Relative Fun....

Early June brought visitors from afar, and fun with family for all! We also got to have a few firsts during the visit!

Like...
First Face Paint

Done at our local library during the kick off to their summer reading program.

And...
First Ring Pop

Once this was experienced it became a daily outing to get a ring pop. How fun and lots of bike riding adventure.

Oh - that leads us to....
First Bike Ride




And even a first baseball game or two...




We got to see our newest cousin/niece for the first time too....









Most importantly - we just had a good time being together!





We even had Pee-Wee Pole dancing as entertainment...






Last, but not least, what is a family get together without at least an attempt at a great shot of all the kids....key word....attempt....









Thanks for coming to visit! We had a great time and already miss our buddies!

A Birthday post - a week or more late....

So - With the end of school, and a visit from family from afar, and a birthday, and baseball, and soccer and the start of summer activities - I'm just a little behind. But...here are a few pix from the cookout, walk-a-bout, bonfire ending in pool party that M1 had for her 14th birthday.

Things started with cooking out hot dogs over a bonfire.





Then - the girls who were here all had fun looking at what one another had brought as their gift. I must admit that gift giving and getting is so fun at this age as the girls pick out their own presents to give. So much better than when I run to the store and scurry down the toy row looking for that one thing every other mom won't have already purchased! Such original gifts and thought put into them!!!



Then, the relatively manageable group of girls left the house to meet up with more kids at the infamous art walk. With a strict time of return, they all came back with more kids in tow. This was supposed to be s'more hour. (at least that's what my very organized and schedule oriented self thought).





Things were moving along smoothly until one of our dear family friends (an adult have you) might have said something along the lines of "hey - who wants to jump in the pool?" Well - what teenager wouldn't jump at this invite fully dressed on a cool night in a 62 degree pool!?!?!?!?!?!?











Sorry - I know these pix are a little dark - but it was dark out. And I can't say I was expecting to be taking pool pix!

So - after finding every clean towel in our house to dry the fully dressed teenagers of many - things did finally quiet down a bit and the kids all landed back around the bonfire to warm up.


I so wish I had taken a picture of the bodies sprawled across the living room the next morning. Or photographed the mountain of pancakes and sausage and bacon and smokies these ravenous teenagers ate for breakfast. But alas, I think I was too in shock at the bodies that filled the floors, couches and chairs and my thinking muddled by the mounds of food to be prepared.

Without a doubt, I think they all had fun and hope it was a birthday party to remember for our dear daughter!

I really need to post more pix and events...

But a heat wave is upon us and the pool is calling most every afternoon and our one air-conditioned room feels far better than the office most every evening.

Promise - more to come soon! For now - off to float is the 72 degree pool - that's right folks - we broke 70 in the pool and it feels GREAT!

And the ball keeps rolling and rolling and rolling....

Yes - we're still in throws of baseball season and it managed to consume our Fri and Monday night. And we even went into overtime. But - I finally got to see some great hits by M2 and great slides and even got to witness his first ever night pitching. I think I was more nervous than he was!!!! Enjoy more baseball pix and bear with me as we still have quite a few games left...which means more pix.

A 40lb Cowboy on a 10lb Horse

We have this adorable little puppy....though I don't know that he can still be called a puppy. He is officially a year old now which means he is 7yrs old in doggie years, right? Anyway...we also have the occassional and often long term visits by my dads lab. Our puppy is 10 lbs the lab is 80+ lbs.

Why these details you ask? Well - our 4yr old seems to be experiencing a little confusion following the last week long visit by the lab. Confusion....over what? Well - when the lab comes to visit - the lab is a pillow, a blanket, a riding toy and who knows what else. She is loved nearly to death by our kids. To say the least, the puppy is none of the above. Maybe, at best, a foot warmer or ear muff. And after the lab left, M3 decided he wanted to ride a dog and attempted this stunt with the 10lb puppy. In realizing that he was a smaller horse to mount, M3 missed his riding target, fell forward and landed on a little black paw. Well - as many of you know, when a dog is injured, they tend to bite. And well.....our little black fur ball bit. He bit M3 right in the face.

After the immediate freaking out by those present and I on the receiving end of the call trying to explain what happened, the details came out, M3 was seen by a doctor, and all is well now. Honestly, you can barely tell he was hurt 4 days ago. But - for the first 24 hours, he looked a little like Rocky.

First we have the 10 lb horse....


Then we have the bitten 40lb cowboy...




Without asking, you can rest assured that we have reviewed dogback riding rules, I mean proper puppy care and touch and hopefully this won't happen again. And - the little paw seemed to heal quickly as well.

Last Days of School

So with the arrival of Summer comes the close of another school year. We now officially have one headed for PreK, one headed to 2nd grade and one headed to High School! AHHHHHH. I tried to capture a few of the last day moments in the whirl that encompassed our final days at school and daycare.

M3 took a plant with a special message to his daycare provider.





And M2 took the same thing to his teacher.





A quick note to mention that these cute plant stakes were quickly and easily made with the Big Shot that I have from Stampin' Up and a little assistance from my Cricut. So quick and so easy!!!

And of course I snapped a couple pictures of M1 as she received the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence.





And so we close another school year and embark upon a long long summer of nothing to do and boredom. HA! We're already off and rolling with Tot Camp, the reading program at the library, continued baseball games and a few dips in our incredibly chilly pool!!!

Reclaiming Our Saturdays....

Or at least we will be reclaiming a few Saturdays here and there over the next few months. We closed out our soccer season this past Saturday with some great games and a really long day! The kids were troopers and up early and just kept going game after game after game. You know the day is getting long when the parents start hoping for a loss so we can go home!!

Maxx made an excellent save and this is the photo I caught of that moment. I think he was as shocked as all of us were on the sidelines and probably had a "moment" face to face with the ball before returning to his feet to kick it back into play.


The U10's had a great season and should be proud of the growth they have achieved since we started back in the fall! Some might say they had a pretty great coach too!


The older kids had a painfully easy game followed by a painfully hard game. Here are a couple shots of Chaela fighting for the ball. Way to tough it out!!




We actually kicked off our weekend by spending Fri night at the baseball diamonds. These are just a couple of my favorite shots.





Baseball will manage to grab a couple hours from a few more Saturdays, but I have to breath a sigh of relief knowing that we are down to just one sport for the remainder of the seson.

On a side note...let me introduce you to the newest member of the High School Twirling Line. (And a Presidential Education Award recipient)