4th of july 2008

Bryan asked the boys what they wanted to do for the 4th of July, stay home and do all of these fabulous things or go to Ga & Papa's house? They chose to go to Ga and Papa's house and a bonus was that a couple sisters and their families were in town too. Swimming and grilling and then a baseball game with fireworks with a palm tree catching fire. I wish I had taken more photos but I always assume that I am going to get the photos that everyone is taking (I am not complaining because I have tons of photos for others).

Beach july 8th

We went to the beach on Tuesday after Legoland. It was great. It wasn't crowded and it wasn't too hot. I only remember Lil E getting taken down in the water and Ann saving him (I have a photo of the 2 of them wet but I am going to send them to Ann so she can post if she wants) which is unusual because my boys have both been taken down by waves recently. Beebe made everyone lunches and had a great set-up, we teased her at the time but really, it was great and I appreciated the sandwiches. this giant hole was given to us and in the end they were filling it up with from the "walls" of the hole. I am glad the people that gave it to us left before they started doing that.

Notice the cooler and basket blocking Beebe from everyone- brilliant.
they kept going back to the huge hole
trying to dig a huge hole
had a great time napping or eating- thanks again Beebe for loaning us the less girly hat.
big A was suppose to be in time out for flinging sand but Ga gave him a soda, oh well that is what grandparents are for right.
Lil A loves sand and I am grateful he doesn't love the water and is content to play in the sand.

legoland july 7th

We went to Legoland while almost everyone was here (Em, we missed you but not everyone went to Legoland or the beach). I was a little worried because I had not taken all 3 boys somewhere sans Bryan and Beebe had her 2 without Tyler and Ann & Pie were there but they had their 4 (in different age groups which means different activities for the older boys) but Mom and Matt were great and we had a fabulous time.

baby i's blessing july 6th

**I am catching up on the past month but I will try to spread it out best I can. Oh, Happy Birthday to my SIL Sally and Happy Pioneer Day.

We tried to take a family photo but 2 of my children refused and even were pouting in the group photo, so we took a photo with the son who had no choice. Kim and her family and Bryan's parents already left by the time we got it together to get a photo but there are a few photos of Kim's boys wrestling after lunch. Heather and her family were there too and if you look closely, you can see her kids in the wrestling photos but it is a little difficult to really see anyone in those photos.

It was a great day and Bryan, as usual, made delicious Pulled Pork and Tri-tip. Thanks to everyone that helped with lunch, I think I can throw parties like that more often (I provided nothing but the reason to get together and I support Bryan and his lack of sleep to prepare the meat).

Beach and Fort July 2 & 3

Tuesday night Beebe and her family arrived at our house because Tyler was working in So Cal on Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday, Jill, Katie and Matt came and went to lunch at In-N-Out and then shopping for my shirt to match my skirt for Sunday (baby i's blessing). We had a picnic dinner at the beach with the addition of Bryan and Tyler to our group. We watched Wipeout together and then Jill, Katie and Matt left.
Thursday, Beebe and I hung out at the house. At about 4pm, we needed a way to entertain 3 little boys until Bryan got home from work (you know how you count down, "only 2 more hours"). Beebe had the great idea of making a fort. We made it about 4 times, Big A was getting frustrated because once it was set up, he wanted it to stay up (big difference between a 4yo and a 2yo). When Bryan got home, he took the 3 'older' boys outside to play in the waterball (Beebe took photos). Beebe and family stayed for dinner and then headed to Ga & Papa's house.
It was a fun couple of days. Too bad they don't live closer (why did you move again?).

cream cheese and chips

Bagels are a staple "breakfast" food at our house (we still eat our first meal between 10 and 11am). Depending on which parent prepares the bagel, determines the topping of the bagel: cream cheese or butter. The boys had cream cheese mustaches this day and I thought it was too cute, so I had to take some photos.
Lil A grabbed a handful of chips from the kitchen, went outside, set his chips on the table and propped his feet up and enjoyed the nice weather with a snack. I think he learned this from Bryan since I really only consistently eat dinner with them (hopefully the older baby i gets, that will change but what can you do with a baby that eats when everyone is eating).

smiling baby i

Baby i is a smiley baby. I LOVE it. I think he talks to me more than the other boys. He was smiley this afternoon and I decided that I should try to capture some of his cute smiles. It was a little difficult since I was the entertainment and the camera person.

The Past Few Days (July 9-11)

We had a lot going on for a week (more posts to come about those) so we needed to run errands and clean/do laundry over the past few days. I took all 3 boys to Wal-Mart and Babies-R-Us and the next day Target (my first time out with all 3 boys- yeah for me!). I have yet to make it to the grocery store but some day I will get there.
With all of our errands and cleaning, we had a little bit of fun too. Aunt Em sent Penguin Bowling for the boys. They, of course, had to play it and I, of course, had to take photos. The boys still like to "help" most of the time and I have never taken their picture mopping before, so you get to see some of those too. On most Wednesdays I am a single mom, so we made brownies after I cleaned up dinner (I don't have photos of that but I thought I would document that we did something yummy when Bryan wasn't around).

Lil A drew this apple. Notice his shorts, he likes to get dressed "all by my my self."

Memory Lane

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

* I got this from Emily, my sister in North Carolina.

**I have almost 10 postings waiting for me, so be ready for a few steady postings.

Surprisingly, this was very accurate

I got this from Emily. I was surprised at how most things are totally me. Take it and let me know if it was accurate for you too.

Karin took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Needs a peaceful environment. Wants release from s..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

June 20-22, 2008

We had a family reunion for Bryan's side in Bakersfield, with the excuse of Jon's birthday to get together. There was white water rafting on Friday, which I opted out of, having just had a baby and none of my kids were old enough to go- so it was perfect. We stayed at Kim's house and the boys swam, in the AM with the dads that stayed behind and then in the afternoon with Nannie. The adults went to dinner in two shifts- which was fabulous, but I did feel like I was missing an arm (or some other vital body part) because baby i stayed at Kim's.
Saturday was the big birthday party, complete with Bryan smoking pulled pork and tri-tip, a chocolate fountain, two bounce houses and two pinatas.
It was great to be able to spend time with all of Bryan's siblings and even Bryan's grandma, who lives in Hawaii now, was able to be there.
This is a small portion of the photos that we took that weekend.

I probably took about 100 photos of the all kids with the pinatas, so I limited the ones here to just my kids hitting and of Bryan's brother *repairing* the pinata.