Cabin Fever

My parents rented a 3 bedroom, two bath cabin with a nice size kitchen, eating area, and living room. It was very spacious considering it held 12 kids and 7 adults at times. Luckily we didn't have to sleep that many at one time, but it came close.

A view of the front window. The kids spent a lot of time looking out it and talking to people passing by. I was disappointed that I couldn't get a shot of all of them crowded around it.
Zoe enjoying blowing bubbles on the front porch...Unfortunately we had a little sickness while we were there. Noah and Chelsea both started throwing up Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning. Fortunately Noah got over his quickly (I think it was his overly tired, extra excited thing), on the other hand Chelsea was sick all day Sunday and even threw up a couple of times on our way home.

Doesn't she make a cute sickie?

Happy 4th of July!

We had our own private fireworks show this year. My cousin Todd put one on in the parking lot of their family rental store in McKinleyville. The kids had fun with sparklers and all the ground action, not to mention the illegal air action that was all around us. The best part is we could start it as early as we wanted to and still manage to get the kids to bed at a decent hour.

Zoe and sparklers. I was a little hesitant to turn my 3 year old loose with fire, but all the other cousins were doing it and she gets tired of being treated like a baby. She was really careful and didn't set anything or anyone on fire. Melody and her girls enjoying the fireworks, until they grew tired of the noise, they finished the show from the comfort of their van. Noah and Zoe enjoying the show with Grandma Sandi.

The fireworks..

Noah had so much fun with the sparklers. That's what he requested for his birthday. Too bad they are illegal in our town. He too was very careful with them and didn't set anything or anyone of fire.

Double duty. It was a fun evening. Zoe crashed out before it was over. Nothing got destroyed, however my 6 year old niece Michelle almost lit me on fire with her sparkler. I have a nice hole in my sweatshirt to prove it. I think the worst part was she giggled about it and didn't get how serious it was.

A cute picture of Chelsea, she perked up enough to participate in the fun fire filled evening.

Fun in the Sun

This quarter's Primary activity was a morning full of fun games that involved water. There was paper boat racing, water balloon tossing, water sponge relays, and squirting fish. The kids had a fun time and the presidency did a great job including all the kids both young and old. I loved how the bigger kids were given a little buddy to help out on some of the more difficult tasks.

Here is Noah next to his buddy Cameron folding their paper boats. You can kind of see Zoe's nose and forehead in between her buddy Corbin and Cameron. Noah's finished product.

Zoe's finished product.

Zoe raced against her friend Dayton. I think the race ended in a tie, with a little "help".

Noah raced against our neighbor Bella. He didn't win, but at least he finished. He started the race with a broken straw. I was just proud that he didn't cry and that his boat didn't sink.

Water sponge relay.

A friendly game of "Red Rover". Tressa was surprised that none of the kids had ever played the game before, as it was one of her childhood favorites. I missed getting a picture of the water balloon toss.

The morning ended with Otter Pops and every kid was given a squirting fish to take home with them to remind them of the fun morning. They also had a kiddie pool set up so the kids could splash around until their parents picked them up.

Swimming

We love that Papa Tim has work here in the Reno/Sparks area. It always means a nice pool to go swimming in, time with cousins, time with Grandma and Papa, and dinners out. It's a mini vacation every time he has to work. Here are some pictures from the most recent trip, this time around he stayed at the Nugget in Sparks - the kids loved splashing in the pool.

Zoe loved the water gobbles her grandma brought her...
They also made a cool necklace.

Let's Go to the Movies!

To celebrate Father's Day this year we took Daddy to the movies. We all enjoyed Toy Story 3. Since we went to the first showing of the day and didn't see it in 3D we decided to splurge on popcorn, Sodas, and Icees. I was amazed that both kids sat through the whole movie without falling asleep and without needing to go to the bathroom.

Proof that I Love My Kids

I finally gave in and fixed my kids Cheese Waffles. Noah and Zoe had been begging for these for weeks and I finally gave in. Can you tell how excited they were to be eating them? This was a true labor of love since I am not able to partake of their yummy goodness. How I miss waffles and syrup.

A Girl and her Curls

I just had to document this. My little girl finally has hair and it is getting longer and fuller everyday. I am so glad her hair takes after mine, in that you can make perfect ringlets just by wrapping her damp hair around your fingers. Little girls are so much fun!

On a side note, she has a big attitude lately. When she gets mad at me she loves to threaten all sorts of terrible thing. The only thing is I think she is a procrastinator, everything starts out: "Tomorrow, I'm gonna....". This can be followed by run away, fire you, or my favorite put baby Jack on top of the fridge so I won't be able to reach him. She loves to involve "Baby Jack" in everything, I guess she figures that will get to me the most.

To be more positive I think she is just trying to figure out how much her world will be changing in a few months. She wants to know what I will do with "Baby Jack" when I cook dinner, or hold her, or how I'm gonna buckle her in her car seat. I am trying my hardest to convince her I will not be holding him all the time and that I will still have plenty of time for her.