Mommy's Big Boys

I know my Dad, Grandma & Uncle Scott will appreciate this because my husband and Dad-in-law sure won't...............

So tonight Ian came to sit on my lap and as he was getting up I asked him, "Who is Mommy's big boy?" and can you guess what his answer was????

PACKERS!!!!

Funny, huh? Ain't that the truth though!! (You know...I really was expecting a different answer from him.) I guess the boy knows his mommy. :)

Sweet Sounds & Happy Sights

So tonight I drank too much caffeine to study for my Anatomy & Physiology II exam and now I can't go to sleep. As I was laying in bed I was thinking about all the things that make me happy so I thought I would share them with you.

Some of my favorite sweet sounds are:

Elyse singing as she skips around the house;
Valerie singing and dancing trying to be silly;
Ashlynne's voice which gets louder as she talks about something that excites & interests her;
Gersito telling me that he loves me (its harder to get from a boy at his age);
Ian saying, "Mommy, I so happy"; and
Justin smacking his lips as if to give me a kiss when he can't reach me.

Some of my favorite happy sights are:

Elyse laughing at something she finds funny;
Valerie goofing around and being silly;
Ashlynne's animated face as she tells stories better than most kids her age can do;
Gersito playing tickle monster on the bed with Ian;
Ian grinning ear to ear when he is doing something he enjoys; and
Justin winking at me as to tell me he loves me without using words.

A Blast

So this past weekend we went to the lake with Joe, Pat and their families. It was a GREAT time. The kids LOVED it. Joe and Pat each have boats so the little kids got to go on boat rids while the big kids (and adults) got to go tubing. It was a blast....literally from the fun but also from hitting the water so hard when falling from the tube. We also ate plenty of food, played at the park and enjoyed the beach.

Again, I wish I would have taken more pictures. All the kids did great at tubing. Elyse was the last to fall off the tube the first go round....she seemed like a pro initially. After she fell off the first time she really didn't seem to enjoy tubing as much as the other kids....we couldn't keep the other kids off the tubes! Justin did great although he took some major hits...although in his defense, we were taking it hard on him. Amie and I did great...despite Joe & Justin's attempt to knock us off. AND, the only reason why we fell off was because our swimsuit bottoms kept coming off.

Anyway....lots of good times and many good memories so far. Here are a few pictures.....

Game Day Party

Our first game of the season was successful for both Justin and I. Are teams did a great job and the company was great. Our company included Joe and Amie (Justin's cousin & wife) with their three girls, Pat (Justin's cousin) and his five children so our house was full. It was a great time getting to know everyone and hanging out watching the game.

Here are a couple of pictures from that day.....

Justin with Emma & Reina.

Ian, Reina, and Emma

Ian, Emma, and Reina

Justin playing around with Emma

Jayden, Tyler, and Patton rolling on the hill.

Julia...what a cutie

Ian and Tyler who fell asleep and were slowly waking up.

Reina...little goldie locks as I call her

So I am probably spelling some names wrong, but with time and many posts later I'm sure I'll get it right. We all had a great time...I just wish I would have taken more pictures. :)

Potty Pro

It is official....Ian has become a potty pro. He is doing so well. For the most part he goes in the potty and he even stays dry at night; however, whenever we have company he seems to forget that he needs to take a break and go to the potty. What a big boy though! We are so proud of his accomplishments. It looks like he is copying his big cousin, Jacob. He seems to be doing everything around the same time frame as Jacob does. What big (and cute) boys we have!

Their First Day

Here are a couple of pictures of their first day of school. I was in such a big hurry so I only got 1 picture of each kid...

Zoo Time

A couple of the kids wanted to go to the zoo so I decided to take them. We all had a great time. The most exciting thing that they got to do was pet the sting rays and the sharks. Check out our photos...

Petting the sting-rays and sharks (soooo much fun...[according to the girls]):

Hanging out with the bear:




The tiger...whoa!:

The poisonous blue frog:

The beautiful butterflies:


Playing on the playground:



(Okay...so maybe our girls were too old to be playing on the fish, but they had a good time.)

So big!

Today is the first day that Ian has gone to the potty all day "like daddy goes and Elyse goes" (so Ian says.) He has done so good today, so we took him to pick out any underwear that he wanted to wear from the store. So, here is a picture of our big boy strutting his cool, new underwear that he is excited to where. So big and such a silly boy the way he is posing....

A Day at the Park

So today we ventured out to a new park. It was really nice, it also had another beach, but I was not up to watching all the kids at the beach again so we ended up having a picnic at the park. Even Thumper had a good time hiking down a trail in the forest. It was a beautiful day and the only thing missing was Dad. We miss you honey and I really wish you were home to hang out with us. You could have seen the kids and all the fun they were having. The older kids really enjoyed sliding on the glider and Ian enjoyed climbing rocks and going down slides.

Here are a few pictures for everyone to see our day at the park. Isn't it beautiful?

Thumper Hiding Out

Here's a picture of Thumper trying to get a moment away from Ian. Ian loves to play with Thumper and sometimes Thumper just really wants to rest. Poor Thumper....

A pit stop??

As most mothers know...nothing is ever a pit stop when you have kids, especially the more you have. It usually always turns into an ordeal. On our way to the grocery store we decided to check out the beach right by our house to see if it was warm enough to go hang out later. However, a pit stop to the beach turned into this:

It started with just getting his feet wet and then next thing you know.......

Our lifeguard Ms. Ashlynne Turner

Valerie & Ashlynne climbed all the way to the top...they are fearless.

And just so you can see how high they climbed, here is a far away shot.

Then there is our little man who is completely fearless...I had to help him up despite his complaints otherwise. He wanted to do it alone. Go figure!

Good thing I had an extra change of clothes in the car so we could make it to the grocery store!