warm weather fun part 3 :: randomness

The 'hood:

This is Ethan - one of our neighborhood friends and Emi's potential Prom date in 2025.  He wears wife beater t-shirts, converse sneaks with flames on them and offered Emi a 'super slow ride' on his 4x4.  Her face pretty much says it all.  

Pinterest Camps


We've all been 'pinning' stuff on Pinterest like crazy.  Friday afternoons we get together and have 'Pinterest Camps' - science experiments, art and fun all based off stuff we found on Pinterest.  Good times.

 spray painting with water guns.

 ready for water balloon fun.


The Sunds: 


One of our favorite families, The Sunds, are working hard to adopt a baby girl from China.  A couple weeks ago they had a mega yard sale and raised over $1000.  Emi helped Ky out with the lemonade/baked goods stand.

 could you resist these two?

 emi made these binoculars in vbs camp the week prior.  they were a huge hit.  she's looking for customers.

 blurry cell-phone picture.


VBS Camp:


Our first VBS camp and first time at St. Gabes where, if we win the lottery, our kids will go to school. Camp let out at noon so we would head to the playground for picnic lunches and fun.

Ms. Betsey's


Our dear friends, the Macholz, have an awesome pool in the backyard of their new home.  The 3 mamas had 7 kids in that pool and not one drowning.  We ordered pizza and for a good 20 minutes (long enough for the mamas to have a glass of wine) all you heard were calls for "more please!"  Holy starving children.

 from left - maisie, emi, andres, javier, kyrie, brooks, and liza.

 Time Out:


These next two pictures are super blurry from my phone but had to document.  Emi was eating a snack on Monday after gymnastics camp (animal crackers).  Javier, who normally doesn't bother Emi (Andres does enough of that for him) got in her face, snatched the crackers from her and overturned the plate, spilling them on the floor.  Normally, E's super-good about not reacting (or 'over-reacting') when the boys bug her but she was in a mood (and tired, and, apparently super hungry) and she kinda lost her mind.  She screamed at him and then, *gasp* kicked him in the leg, earning herself a 'time out'.  She was screaming and crying the whole time she went to sit and then this...

 checking on their ñaña

and then this...

he sat next to her and gave her kisses until she stopped crying. *tear*

warm weather fun part two :: yellow pride

The boys are currently doing this...

in the car in the garage after being at the Y all day long (thankfully it's cool enough and there's a good breeze and yes, I'm right by the garage door so I can hear them).  Earlier though, they were wide awake and happy at the pool...

like emi's scowl?  she does that on purpose.  javier is saying 'cheese' in this picture.  also, go ahead and notice my children are eating cheetos out of the bag.  also, javier passed out with a lollipop in his mouth.  i took it out.  i have 3 kids 4 and under - don't judge.  tomorrow they'll all be eating kale and quinoa. 

 scoping out the scene.

We stayed at the Y well past our usual time because Sissy had her next-to-last swim lesson with Ms. Helene.  Unfortunately she's inherited two not-so-great traits from her parents.... she's not a strong swimmer, and she often quits when things are just a bit too hard (you can decide which trait she gets from which parent).  Last week she took the "yellow band" test and stopped about 1/2 a foot before she had to saying she was tired, it was too hard, and she didn't want to do it anymore.  I'm not proud, but I bribed her with pretty much anything her heart desired (most asked for?  a dollar hot fudge sundae from  Old McDonalds) and today...

Most of her friends are already "green" bands at the Y and on swim teams and such but for Emi this was the equivalent of winning a gold medal in swimming at the Olympics. She walked out of there telling everyone... the front desk ladies, Mr. Russ, random 20-somethings walking in to work out "Yellow band! Yellow band! I got a yellow band!" (This basically means she doesn't have to be within arm's reach any more and I think she can go down a slide or two, but I'll have to check on that).

still cheese-ing in the car.  she's already asked me if she can sleep with it on.


Bien puchis!!!  Mama and Papa are super-proud of you!!!

beach trip 2012

I was reminded the other day (and not to gently, I might add) that I have a blog and have failed to post anything in weeks.  Oops.

Memorial Day weekend we went on our annual beach trip to OIB with our friends the Cankurtaran's.  The trip was as delightful (and relaxing) as any trip can be with 5 children 4 and under.  In all honesty no one was injured, the adults managed to relax (a bit), the kids played together beautifully, and everyone made it back rested, tanned (and in some cases, peeling), full, and ready to start the summer.

Now, prepare to be bombarded by pictures...

beach snack time... not one picture of the three of them without everyone's mouth full of food.

playing hair salon at the Ocean Isle Ice Creamery

as you can see the beach was pretty crowded on sunday... fortunately we had a prime spot.

the Biscuit eating a biscuit.

post-beach exhaustion.  the 3 of them fell asleep about 5 minutes after this picture was taken.


A great start to the summer!