July 4th

Happy Fourth of July! It was such a fun day.... our plans began the day before when Ben and Tonia came up with all the kids the night before. We painted our nails and watched Captain America, while narrating the entire movie for the kids who couldn't figure out what was going on. Which was all of them. And they all asked questions at every. Single. Scene.

The next morning we were all up bright and early to go to the parade.

Tristan loved it. Loved the noise. Loved the stuff being thrown. Loved his cousins.

Loved matching with all of them :) They were all so cute.

We almost missed the beginning of the parade trying to braid all 5 girls hair into stars. Fortunately I attended 7 years of girls camp, so I could braid tiny braids fairly quickly. Sadly, I was not coordinated enough to figure out which one was tied to what other one. It's a good thing Tonia was there and did the other 4 girls hair.

After the parade we went to the festival... the largest one in the West! They had booth after booth of food and drinks and bouncy houses. We only did this one because the lines for the other ones were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. And we had to go get that famous custard ice cream.

We had to show off our nails. I still haven't taken my nail polish off-it got dumped down the tub drain by some kid and I can't remember to buy more. Eesh! After we got home from the festival everyone took a nap. Then we ran over to the pool and swam for a few hours.

After swimming we ate. The food was soooooo good. Tonia did her famous pulled pork sandwhiches. I did apple nachos.

And homemade pie. We had so much food it didn't even get eaten til we went and watched fireworks!

Tonia did this edible flag. Loved it. Tristan ate the entire bowl of blueberries and pooped green for days.

He also took a bath in watermelon.

We brought Sushi and Chunky to watch the fireworks. Safely hiding under the seats in the van.

The kids (we grabbed the 4 kids down the street and took them with us) did a hula contest and ate 3 pounds of popcorn and dodged fireworks being shot off by the drunk people next to us.

Then we watched fireworks and went home.

Best. Day. Ever.

Memorial Day BBQ-In Which Sonia Gets a Dose of Karma Disquised as BBQ Sauce

While we were down in Houston in May we went to as Jeff says, "The best Texas BBQ I have ever been to." There were a TON of people, fishing, swimming, volleyball, so much food you ate yourself silly, and of course, good company. In the chaos of loading up 5 kids, I forgot both cameras. I remembered roughly around Downtown and Jeff refused to turn around. Lame. Thankfully, Tyson had his camera and took these amazing photos... which he was sweet enough to share with me. Aw!  And we were so glad they invited us out-it really was the best ever.  Tyson and Sonia know how to throw a party. 

Now.. at this particular BBQ I thought for some reason it'd be cute to wear a white skirt. With 5 kids. Who all had BBQ and other foods that stain. They also assumed that because my skirt was white it was also a napkin. Sonia was happy smirking to herself about how clean she was staying, and how glad she was she didn't have kids to cover her in BBQ. Apparently, God thought that was cute, so He changed the gentle breeze into a mini gale, and....

My entire plate of BBQ went flying and literally landed smack onto the center of Sonia's chest.

Sauce covered BBQ went all over the inside and outside of her adorable white shirt.    (Who wears white to a BBQ, anyway?)

I think we learned a valuable lesson here.  Kids do not throw plates of BBQ sauce, Karma does.

Sonia made a full recovery, although I haven't actually heard about the status of the shirt.  I hope it made a recovery.  We spent the afternoon herding babies away from the pond.  It was far more tempting than the baby pool someone had set up for them.  The big kids spent almost the whole day playing on the big slide so we didn't see much of them.  When the kids discovered someone had brought a watermelon, they were the happiest children on the planet.... of course, it was after they'd dried off and changed into semi clean clothes.

You can see Tristan in this photo... "Wait what!? Uh hello! I'm back here! Take a picture of me!"

Who do you think you are, taking a picture of another kid!?

It was so hard to leave.  It was like every time we tried, someone would show up with cupcakes, or watermelon, or hot dogs... or a hay ride... and I couldn't drag us away til we'd done it all.

The kids enjoyed the hayride, although Andie did not like the scratchy stuff touching her.

Neither did Jeff.

It was the funnest day ever and we had so much fun!!!  The kids talked about the water slide, food, paddle boat and hayride for days.  They asked if we could go back.  Maybe next year.  And next year we won't wear white.

A Week in H-Town

We're finally back home, I have 8,000 loads of laundry to do and 2,000 dishes in the sink.  But it's good to be home.  I missed my bed.  So last week I posted about going camping on the Guadalupe, although it's not really camping when you have a cabin.  Whatever.  After our fun camping trip... Jeff and I drove down to Houston to watch Tiff's kids for a week.  They went to China for 2 weeks and only took the 3 older kids.  We volunteered to take the 4 little ones.  They kept us pretty busy.  We got there last last Friday and stayed until this last Saturday since Jeff had to hurry home since school started yesterday.  This time there were hardly any mishaps.  No cups bouncing off my head.  No microwaves full of flames or bleeding animals.  In fact, I would go so far as to say it was fun.  I got to see some favorite friends, go jogging, meet friends for lunch and swim any time we wanted. We tried to do something fun with the kids every day, and we did.  In between sessions of Jeff making them clean from his recliner throne.  Saturday was swimming and ice cream.  Sunday was the Karma Memorial Day BBQ ... that get's it's own post, should Tyson ever email me pictures :)   Monday was our own celebration of Decoration day... and the rest of the week just blurred.  Jeff and I had no idea what day it was half the time.  Such is the blessing of vacation. ... did I just call this a vacation?  ... aw. That's sad.  But it was a break from school and desert so I guess it counts.  So roughly, this is our week in pictures:

We introduced Olivia to her first watermelon.  Not a fan.

The other kids oinkus poinkussed the rest of it though... they loved it.  In fact, they ate the whole thing.

Storie ended up smashing hers on her forehead.  I have no idea why my sisters children are obsessed with smashing food in their faces, but this isn't the first time a plate of something has gone in their face.

Heather is the best ever and came over a few times.  She puts up with a lot.

This girl never takes a bad picture!  She was the oldest of the youngest set of Tiffany's kids... and without the 3 big kids around, shone like a bright star! It was like she knew she got to be the leader or something, because she was such a different kid. She was SO helpful... I mean, not that she isn't always, but it was just different this time.  She dressed Andie every day, she found all the lost stuff, she was so sweet.  None of the kids fought, they just played with each other and did what they were asked.  It was honestly so much fun.  Kids should never get bigger than 9. 

Like my bangs?  I had this brilliant idea to cut them myself.  I don't wanna talk about it.

Tristan understands presents.  He was super excited... we had a mini party for his birthday.

We took Chunky on a cruise...

And he really enjoyed Tristan's birthday.. party dog in the house tonight!

Tristan and Andie are self sufficient.  I had just changed their diapers and was looking for pajamas when I heard a cupboard door open... then I heard a box fall on the floor.  Then I heard crinkling.

We got caught in a rain storm...

And I got to play with this little guy.

Some friends invited us over (ok I invited us over) to go fishing.  Storie and Jeff got to go fishing with Jeff, so they were professionals.

Jeff made breakfast burritos ...

We played dress up with Miller.  ... I will say this dog is lucky to be alive.  I went joggin one morning and he escaped.  I thought, "Well, maybe I'll just let him go with me unleashed and it'll be OK." That was a dumb idea.... but he and I have done that before and he was pretty good.  Let's just say this time me and 2 other people almost drowned him on purpose.  Stupid. Dog.

And, since we only bathed the kids once while we were there I thought I'd document it.  You don't have to bathe them if they go swimming, right? 

What I am leaving out is Storie's graduation and the ballet recital... and our drive with the 5 kids back to West Texasand some vomit karma .  But we'll save that for another day.

Easter Weekend

While Jeff studied, I had plans to take Tristan to some local Easter egg hunts. But, he decided he'd rather sleep through all of them. By the time he got done with his three hour nap, the only activity left was the Apple Blossom festival, so I thought we'd see if we could catch a hayride.

By the time we got there it was far too windy for hay rides, so we opted to hang out with the super happy dog instead. She was hilarious-she would walk over to her master, flop on her bum and lean on his legs until he gave her a good scratch. She did it about every five minutes.Because of the warm weather, we missed the blossoms, with the exception of a couple branches. Bummer! Tristan didn't care. He just wanted to sit in the dirt and eat it. I talked him into going back to the building and eating apple pancakes. Much better than dirt.

I love little cafe and country stores like this one. Everything is prepared right in front of you in the kitchen, just like if you were at Grandma's.The owner bottled his own honey jars, from honey collected right there at the orchard. We had a few taste tests....

Jars and jars of homemade goodness.

Seriously. This place was so cute I wanted to stay. They even have a waterfall and gazebo to host parties and weddings.

When we left, she was setting up a tea party for a family get together. How cute is that?

But we had something really exciting to go home to. Grandma and Grandpa were coming in!!! I love my in-laws, and we just don't see them enough. Tristan took to Grandma right away.

After a beautiful Easter church service we enjoyed a leisurely stroll to see our good friends down the street.

Tristan was a little prince-he got to be held and cuddled the whole time and just loved it. Him and Grandpa have become quite good friends.

Love their fence. Love this little bird. It's the only animal that didn't fly or walk away when my camera came out. Bless his heart. It's heart. Her heart. I don't know what it is.Well, I guess this little cow stayed put for a picture, too. Bless his heart. Most of the calves have gone out to the big pasture. This winter there were probably close to fifty little calves, but as they have grown they've been shipped out to the big pasture. Summer might be lonely if we don't get any more little ones!

Tristan loves the cows. Occasionally he will moo at them, but mostly he sits in the dirt or tries to climb through the fence.

Remembering the good old ranch days... he laughed and said, "Yeah, I remember studying in the warm library in the winter and thinking, "I could get used to this!" instead of having my fingers frozen as I worked outside." We went home and had BBQ chicken salad and strawberry shortcake. I know. Not incredibly Eastery but it was delicious and a fabulous end to an even more beautiful day.