Pedal Power........

Rob has taught the boys to ride their bikes with out training wheels by taking them to the park and up to the top of a grassy hill. That way they can go down the hill and worry about controlling the bike and not worry about the pedaling at first until they are more confident with the balancing part of it. It has worked with all three older boys even if they were all at a different age when taught!! Just like his brothers it only took a few times and he was a pro!! Great job Carter!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie............

One night I came across Carter all snuggled up with Sadie sleeping on the living room couch and even though the dog is not allowed on the couch it was a cute picture so I had to snap it before putting Sadie in her kennel and waking Carter up to go upstairs to bed.

No Homework please...........

This yellow post it note is what Carter brought over to me one night just a few weeks into the school year.

He said "Mom don't read this just sign it please..."
Ummm okay like that was not a big ol red flag!!
So I read it then re-read it out loud to him and and I said "You seriously think I am going to sign this"
He said" I told you not to read it"!!hahaha

Needless to say I didn't sign it but I am sure if I did send his teacher a note it would have read something like the lil note in the corner of the post it.....yeah right!!

Yipeeeee........Pack Meeting...........

Carter loves Cub Scouts and is always happy when it is Pack Meeting and he can get an award for something he has earned!! Way to go Carter!!

The Tooth Of The Matter........

This month Walker and Kennedy both had to go in for Oral surgery.When I was pregnant with Kennedy and on bed rest Walker had been asleep on the couch and had rolled off hitting the tile floor face first. His front teeth got pushed up into the gums and the gums were swollen but they got better and we didn't think anything about it. As time has gone on his teeth are just bad. When the pediatric dentist examined him he said his teeth are coming in way to early and he has really soft teeth. We are wondering if any of it is linked to the problems he had that first year of life with his Tracheomalacia problems. Walker was completely put under for his surgery to remove 3 teeth and put in two spacers. When he came out of surgery he was soo groggy and out of it. He cried I don't want metal teeth!!! He was tired the rest of the day and we just snuggled and rested together. He was a trooper and did AWESOME!!When it came time for Kennedy to get hers done the pediatric dentist realized she wasn't as bad as the regular dentist had said so Kennedy didn't need to go under she just got gas and had a few pin sized cavities filled. She was sooo loopy and funny afterwards for a lil while. When we got home she rested for while then went and played and then rested some more. She did great!

Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's Off To School We Go......

Well the first day of school for 2010 came....YEA!! It was a L-O-N-G summer! Cooper is in 6th grade with Mr. Balsic. Carter is in 3rd grade with Mrs. Needham. Walker is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Letizia.Cooper was happy that several of his friends are in his class this year. Carter knows several people in his class too. Walker started Kindergarten this year and he was my first child to go to full day Kindergarten because 1/2 day was not offered anymore at our school. I was sad to see him go and he was sad to go. He even went as far as to say he would run away and hide under the blankets in my room so no one would find him so he could stay home with me....aww heartbreaking! The first few days were hard then he got in the swing of things made friends and by the next week he loved it!! Kennedy was soo sad that we were actually leaving the boys at school and coming home all alone! She wanted to stay with them at school or at least make them come home with us! She cried and pouted but when we got to IHOP for breakfast everything was all better. Then we went home and played Barbies and pretty ponies, colored, watched a movie, read a book and took a nap. She was happy but happiest when the the boys got home at the end of the day. Next year and she will be joining them and I will be the one crying as my baby leaves me home alone!!

Pitter Patter Of Little Paws.......

So here is our newest addition to our family her name is Sadie she is 6 weeks old and we are in love!! She is a miniature schnauzer and was born June 30th. We got her from my brother Mike's sister Chrissy. Thanks Chrissy!

Here's the dirt..........

So teenager boys are a rare breed! Tanner had his E.F.Y. buddy Jake that lives in Tucson in town visiting for the week before they headed to Thatcher for E.F.Y. Tanner hadn't had his license long and the boys were planning a trip the next morning for Golfland/Sunsplash for the day and so Rob was lecturing them about safe driving, making good choices when you are out with friends, and the consequences that can follow. It was about a 30 minute lecture. So the boys left to take Tanner's other friend Micheal home who lives like maybe 5 miles away. Tanner had been taking a "short cut" for his trip to Micheal's house for the last lil while. It is a dirt road that the farmers use for their irrigation and it goes through a big wash. That night was the first time it had been muddy since Tanner had been driving on it. Well the phone rang at 11:30 and the first thing he said when I answered the phone is "Mom just listen don't say anything...just listen. We are stuck in the mud and need to be pulled out" I said "Okaaaay let me get your Dad out of the shower so he can come get you which is gonna make him real happy" and he is all "I know........." So Rob gets dressed and goes off to find them. I guess the three boys tried for quite awhile pushing the van out of the mud before resorting to calling us but they were stuck nose first with the mud up to the bottom of the door. When Tanner opened the door to get out the mud started just oozing in. Not to mention all the muddy feet of the boys. Took him 2 hours the next day to clean it up.....hahahaha Thankfully only the front was stuck and luckily Rob had bought a tow rope the week before and he had bought the longer one so he had them hook it up and then pulled them out. They broke the front of the van in this adventure. They were only 1 1/2 miles away.....yet they still managed to find a way to get into mischief........Check out the muddy legs...hahahahaha After it was all said and done Rob and I got a real good laugh out of it and I think Tanner learned a lesson too a lil old mini van is not made to be an off road vehicle.....now you know!!!

Amazing Jake's FHE Night........

We took the kids to Amazing Jake's for a summertime FHE night. Amazing Jake's is 95,000 Square Feet of Indoor Food & Fun! It has an all-you-can-eat buffet of Pizzas, Pastas, Soups, a Potato and Salad Bar, Fountain Drinks and Desserts. Amazing Jake's has video/arcade games and a Rock Climbing Wall, an Indoor Go-Kart track, a Bowling Alley, Bumper Cars, a Mini Coaster, 18 Holes of Miniature Golf, kiddie rides including a lil Train, Tea Cups, Frog Hopper as well as a Carousel. So needless to say the kids LOVE it.........but......the pocketbook hates it!!! All of us went but Cooper didn't want to be in the pictures and Tanner had his E.F.Y. buddy Jake down from Tucson visiting so they were off doing there own thing so no pictures of them. We had a crazy fun night and look forward to doing it again.

You & Me... So Happy Together...........

Rob and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary today! We went to Farellis Dinner theater for a delicious dinner and great movie. I love going there because the ambiance is great for romance and for snuggling with your sweetheart.

Oopsy Daisy!! Kenna's First Scar.....

Rob and I were upstairs in our room talking about some plans for the upcoming week and the kiddos were all down stairs when we heard a loud crash! It is never a good sound to hear your child screaming after hearing such a big thud sound. Tanner was downstairs so I told him to just pick up Kenna and bring her to me. As he was coming upstairs I asked him if she was bleeding and he said YES....A LOT!! So I went and got a hand towel and met him at the doorway and put pressure on her jaw and we laid her on the bed and asked the boys what had happened.
I guess lil Miss Kennedy decided to climb on top of the laundry basket that had been in the laundry room that they ALL had been told to leave alone but alas she could not listen and the bucket flipped sending her face straight into the concrete floor!! OUCH!!So we got her calmed down and I took the towel off and took a look and told Rob lets go to the ER because she needs stitches.While we were waiting in the ER lobby she was a happy cheerful girl and you wouldn't know what she was there for unless she looked up and you saw the gash under her chin. It was gross. In fact one of the times I had her looking up so I could check it, it actually split open a lil wider as I was watching.....YUCK!!So it wound up that Kenna had to get 3 lil stitches on her chin....she was not happy. It took 3 adults to hold her down while the DR. was stitching her up. Her lungs are in PERFECT working condition by the way!!hahaha On the way home I told her we could get pizza for dinner and that "So You Think You Can Dance" was on tonight and she was soooo happy after that!Here she is a few days later. Her face is still a lil bit swollen but she was totally ok! We were shocked that our sweet angel would be the first to get stitches out of all our kids. She is one tough lil girl!!

Liberty, Justice & Sparklers For All...........

Since the 4th of July fell on Sunday this year we went had no plans. After church our great friends and neighbors the Evangelesta's called and invited us over to watch the fireworks with them! We all just enjoyed Schnepf Farms fireworks from the comfort of the backyard and it was great!!

The kids ran around playing and watching the fireworks and just having a fun time! I didn't get many great pictures but we all had a nice evening with our friends and that is what is important!

What a great sister.......................

Well like I said we all got burnt after our fun time with the E-Crew. Kenna was sooo fascinated by Walker's skin peeling she could not stop herself from peeling the skin from his back.

I told her not to cuz it makes a mess so she showed me she would just put it in her hand as she peeled!! hahaha

Walker pretty much was like if I can be comfy then you just go right ahead sis!! These two together are sooo fun!!

Cool Fun In The Hot Sun........

We hadn't been able to hangout and have some friend time with our friends the Evangelesta's for awhile because of craziness of life for both families so finally the day came and we went over to their house and had sooo much fun!! Carrie of course had activities galore for the kiddos! So what do you do with 8 kids ages 11-3........They have a fun water slide that the kids enjoyed soo much....
She had the bucket/sponge relay for them to do.......
We did a girl team.....and a boy team.........Poor Caitlin got Kenna and Addy on her team and some times they forgot about the relay and went and played bubbles or tether ball or something else.....Kenna and Addy playing with the bubbles...
Cooper and Aaron playing tether ball before we had our pizza for lunch....
They also had a play pool to splash around and enjoy. Here are the four youngest ones.....Walker, Ryan, Addy and Kenna.
Here they are enjoying otterpops.......otterpops while staying cool in the pool.......who knew so many kids could fit at one time!!
They also had the sprinkler going under the trampoline.......The boys.......The girls........Kenna and Addy had soo much fun playing together as usual........With that many kids you would think there would be some arguing or fighting but nope they just ran and played the whole time pretty much. We got our first sunburns of the summer that day too. I don't know what happened I thought I had put plenty on everyone but I guess not. Anyways we all had soo much fun just hanging, visiting and playing that we can't wait to do it again!!! Thanks Carrie!!

Happy Fathers Day......."POP"

We had a really enjoyable Father's Day this year. I bought some gourmet popcorn and made a tag for it and that was Rob's and my Dad's gift. Quick, Easy, and Cheap! Thats how I roll lately!!hahaha I made one of the family favorites for breakfast......breakfast casserole, poppyseed bread, and fruit. Quick, Easy, and Cheap! Like I said thats how I roll lately!! Most of my family came over and we had such a pleasant time together. Everyone that came were: my parents, my sister Jessica she had to come without her husband Brandon cuz he had to work, my brother Mike his girlfriend Jessica and my nieces Haylee and Lynzee loved seeing them, my brother Eddie and his wife Chris and thier son Chance who Kenna and Walker had been waiting for. The kiddos were running and playing the whole time and didn't stop to eat just to have a go-gurt and they were off again!! We had a Ham dinner with all the trimmings and it was delish!! Cooper had my camera at one point and he took a picture of his Dad at the end of the evening......
asleep in his recliner. Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband who is the best, most magnificent, superb, amazing, fantastic, marvelous, great, brilliant, perfect Dad to our 5 children. I love you Rob!! Happy Father's Day sweetheart!!