Gone Fishin'

On Tuesday my dad took Jake and Dallin fishing at Pemberton Park...one of my favorite places on the Eastern Shore! They had a great time and my dad took some great pictures! Dallin caught four fish!!!

Ocean City Boardwalk & Ripley's Believe or Not Museum

The Gang...

The Pier...

Beach Toys...

"We've got our tickets"...

Anticipation...

For Good Reason...

"Daddy Shark..doo doo doo doo..."

The Cage...

Ten Cow Wife...

"Wait...this is not our daddy..."

After five hours alone with five kids...

Jeff thought they all deserved a little torture...

Sharp Shootin' Cousins...

Bumper Cars...

Elizabeth and Claire brave the dreaded "Caterpillar..."

Jake's First Big Roller Coaster...

Cousin Fun Time!

Building Castles...

Burying Each Other...

Bathing Beauties...

Cheesy Grins...

Dirty Babies...

Daddy Time...



Horses...


Memories...

Sand Racing...

Fire Building...

Moon Rising...Last Swim...

Weenie Roasting...

Goodnight...

The Fourth

My sister Cyndi and Ben came with her kids last Thursday to help us celebrate the fourth! We did 2 days in a row at the beach and had a great time...That was until fire works time.

On Saturday we did the beach early and came home to have a bbq in our backyard with all the family and my friend Ethel. We got some fireworks and sparklers and were ready to party! Unfortunately right as the kids were about to start their sparkler fun my sister Cyndi fell and hit her head...hard. What ensued was a lot of blood...A LOT, and an ambulance ride. A firetruck even showed up! It was my first time having to call 911. The kids were a mess. Although, I'm not sure if they were worried about Cyndi or sad that the fireworks had to be put on hold. In the end, Cyndi had staples put in her head, and was sent home around 2 am. Thankfully she did not have a concusion. She is doing much better now, but it was a very scary night.

I am still angry at my habiscus pot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time! I give it a piece of my mind every time I walk past it!

Cyndi decided to stay here to recover, Ben went home with two of their kids (Elise and Lori) on Sunday and left two behind (Jake and Claire). I'm not sure how much actual recovery time she had but I was so happy she was here! It only took me three tries to get over feeling sick when I had to put medicine on the staples in her head.

On Monday Jeff took ALL the kids to Ocean City to the boardwalk by himself...what a great guy. They had a ton of fun at the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, (we had a free family pass) riding a few rides, playing in the sand, and scarffing up some ice cream! My nephew Jake said it was the best day of his life so far!

Last night before Cyndi left, everyone surprised me with an impromptu birthday party...my birthday is Saturday. They all pitched in and got me a new camera wooo hooo! It is water proof, sand proof, shock proof, and it's orange. I love it, we haven't had a camera that actually works in a year, it was very needed. Thanks everyone.

Summer is slipping by so fast.

Ooooppps.

I just realized that I never posted about my glorious weekend away from my children at the end of May...is it too late???

Well...if I don't get around to blogging my own version you can read Leslie's account here....

http://mingofamily.blogspot.com/2009/06/15-year-reunion.html

Which I find very accurate!

A House Full of Fuddy Duddies!!!

Yesterday we had an impromptu mini family reunion! My Aunt Donna had come down to my Grandmother's house with my Uncle David, who is visiting from St. George. I have been looking forward to seeing my uncle, who was in a horrible motorcycle accident last summer. My mom and dad were there too! Since my Grandmother is almost 90 and cannot really handle ALL of my kids at once these days I decided to bring over just Audrey to see everyone. (Emily was napping and the older ones would have fought over who could come.)

Poor Audrey. When we walked in the door she almost went into cardiac arrest. This is what she saw...

A room full of old people whom she barely knows .

A VERY old person with tubes coming out of her nose hooked up to a huge oxygen machine.

And....

A man with only one leg.

I'm pretty sure that she thought I was leading her to her death. She immediately started to shake and then ran to me crying...she would not let me put her down for a half an hour.

This is not like Audrey at all...she is usually our little social butterfly. Eventually she did warm up to everyone and was as happy as a clam. My Grandmother convinced her that the tubes were not that big of a deal and before you knew it she was reading Audrey books and they were cuddling together. Pap Pap (My Grandmother's husband) won her love by giving her pizza and her very own can of root beer with a pink straw. And by the end of our visit she was completely convinced my Uncle David had super powers, and wanted to know if she could take off her leg too!!!!

I was so happy to see everyone. I LOVE my aunts and uncles. I could not believe how great my Grandma is doing, she will be 90 this January and seemed healthier than I have seen her in a while. My Uncle David just amazed me!! He is walking so wonderfully for someone with one leg...his prosthetic is so cool!!! I always love seeing my Aunt Donna, and wish we all lived closer!

What Kinda Mom am I?

Today?

Have you seen the movie Matilda?

I think I am more like Mrs. Trunchbull...

"To the chokey."

Maybe tomorrow I'll be more like Mrs. Honey.

Last Days of School

I have been slacking when it comes to posting pictures lately! I have a million to share. I cannot promise that they will be in chronological order, but I promise they will be pictures that were worth the wait. Have I ever blogged about how cute my kids are? Hee hee!

Here are some from Dallin's Kindergarten graduation and Elizabeth's 1st grade graduation, and Anna's 5th grade graduation. They made a HUGE deal out of it. They had a Hollywood theme, and the kids had to dress up extra fancy and walk the "red carpet." Anna was awarded the Presidential Academic Achievement Award, which she is still talking about to people. "Obama signed my award!" It's hard to believe Anna will be in middle school next year!

Dallin and his teacher Mrs. Jackson...love her!

Dallin singing the "J" song!

Elizabeth and Mrs. Williams...Awesome teacher!

Anna thought the scarf made her seem more glamours!

And the award goes too.......

Anna and her teacher, Mrs. Boothe.

Anna throwing up peace signs with her good friends!

This last one is my favorite...big brother showing Audrey around the school!

BuuuuSssstEd!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anna has become aware of my blogging hobby. Jeff gave her the web address to this blog and she proceeded to read all my posts.

And then she got to this one...

http://nicole-rogers-family.blogspot.com/2009/05/so-not-ready-for-this.html

Oh she was soooooo mad at me. I tried to explain to her that this is our family journal, a way to keep memories fresh and keep family updated, but she just could not get past the fact that there were comments from people she did not know.

I may have to reconsider my blogging techniques, she has me bookmarked!

Girls....girls, girls.

It's a girl.
It's a girl...maybe the tech read the ultra sound wrong.
It's a girl...sigh.
It's a girl...it's okay really.
It's a girl...really, I'm just fine with that.
It's a girl...at least I have super cute girls.
It's a girl...Dallin will always be extra special special cuz he's the only boy.
It's a girl...Dallin will always get to have his own room.
It's a girl...Dallin will be super excited about this when sisters start bringing home cute friends.
It's a gril....at least I have tons of girls clothes and won't have to buy any new baby boy clothes.
It's a girl...sister reunions will be tons of fun.
It's a girl...maybe this one will finally have tons of red hair.

The only part I feel truly bad about is that I feel bad. That everyone is patting me on the back telling me it's okay...don't worry, girl's are AWESOME. If it was a boy, we would be getting high fives, and bubble gum cigars, and way to go Jeff's!

I know deep inside how special these little girls are, and I know when I'm holding her in my arms, I will never, ever wish for any other baby then just her. I know that Heavenly Father is sending us this girl for a reason, and I know that I am so very blessed to have the opportunity to raise little mommies in the making.

So no more...."ohhhh, that's to bad, poor Dallin, poor Jeff...all those raging hormones".

I'll just take some "congratulations", please, and a few "you are the luckiest mommy in the world to have so many beautiful girls"!