Saturday, July 5, 2008

Water Park Fun and Auntie's Birthday Party!

Brandon, my dad and my FIL went fishing in the morning. They left the house at 5am for a very full and tiring day. The rest of us got up, put bathing suits on (well, some of us) packed a delicious meal, again my sister out did herself and made panini's and wrapped them in foil and we put them in a cooler and they were warm when we ate them! We met Autumn and her boys at the water park. She was nice enough and go ahead of us and snagged us a table with an umbrella. So thoughtful and so appreciated! The girls had a blast at the Water Park along with the rest of us. I will let the pictures tell the story here.

Kisses for Uncle Jeremy

Hugs for Uncle Jeremy

A sweet treat for Pops

Fun in the water

I can't believe how much he LOVED it!

Splish, Splash!

Getting away

Water slide

Uncle Jeremy and Lorelai

Uncle Jeremy and Brady

Lexi and Auntie Rachel (They are both doing the exact same thing!)

Big sissy and Brady

Then later we ate teriyaki chicken, sticky rice, steamed cabbage and yummy oriental salad for dinner and then my sister opened gifts. We sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her and had yummy chocolate pudding cake made by my mom. My sister and I request that cake for our Birthday's every year. So yummy! My sister got Fool's Gold for her birthday so we decided to all watch it. Well, our DVD player has been sick so after some heroic measures by Brandon our DVD player still died on us. So my sister and I made a mad dash to Walmart and bought a new one. Came home Brandon set it up and we all watched a movie. My MIL made popcorn and we ate yummy gooey brownies and drooled over Matthew (well, us girls did)! We went to bed late again but again had a blast just being together. More picture to come!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Brady's Party Day and Independence Day!

This day was so much fun! We started out with 15 people waking up and hungry. My FIL made some super yummy omelets and we all got ready for a day of fun. Brandon and my Dad went over to our friends for about 2 hours lending some help with fence posts while my aunt, grandpa and FIL watched the 4 girls and Brady while we (me, my mom, sister, grandma and MIL) did some shopping. We came back and let the guys make a trip to Tri-State for fishing gear for their adventure the next day. We got ready for the BBQ and made some more yummy foods and my sister made yet another to-die-for dessert! I will have to post the recipe for you all. Here is a little description of it...chocolate brownie with small chunks of milky way bars, gooey marshmallows melted over the muffin brownie and then topped with carmel sauce. Oh, my they were so bad yet so good! Autumn and her cute little boys joined us as well as the Horney's, Sandy and Debbie. It was a full house and was so much fun. We ate yummy foods and Autumn made a delicious cake that tasted just like strawberry shortcake but better! As you can tell we weren't short on food or wonderful desserts! We watched Brady open up toys and some adorable outfits than sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY and ate cake! He wasn't sure at first if he should play with the cake or eat it. He figured it out quickly and then got cake EVERYWHERE! It took 3 people helping to get him cleaned up. My Mom was the bravest and was the one to scrub him down in the tub while I held onto him. Thank goodness kids are cleanable :) We sat around and visited and then put the girls down. They were SO tired!!! We heard the fireworks going on but we were enjoying the company of family and friends too much to leave to watch them. My brother came about 10:30pm that night. It was so good to see him.

Here are pictures from our 4th of July:


Breakfast

The girls playing Build A Bear

John Deere Boy

Happy 4th of July picture

Lorelai and Gampa James

~THE AMAZING CAKE~

"Is this all for me?"

"WhooHoo...here I go!"

"MMMM...MMMM...Good!"

"I shouldn't have eaten that last bite!"

Thursday, July 3, 2008

So much to blog about so I am going to do one post for each day! Here it goes...I know that most of this is way more info than you may care to read but this blog serves me a purpose of details I can call back on and remember, but only if I type them down :) Feel free to skim through the babblings to check out pictures :)

Family Arrives
Since my In-laws and the older girls arrived the night before I had made a quick hair appointment for that morning. I was out the door at 8:45am for a 9am appointment. After the much needed cut (a color is needed too but I didn't want it to eat up the morning) I came back home to still only 3 children. My FIL watched the older girls and Brady while my MIL and I ran to Safeway for some dinner fixins and to the health store for more waffles for Brady. We came home then out to eat for lunch. We then headed back home where my Grandparents, Mom, Dad and sister arrived. It was so nice to see them. They brought in tons of goodies and I got a sneak peek of Brady's amazing cakes my sister made and decorated. You will all be in awe! It is by far the best I have seen! And yes, I am super lucky she's my sister and that she loves my kids so much to make amazing works of art! And yes I said CAKES...one for Brady and one for the rest of us! I think she should open up her own shop so you can all have one.

After a few hours Brandon came home from a stressful days work he was put to work grilling some yummy beef ribs! We had many yummy salads to go with them. Right after dinner my aunt arrived. That night we stayed up late talking and laughing! It was great.

Here are a couple sneak peeks of the birthday bash the next day! You have to wait until later today to see more :) I know, I know, I am mean :)

Birthday Boy with his John Deere hat and tractor!


Auntie Rachel made this cake for the rest of us. Just wait until you see Brady's, it will blow you away!

It's Just TOO HOT!

I am so thankful for AC, for those of you who do not have it...I am sorry! You are welcome here anytime. I can't believe how fast it has warmed up. The first of June we were experiencing almost fall-like weather and now we have 100* temps...not so cool!


I have completely recovered from the hectic schedule of VBS last week. The girls had such a blast and so did I actually! It was nice to get to know a few people from our church better and make a connection with the little ones in the nursery. They were all super sweet and so well behaved. I am actually missing them this week. I don't miss the getting up at 4:45am, however! Brady and I are having fun hanging out. Today we did some laundry, cleaned some, went to Safeway and started going through closets in hopes of getting rid of some scrapbooking stuff and clothes of the girls and Brady's that they have out-grown. I really want to have a garage sale soon!!. Then when Daddy got home from work we went out to eat at Michael's on the Lake and it was so yummy! We also drove around Moses Lake looking at all the beautiful new homes and land around. I am pretty much ready for all our family to come visit this weekend, my sister, mom and I talked over the menu for the weekend. We won't be lacking any food...that's for sure! Makenna has called me about 3 times today. She is so cute. The older girls got to go and get their fingernails painted, eat at Red Robin and go to the Dollar Store. The twins got to have lunch with Auntie Bobo and also go to the Dollar Store. I am pretty sure they are being spoiled!



Here are some picture Auntie Christina took and then did black and white with color! So neat. Well, hope you have a great day tomorrow. I can't believe it is July already! Stay cool!

Birthday Fun With Elise

Nathan, Andi and Elise came over today to eat and give Brady a birthday present. He LOVED it! They played together and had lots of fun. Gamma Judy, Meme and Pops, his sisters and Grandma Claudia all got to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him and he thought that was pretty neat! He also had a dairy/egg free cookie for dessert. He wasn't impressed!


I'm ONE!

"Can I take you somewhere?"

Yay, it goes backwards!

Careful, that tile is fast!

Elise

Auntie Christina

Well, we have had so much fun with Auntie Christina. She came on Thursday night and left Saturday night. She was going to stay until Monday morning but her Mom had to have major surgery on her spinal cord and Christina needed to get back to be with her. We were so busy doing lots of things! Below is about 4 posts filled with Auntie Christina fun! My in-laws meet up with me in Ellensburg last night and took all 4 girls. They dropped off the twins with my Mom, Dad and Sister and they have the older girls until Wednesday when my whole family comes over for the long July 4th weekend so we can celebrate Brady's first birthday! Not quite sure what I will be doing. They have been only gone for 24 hours and I am pretty much ready. Brady and I will have to figure out what we can do! I miss the girls already but they are having so much fun with Grammas!

Haircuts!

Lexi





Makenna



Lorelai



Reagan


I totally forgot to take pictures of the new-do's before they left for Grandma's but when they come home for Brady's big b-day party I will make sure I post some. The older girls have way shorter hair than before. Makenna's is about shoulder length and Lexi's is about chin length. It looks really cute on them. Lexi has such thick hair they really had to thin it way out! The twins just got a trim and it was the first time they have had a haircut. I love the curls and was always worried to cut them off. It sure helps to have someone there like Christina too to help with the 5 of them. I could never have done this with all 5 by myself!!