Owen & Alyssa's Wedding!

My nephew Owen got married last Thursday and we had SO much family in town. The wedding was beautiful and it was so fun to have everyone here. We stayed up way too late, ate way too much licorice, played WAY too many card games, and chatted til we fell asleep standing up and cried (as you can imagine with so many girls). I love my family. I miss you guys already!


The whole gang...


What you can't tell here in the B&W picture is that my tongue is bright green from all the candy from the candy display! It was ridiculous!
Stephanelbow and Stepha(knee)

Tears and Cheers- First day of School

6:30 am and the alarm goes off! We get the kids dressed, brush their teeth, direct them to their chores, get their piano practicing in, make a special breakfast, pack lunches, choose snacks, (and breath). Apparently a new school year has begun and it has hit us like a storm!

All my handsome guys on the first day of school!
The two big boys ready to start a new school year! Austin is in 2nd grade and Chase is in Kindergarten!
Chase's teacher Mrs. Spagnolo. He was so excited and nervous! I was so sad and yet happy. Luckily Dave was there to help shew me out the door!Chase sitting so big in his chair! It made me so sad to think this little guy is big enough to be away from me all day long!

Goodbye Summer!

We had a super fun Summer and can't believe it is already time to say good-bye to it!! We enjoyed our time together as a family (sometimes more than others) and are sad to see the lazy days of summer come to a close!!

We are gonna miss our lazy days by the pool!
Taking crazy underwater pictures...
squirting random strangers with our water shooters...
Time outs by the pool for doing the above...
Laying out to get dry...
We are gonna miss the early morning adventures with dad. Collecting rocks by the river, watching the sunrise, and treat breakfasts!
We are gonna miss pool parties with family and friends....
Using illegal fireworks...
Kid's begging for another root beer!
And playing with out of town cousins/nieces/nephews that seem to grow too fast too soon!
Making random creations like imaginary gyms, imaginary restaurants, and having to pay real money to utilize them. (below is the imaginary gym that cost $.25 to get into. Luckily the kids gave me a job as a cashier to pay for my membership)!
We will miss our many lego and block cities that were strewn about my floor all summer. Austin was so cute to make sure to take lots of pictures.

We will miss the many forts that were made of blankets in every room in the house~ Somehow everything is more fun with a blanket draped over you!
I will miss Austin's notes to the cleaning ladies that ask nicely for them not to clean up a certain lego creation or city that he has placed somewhere in his room. Sooo funny!
And I will miss trying to come up with fun things for the kids to do so I didn't feel so guilty about the hours of television they took in this summer!! It doesn't count if they are playing with bendaroos while watching tv right? HA!Mostly I will miss these naughty little boys! Their funny jokes, their helpfulness, their excitement for mommy school, and even their oneriness!
Good bye ice cube slip-n-slide...

Good bye Summer!

My sweet sweet Addi

Addi has such a fun personality. She is so sweet and can almost always can be found with a huge smile on her face. She wakes up happy, goes to sleep happy, and is well... just happy! She is doted on by all of her brothers, and is frequently spoiled by her mom and dad. She is 10 1/2 months old and is crawling every where, into every thing, and loves her freedom. We are so happy to have her as part of our family!

Addi's real smile...

Teething on her favorite toy (mommies phone).
Her fake cry. What is hilarious is she still kinda smiles when she fake cries. She doesn't know we know she is faking. We'll let her think she has us fooled for a little while longer.
She pulls this fake cheesy smile out for the camera. If we are lucky we can catch a real one in there too!
Her "I am done cheesing it up for the camera" face.

Oh Snap!

Let's just say as a mom what is captured in this picture doesn't happen as often as it should. Wakeboarding behind a boat, not a child in sight, pretending I still got it, you get the idea. Although when I am jumping the wake with the wind blowing in my face, it seems like I am SO much higher than I am. Dang pictures. If you magnify this pic you can almost see the back of the board leave the water. Ha ha! Go me... (well kinda)

In contrast, Dave could actually catch some air. Which is pretty impressive since I think he has only wake boarded like 3 times in the last 13 years. Go baby!

Although to make me feel a little better I thought I would post a pic of him biffing it after one of his jumps. Sorry honey, love you!!