant. The only things that gave me any relief was the 5 piece Wendys nuggets and a Sprite. I also had to find ways to entertain Peyton all day, every day since we had left all of our friends, toys, and activities in Raleigh. Well, about 2 weeks into our Dallas life I took him to the park next to my inlaw's house. I had in my hand a bag of wendys nuggets and a sprite. (Note: It was only 9 AM) The only other person at the park was a tall, thin girl with 2-year-old twins. I did not feel like talking, did not feel social, and basically wanted to vomit in my Wendy’s bag. Somehow we managed to have a conversation and we realized our children were 10 days apart. God has always blessed me with chance meetings when I need them the most, and this was no exception! We started chatting, she said she had a playgroup in her neighborhood (which we do not live in), and yada yada yada- we now have a playgroup every week with a room full of 2-year-olds. It was such a blessing to have a playgroup to take him to when we didn’t have many friends here. It definitely helped our transition.

Katie took such an interest in including us and I just love her! She is one of the most amazing mothers I’ve met- her family is so lucky to have her. I don’t think I would have liked Dallas as much without her- she helped us make friends, set up my meal calendar when Mallory was born, cooked me lunch and entertained Peyton those first few weeks as a mom of two, and even gave Marshall and I two date nights before Mallory was born. What an angel! They seriously don’t make them any better than Katie. We love her husband and twins too. On that note- We love all of the moms and babies in our playgroup!

Anyways- Katie’s twins, Reese and Campbell (not to be confused with our other friend Reese), are quite the characters. I stole this picture off of her facebook because this is the image I always have of the twins, and it makes me smile. She dressed them up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat for their first Halloween. Awesome!