First day of school

So the baby girl started 1 st grade today and LOVED it. She was very happy to be reunited with her friends and VERY excited to be going back to her old school again. Since they wear uniforms the below last year photo does not looked too different from this years photo.

Family Picnic

The couple who started it all. Walt and Velma started this big old happy family long about 56 years ago..... oh so much to be proud of just as we are of them! Thanks mom and dad you did and are doing a great job, we all love you!!!
So for the past 7 years my wonderful brother Mark and wife Carol host a family picnic, starting after 1pm and lasting until the end of the day. It is at their acerage which is the perfect setting for a fabulous day. It is a gathering of my folks, their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. I think we are approaching 70! At any rate it is just a wonderul time spent talking, playing, memory swapping, and just plain hanging out as a family. We were without 10 members this year due to other obligations, they were missed but the party did go on!


Just the siblings, no out-laws this time. Oldest to youngest Jacie, Mark, Marilyn, Coke, Wayne, Shorty and myself.

Dad was not up for too many photos and so we just did an all kiddo photo. Anyone who had kids there just threw them in the picture, kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.

My little crew at evenings end. Pete was not able to join us as he had to work!

Four generations: Walt, Marilyn, Holly and our newest addition sweet little Tiegan.

So between my older 3 kiddos I counted some 78 bug bites! In spite of the fogging attempts the bugs prevailed! Our house should have bought stock in Benedryl and itch cream this week! Holy smokes we had some itchy spots.

The men grilling all the yummy food!

Water activities are always a big part of this day. They spend the day running in swim suits and playing in all things water!

The bounce house made an appearance again this year. It does not matter if it is 200 degrees these kids just love to bounce!

PJ took a time-out to just chill out with some sidewalk chalk. I think he wrote "my mamma is the best" :~)

Maggie striking a pose.

Family I have uploaded photos to the Walgreens site if you want to see what I took that day. Let me know if you need help viewing.

So after a very fun day that was packed with lots of fun and games as well as memories picnic 2010 draws to an end with yet another perfect sunset.

So many things to be thankful for, God is good.

Brie baby stats

So my baby girl had her 6 month check up today. Clean bill of health and good to go for 3 months. Her ears were even fluid free today for the first time in over 2 months! yea! now hopefully we can keep them that way. She weighed in at 18 # 4oz (90%) and 28"long (>100%), obviously growing well but not as big as Maggie and PJ at 6 months. She is almost exactly what Makayla was. Brie is eating veggies in the evening and this week started cereal/fruit in the am at daycare. If you look close enough you can see in the photo the leftovers of this evening peas due to constant raspberries, for some reason she finds doing them while eating to be the most entertaining. Today was the last day of frozen breastmilk for daycare. I nurse her am, noon, evening, bed , and we are up once at night. So we will see how she takes to formula twice a day on Friday. She is almost sitting and is far more interested in learning to crawl than the other 3 were at 6 months. She is a bit of a high maintainence babe the last month. I think it is the constant action and attention that when those things are not happening she doesn't want to be happy. She continues to make each of us smile and is the apple of her siblings eyes! We love you Gabriella and cannot believe we have had you half a year already!!

Poor PJ

Poor PJ, it was only a matter of time before the girly big sisters got him! This evening there was a lot of giggling in the basement, kids having fun right.? and then PJ appeared dressed like this! He even has a perfect "spin" down as we cannot tell boys to "twirl" because only girls twirl. Had to capture the moment, hope it makes you smile like it did me. I am sorry little man as I see this happening a lot in your future. I definately need to be finding some prince charming dress up clothes!

Cupcake

So a co-worker had extra cupcakes from a party and I thought the kiddos would like one. I left to run errands and daddy was in charge. This is what I found while looking through the camera tonight, priceless. Apparently the BLUE frosting cupcake was a big hit! He is such a good daddy though as I could not see any evidence this am on PJ, so obviously he had a good scrubbing in the bath too.

Relaxation

We have been doing a lot of adult/parent kind of things lately and said the weekend of August 7/8 needs to be a kiddo weekend. Fun things for them and all about them as they have been well behaved while we have been busy with our projects. Well... Pete has a co-worker with a cabin at Okoboji/Spirit Lake and she gave us the keys and said go have a good time! What perfect timing, so we packed it up quickly and headed out for the weekend.

The cabin sits on the water and is just wonderful. 3 bedrooms so lots of space to spread out and really relax! We now have one old enough to run the camera so we can have pictures with both Pete and I with some of the kiddos. So this is group shot one.

Group shot two, noticed the water behind! What a lovely view we had and it was so peaceful. The property has a boat dock, unfortunately the fish were not biting. It also has a fire pit that we ran out of time for, plus it was a bit windy.

Lots of this though, relaxing and just hanging out as a group of six. It was so nice to escape the laundry, computer, cleaning, phones and everything else homeowners have to do when they are home.

Naps were taken by most at various points throughout the stay. I think Brie was most comfy in this big chair!

The cabin has air conditioning that we found out works very well, snuggling with blankets Saturday morning was necessary.

PJ is completely into boats after this weekend. He could be found in this position almost always. Watching out the window giving us a play by play of each boat that past by.

Rock climbing anyone?

Of Course we found a beach on Spirit Lake that was a hit with everyone. When we returned Sunday morning we were the only ones on the beach, it was lovely. The girls practised swimming lessons and we were very happy with how well they can swim. Thanks POP!

Brie relaxing beach side listening to the waves hitting the shore.

Bathtime was even fun at the cabin. Brie has turned into quite the splasher in the water as well.

Brie 6 mon/ PJ 22 mon

My babies are a month older! Not a great photo but an update none the less. Brie has a check up coming up the end of the week so stats to follow. Though she looks roly poly she really is not too chubby, just plump enough. Obviously Brie is the love of PJ little life, she continues to amaze him. In general they are both very happy little people. We have gotten several compliments about them lately stating how sweet they are. PJ is chatting up a storm, his speech has changed this last week and is much more clear now. He is a complete mockingbird! The big girls get a kick out of making him repeat silly things. I took PJ shoe shopping tonight, he was in a 6 and I measured his foot, it was a 7.5! mommy of the year once again. poor little man! He has quite the opinion about shopping, refusing to wear the new shoes, cries about the new hat and was mad when I choose to put an outfit in the chart that was not his first choice! Apparently my girls are easy to please, who would have guessed the boy to be the picky one!(I have a nephew who had a very STRONG opinion as to his attire, maybe PJ will follow in his shoes, I am in trouble):~) Have a good week, stats to follow!