All of 'Em...

This is it. This is all of 'em. These are my in-law's grand kids.

(L-R) Maddie, Kylie, Lewlew, Zach, Noodle, Katie, Buddy

How luck are they? They get 5 girls and 2 boys!

I love that they are holding hands. A couple of years ago, "Yacky" was Lewlew best friend. We went to the cabin and she played and played with "Yacky." It was great. I love to see the older cousins inner acting with my kids. I hope they'll always be great friends.

The Girls!

Girl Time!

This is Maddie age 11, Kylie age 17, Katie age 12, Noodle age 8 and Lewlew in front age 5.

Kylie was about 6 or 7 when I married Mister. I can still remember how cute she was in her dress at our reception. Katie was just a few months old when I married Mister. Maddie was born just 5 1/2 months before Buddy. I saw her come into the world and knew I'd never be able to do that. Thank goodness for C-sections!

Please stop growing up. You're all getting too big! Wahhhhhhhh!

The Guys!

Cousin's hangin' out!

This is Buddy. He's 10. This is Zach. He's 15. I can't believe Zach is the same age as Lewlew is now when Buddy was born. Stop growing up, will you!!!!

Tea Time

Would you care for a spot of tea?

This is Noodle, Maddie and Lewlew. Maddie is their cousin. This tea set and parasol are relics saved from their Great Grandma Mary.

Alone...

My SIL's took my kids to the zoo this Wednesday afternoon. I had the entire house to myself for several hours. O - I didn't realize how much I missed the alone time I got when the kids are in school. I also didn't realize how much I'd miss them. Holy cow!!! - it was only for a few hours! It was so quite - Maggie doesn't make much noise, none, at all! While they were gone, I finished washing the laundry and folded most of it. Didn't put any away! I super swept and super mopped all of my floors, cleaned the main toilet - Noodle cleaned the sinks and tub yesterday - watered the lawn and ran 2 errands. I felt so productive. It was a good feeling! You're asking, "What is super sweeping and super mopping?" Well, I'll tell ya. It's when I move everything that I can to higher ground. All of the rugs, chairs, recycle can, etc. I also move the rocking chairs to the center of the room. Then I sweep and mop under everything and put everything back and sweep and mop where that stuff was. It's a "super" big job. But the end result looks "super." Usually when I sweep and mop, I'll just move the rugs and recycle can and call it good. So there you have it.

The kids on the other hand had a fabulous time! Thanks so much Aunt Taina (and cousins) and Aunt Gina! When will you be taking them again???? :)

Yearly Pictures

Mister's sister took some great pictures of the kids for my MIL's birthday. We were on location about 90 minutes and she took 500 pictures. Yep, seriously, 500. And they were all great, but here are the ones we chose to use for our kids yearly pictures.

The cousins weren't coordinating and I really did try to not color coordinate my kids, but it goes against my grain. So here's how it turned out!

I absolutely love this one. She's such a poser and her eyes! Never change, Lewlew.

My beautiful Noodle. She's quite the poser too. And she also has great eyes with eye lashes that go on forever! Never grow up!

Then there's this clown! Love him!

You handsome fellow - never grow up!

Seasons of Change

Why does time seem to move so fast and yet so slow? There are times when I feel like it's slipping by and others when I think the day will never end! And then when I hear tails of teenagers, I want my kids to stay young forever because I am not delusional enough to think that I will be able to talk and spend quality time with my teens. I'm sure they'll hate me on a daily basis - not looking forward to that.

This was Noodle August 2010.


This is Noodle August 2011. (I absolutely cannot wait for her teeth to come in. The "losing teeth" stage is NOT my favorite!) She changing so much. She wants to make sure her outfit looks ok, and her hair. She wants to change her earrings and co-ordinate things. She's only 8! Isn't she supposed to be playing with dolls and not caring how she looks?


This was my great-great grandma back in 1902 waiting for this train to leave the depot and for her passenger train to come in. There was some big thing going on in town and a newspaper writer took this picture and put it in the local newspaper. Crazy, huh! The resemblance between her and Noodle is so close they could be the same person - that's because they are!
Great shot, huh! My SIL took lots and lots (like 500 - seriously, not kidding, 500) pictures of her nieces and nephews a couple of weeks ago and this was one of them. She's a great photographer - we're lucky to have her!

Webelos

On 6/29/2011, Buddy received some activity pin and in doing so had enough to earn his Webelos Scout award. He's really worked hard. He does enjoy scouts, for which I am really grateful! Now he's working on his Arrow of Light, which we hope he has earned in time for the September pack meeting.

Muscle Mania!

Before I begin, I have to clarify: I love my husband emphatically, without condition! He is absolutely perfect, for me. Having said that, I can continue.

Um, Damn! I am "in like" with these arms! I mean seriously, WOW!!!! (These are not the arms of my husband.)
You might wonder who this is, but apparently that is irrelevant because he asked me not to tell. Not sure why.

Here he is not even flexing, just texting. Check out those muscles! By the way, ladies, he's single - and he's a really great guy!

Carterville On Fire

Carterville On Fire is brought to you mostly by Mister's Aunt and cousin. (For those of you who don't live near, I'll fill you in a little bit. Every year, a local university hosts a concert and a grand firework show. It's called Stadium Of Fire. This year the concert was put on by David Archuleta and Brad Paisley. Oh and Carterville is the name of the road that Mister's aunt lives on.)

It starts out with a water party.

Followed by a barbecue. It's a "bring your own meat and a side dish to share" thing.

We've never lacked in food.
There's blankets laid out to sit on and a few chairs for those who aren't able - or don't want - to sit on the ground.



My cute kids! I made the girls' jumpers.

Lewlew's hair Sunday for church. For Carterville on Fire, this is how I did Noodle's hair.

Noodle's hair Sunday for church. For Carterville on Fire, this is how I did Lewlew's hair.

After eating and visiting, the "program" began.

I know this isn't a great picture, but our family - most of them - are major pyro's! They HAVE to jump through the fountain fireworks. The ones who do it, can't not do it. It's like a reaction they can't control and it's contagious. It used to be just the one generation, but sadly, they've passed it on to their children. I fear it will never stop.

The lighting...

Jumping through the fountains...

And then there's the program. This is the infamous "cousin" I spoke of earlier.

The year we were graced with David Enchilada! What a performance he gave!

We also enjoyed Rad Daisley! He can really put on a show!

He even added a little something extra!

Outstanding job!! What talented young men :)

Of course there was dancing which included the audience!

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the group dancing!

And who doesn't like Sparklers! (Actually Lewlew doesn't like to hold them, just watch them!)

Even the adults enjoyed the sparklers (and beverages!)

When it got dark, we put glow sticks in Noodle's hair. So she had a glow in the dark star on her head! It was cuter than this picture!

And more dancing in between fire works.

It was an incredible night. We had such a great time. All of the hard work didn't go unnoticed. We really appreciate all that was done by so many to make this night great year after year. We can't wait for Carterville on Fire next year!

Balloon Launch - Again

This morning we got up bright and early to go to the Balloon Launch with Mister's family. Except it wasn't very bright when we got up. We trudged down to the location all the while, I'm counting down the minutes until I can have a nap! For some reason I wasn't as awake as I was on Saturday. But the kids were!

Lewlew on Papa's lap taking pictures.

Noodle taking her share of pictures.


And of course Buddy making good use of his camera.


Mister did get this picture of Buddy and his cousin and someone from Star Wars.



He also took this one.



Because of the weather, the balloons didn't get to launch. But they were all supposed to inflate. About 5 of them were inflated with 3 or 4 in the process, when a gust of wind came up and blew the inflated balloons over. It was hectic for a few moments while the pit crews of the inflated balloons ran around yelling, "Get back! Get back!" as the balloons came crashing down. After that, they rolled up the balloons and put them away. So we went out for breakfast.

Then we came home, had a nap and went over to Mister's mom's. It's her birthday today. There isn't a better holiday to have a birthday on than on the 4th of July. She opened presents. Then Lewlew and I came home to get some stuff for "Carterville On Fire." Mister took Noodle with him to Carterville on Fire and Buddy stayed to ride down with his cousins.

More on Carterville on Fire in another post.

Balloon Launch

On Saturday morning we got up at early thirty to see the annual balloon launch. We've done this several times and it really is worth getting up so early, but getting up is hard.

First, they unpack the balloons and stretch them out.

Then they turn on a loud fan to fill it with air.

The balloon starts to fill out.

Then they turn on the propane, the heat.

The balloon traps the heat and it starts to rise.

Then it's fully inflated awaiting the perfect moment to add more heat to be able to take off.

Here's the "lead" balloon. It's always the first one off. The others fall as soon as possible.

This is the Coke balloon. It's the tallest balloon in the world.

And of course Smokey the Bear.

The pink Piggy Bank is a show favorite.

This year they had Darth Vader. He was pretty cool. Around him, they had Storm Troopers to add to the effect. When this guy sat up the theme song played.

We all had a great time. There have been times when it was pretty chilly - this was not one of those times. The balloons were delayed a short while because of a Life Flight helicopter. So when they finally were able to launch, it was warmer than expected. They weren't able to stay up for long. When we left, there were several that were already landing. It was just too warm to stay up. But it still, was really neat to watch. And of course the kids loved every minute.

Then we came home and took a nap. That was great. Later that night, Mister, Bestie, Bestie's nephews and I sat on our roof and watched some fireworks. It was beautiful night. There was a nice warm breeze. It was great!