Trashing the camp

The little boys have been on a bit of a Tarzan kick this week. 

They love the music from the movie which I can not blame them at all. 

Can you go wrong with Phil Collins and N SYNC?

One of their favorite songs is "Trashin the Camp" 

The boys got out all kinds of pots and pans and kitchen utensils to create their own version. 

It was a little loud, but hey, when isn't it around here?

It is great "get up and dance" music. 

When we have the IPOD on Pandora and it will come on our station the whole house starts singing along and dancing like a bunch of apes. 

30 miles and counting

                            

One of Brigham's summer goals was to ride 150 miles over the summer and one of those rides was going to be 30 miles. He is always excited about being able to spend one on one time with his dad. Charles is so happy to have someone in the family to go ride with him. Brigham charted the course that they would travel on with the help of his dad.

They took off on a Saturday morning and rode to Royer Park {a park that I remember going to as a child} and then came home. Brigham used my bike and kept up with Charles great. He used the electronic odometer that Charles has and stopped right at 30.0 miles and called me to tell me that he had done it. I was so proud of him for accomplishing this huge goal. I know that I could not have done it right now. Way to go Brigham!

They were mostly on the road riding but this part is on a bike trail.

Here he is showing the 30.0 mile mark. It happened to be right in front of our neighbor's house {the Runte's}

"G" is for Grandpa's Birthday Bash

Different Grandpa reached a big milestone this week. We will not say which one it was to protect the innocent but lets just say Brooklyn was busy cutting out a lot of Sevens and Zeros.

We invited grandma and grandpa over for Chinese Night in honor of his Chinese birthplace.

Brooklyn worked hard making decorations. 

We ate Orange Chicken, Chow Mein, sticky white rice, egg rolls for dinner. 

The kids had worked on picking lots of blackberries to make Grandpa a blackberry cobbler. I told them that if they picked enough for me then I would even make homemade ice cream. It was all so yummy.

During dinner we had grandpa answer trivia questions about the 1940's. Him and grandma were a good team.

After dessert we had 2 other games. 

Guess how many Milk Duds {one of grandpa's favorite candies}were in the jar. Too bad Dad did not pay attention and ate some out of the jar before the game even started.

Then some participated in a game to see who could handle having the most Altoids in their mouth before it burned up. That one was kind of a dud since I guess that they did not get very hot. Grandpa always has a tin of Altoids at his house.

We are so lucky to have a grandpa who loves to play with the kids, read with the kids, and just hang out with them. We love you Different Grandpa! 

{Look how cool he is - Eliza is spitting up all over his hand and he is not even phased by it.}

C is for cousin's play

Most of the exciting and fun things that we have going on this summer revolve around our "ABC summer" or the summer goals that the kids have set. The cousin's play fit in both of these categories. Brooklyn's goal was to direct a play that all the cousins could be in. She found the play in a great little book that I got as a baby present with tons of summer ideas. I was really proud of how hard Brooklyn worked putting this together. She sent emails inviting all the cousins to come and participate. She printed up the script, divided out all the parts and put them in envelopes for all of them. She decided on the play, "The 3 little pigs". She had made 3 house out of cardboard and covered them in butcher paper so that the kids could help in creating the scenes.She also painted up paper plates masks for the kids to use for their costume. It was simple and so perfect. 

The kids all met at grandma's house for the afternoon to practice their parts.
All of our family met back together for picnic dinners and a show to follow.It was so fun to see all of the cousins together and helping one another with their parts.

My little pig Rex who was very concerned about his nose falling off and I guess that is what made him go cross eyed. A trick his father is unable to do.

Brooklyn helping the littlest cousins {minus babies} to practice

Grandma Alisa let us move the room all around and use the red rug to create a stage. Isabelle told grandma that we really needed to have curtains too. So grandma was quick to think of a way to accommodate with a few white sheets and some tacks.

Kaden and Emmelyne working on the house of sticks

Isabelle, Hudson and Austin working on the house of bricks.

I must admit, we have quite a few "hams" in the family. I am so glad that Aunt Jeri ran back to get her video camera and the Aunt Michelle was already prepared with hers.

Loved how the cousins "buddied up"made sure the little ones did it right. 

The heavy sticks that Hudson pretended to carry were just too heavy to stay standing. He really got into. It was a side of Hudson that we had not seen before.

The Big bad wolf coming on stage and all of the pigs in their house and one mysterious baby who wanted to be on stage too.

My 15 year anniversary present.......

After 15 years of marriage to this guy I guess that I should not have been too surprised at my anniversary gift. I will say that it was incredibly sentimental as it did have something to do with the number 15.

It was NOT a gift card for 15 massages.

It was NOT a coupon for him to do 15 loads of laundry for me.

It was NOT a ring with 15 diamonds.

No this is something WAY cooler and WAY better.

A 15 passenger Van!!!!!

I say that a little bit tongue and cheek.

I knew this was coming.

I knew that it is what he and the kids wanted more than anything.

I knew that I had been out voted on the Suburban. 

I knew that this was inevitable.

It was still a bit of a shock when you see it in YOUR driveway and realize how huge it is. 

This really is the only option for our growing family.

I can not bring myself to take a picture of the outside. 

It is mechanically sound.

I have to remind myself of that. 

I will try to forget about the wobbly drivers seat and the other cosmetic imperfections and 

be thankful that it is paid for. 

Thank you Dave Ramsey :)

Honestly the look on their faces when they get to go in the "Party Van" is priceless. They LOVE it. 

Rexton reminded us 

"Dis is a party van but it don't have no balloons in it"

This is the van with 2 full bench seats MISSING!

It was able to take 10 of us camping!

I am sure that there will be MANY years of great memories in this van. 

Thanks Honey!

S is for Slip and Slide

What else is there to do when it is 103 degrees outside and you don't have a pool?

The next best thing.

Slip and slide!

15 and counting

What a lucky girl I am.

I say girl because that is what I was when he found me.

15 years of marriage sounds old to me.

He asked me this morning were I thought that we would be in 15 more years.

My reply - we will probably be grandparents!

I thought that I should record for posterity 15 random things that I love about him

I love that when ever he comes home from work one of the first questions that he asks me is,"What can I do to make your life easier?"

I love that he likes to play HARD.

I love that he is an early riser.

I love that he knows Gerber Daisies make me swoon.

I love that he knows the words to SOOO many songs of all eras and styles.

I love that he wants a big family too.

I love that he "took care" of the chicken that lost its fight in the middle of the night out on our back porch before I even got up.

I love that crying babies do not phase him.

I love that he always has a quart jar of water with him at home and he doesn't mind if I steal drinks out of it.

I love that he "tries" to put his dirty socks in the laundry.

I love that he only eats a half a stick of gum because a whole one is just too strong.

I love how faithful he is to me.

I love that he would stop and get me a whole bag of Sonic ice for me after I had Eliza.

I love that he told me I could run to our room and shut the door anytime I needed to the week after I had Eliza and he would take care of everything.

I love that he stayed home this morning to make me french toast with strawberries and sausage.

Thank you sweetheart for 15 wonderful years - here is to many many many more.

R is for Running

I saw a great idea on a blog about having fun with your kids during the summer doing an ABC summer. An ABC summer is a different activity for each letter of the alphabet. I think that my original list was a little ambitious since I did not properly take into account that for the first month of summer I would be out of commission with having a baby.

Now I feel a bit of a rush to get thru our alphabet. I let the kids help me come up with the activities. Some are pretty simple and can be done at home with little or no planning. Others require more effort. The letters do not have to be done in order but it is our hope that we get to all of the letters.

For the letter "R" we were working on everyone running to improve their mile time. This is a test that the kids have to do at school throughout the year and so we thought that it would be good practice for them. I was exempt from "running the track" since I am only 3 weeks out from having Eliza and the 2 little boys did the best that they could..... so really it was Charles, Brooklyn, Brigham and Emmelyne who were up for the challenge. The rest of us walked the track and cheered them on as they lapped us.

We ended up at the high school track. Boy is it WAY better than when Charles and I went there. Brooklyn was a little embarrassed to be there since there was a high school aged soccer team training on the field while they ran. It did not help that I pointed out to her that she and her father were matching from the red shirts to the blue shorts and all the way down to the Nike running shoes. Charles loves it when he can embarrass her.


Here are the runners at the starting line.


Brooklyn was a good sport. Running is not her favorite thing to do but she cooked up an upbeat playlist on her IPOD and cranked away.


Brigham was unfortunately plagued with some bad side cramps and was not able to do his best. He normally likes to really run hard and fast.


Rexton did not want to be left out. He was a little discouraged in the beginning since everyone was so much faster than him but he kept looping back and running with the kids and dad when they would come around again.

R is for running continued.....

This is a boy who does not like to lose. Although he does not look ready to run a mile this is very typical Hudson attire. He laid down on the track multiple times a bit tired.


This is just after Miss Emmelyne crossed the finish line. She was the first kid to finish. This girl likes to run. She has been the winner multiple times at school when they do the Pumpkin Run or the Christmas/Holiday Run or the Jog -a Thon. Great job Emmelyne!


Here is Charles with little Rexton legs right behind him {look closely and you will see Rexton's legs}


Here is my favorite picture from the night. Yes it is blurry but that is only because he was running so fast that I couldn't get him. I love the look on his face. Look at that form. Hudson you rock buddy!

Girl's Camp 2010

I sent Brooklyn off for a week at Girl's camp. At least last year I was able to go for the first 3 days so it made it a little easier on me {she was fine - who am I kidding}.

This year the girls went to a new camp. New to her - Old school to me. They attended camp at Treasure Mountain where I spent all 6 of my Girl's camp years. It was so fun to be able to picture where she was at and get her excited for the wonderful place that it is. They have made some changes since I was there over 20 years ago. The biggest one being the addition of the "yerts" . A cross between a tent and a cabin with bunk beds and a 14 person capacity. How fun.

Brooklyn was so excited to go. She is always up for adventure. I was able to sneak in some special surprises into her daypack before she left. I had wrapped up some small surprises for her to open everyday that had a little thought with each one. When she returned home she told me how much she loved them and how fun they were for her. My heart leapt for joy that she did not think that I was too nerdy and that she was not too cool.

She had a great week. She had great leaders. She can not wait for next year.

T is for Tahoe

This year we made goals for the summer.
Partly to keep the kids busy doing great things and also to keep from hearing the words, "I'm bored."
I have yet to hear that and we are about 5 weeks into summer.
One of the goals for the 3 big kids was to swim in Lake Tahoe.

Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to share their vacation with the kids.
This was the first year in a long time that they had their timeshare during summer so the kids could go.
They had a great idea for this trip.
They took the 3 big kids for the first 3 days so they could do some more "big kid" things.
One of which was renting bikes and going on a 10 mile bike ride in Tahoe.



After 3 days they drove all the way back down the hill and switched off kids.
They picked up the 2 little boys and back up the hill they went.



The little boys had a great time just hanging out.
I can already picture them as two old men in this same position talking about the "good old days"

One of Hudson's goals was to swim without his tubie.
I got a call one morning from him.
He was so excited.

" Mom, mom, I passed off one of my goals. I swam in the pool with no tubie. Aren't you proud?"
"Wow Hudson, that is awesome."
"Yeah - I only had on my life jacket."
{I guess that I need to be more specific next time !}

I did not have the heart to tell him that it was supposed to be with out ANYTHING to help him.
One of the first things that he did when he got home was check the box on his summer goals chart.

The Tahoe trip could not have come at a better time.
It was the week after Eliza was born and Charles had just gone back to work.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for helping the kids check off the letter T!