Thanksgiving

I am bound and determined to keep up this blog. More time passes each time I blog. This time it was August. Since I started a blog in 2006 the longest I ever went was about a month. If noone else but myself looks at this, I like to keep it up to remember all the events and things our family has done. So I think things are looking up and we can get back into life again. Thanksgiving was great. Lots of laughter and good times. Getting together with them is great, good for the soul that is for sure.

These are the photo cards that we sat at each place setting. They had to guess who's picture was who, which was fun. The kids always love spending time with cousins and we have a few events set up for the next few weeks, so this will be a month full of family and of course good times.

God is good!

Elena's 7th Birthday

Summertime Pals

Each year it seems our yard is the place to be. Most days I love it. I am a bit protective of my kids so I would rather have the friends here to play. So these days on average I have around 8 kids here. I often joke that I run a free daycare. Each summer it seems to change just a bit. With apartments in the area kids move in and move out so I try to snap some pics so the kids remember who they played with that year. Of course summer is in the final lap and I am already looking forward to quieter days....

A day at the river with the family

A great afternoon down a Blue Bridge with the family. We could of stayed the whole day - we stayed most of the afternoon!

A visit with our friend Michelle

Last week I got in the car and drove. A first for me. I have never honestly taken my kids by myself in a car more than an hour away. So we drove almost 3 1/2 hours to visit my friend Michelle, who moved a few years ago and I keep saying we will visit, so we finally did! And I am so glad that we spent time together. The kids really don't remember playing together, but were instant friends. We have 7 kids literally they are ages 8,7,6,5,4,3 and 0 but for the most part they played so well together you never would of known. We caught up, I got to meet some of her girlfriends and we had a girls night in which was so nice. We went to the movies and a block party and a park, and it went to fast. But it was so nice to catch up and it will be nice when we get to see them again even if briefly here the beginning of August when they come up to visit.
So now when we get in the car if I haven't told Natalie where we are going she asks if we are going back to miss Michelle's. She had such a blast. Thanks Michelle!

Gymnastics

I attempted to put Elena in Gymnastics when she was younger, but she was a little bit stubborn. I cannot believe this post was over 3 years ago! When I just started blogging. So when I signed Natalie up for Gymnastics, Elena wanted to also. They did great! Natalie is a natural. She was nervous at first as she is my quiet observer. She doesn't jump into anything, but once she saw one of her friends from cubbies was with her, she had a great time. The bar is her favorite, she has turned everything she comes into contact with a pull-up bar. The counter, the table, the racks at the store, coat racks in waiting rooms, oh do I have a monkey on my hands!Elena had her class immediately after Natalie's and was always so hot and worked up by time it was her class. She quickly made friends with a daughter of her dad's high school friends, so that was great. Bonus, a new friend that we already know the parents! YAY! We don't have many school friends that I trust that she go play with yet.She is a natural flipper and jumper. Such a strong little girl, this was a great way to get her energy out.

Last Day of School - Time for Summer!

Of course I am behind with this post. The last day of school was June 4th. We are almost 2 weeks into summer vacation, it seems like we have just had one obstacle after another and haven't really begun to enjoy summer yet. Hopefully this week will bring changes to that and we can start having some fun!

So now we have a preschooler, a first grader, a third grader and a sophomore in high school! AHH! No more babies at home. :(

Here are Ethan and Elena on the last day of school this year.