"Reality"... everyone has their own. I'm trying to shine some light on the real, not the ideal. Real is not neat and pretty. Real is messy, and crazy, but can be funny and wonderful too. This is our reality what is yours?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Vivi's First Birthday!
My baby is one! As soon as she turned the big 1 she decided she wanted to be independent. She started walking and has never looked back..... literally she never looks back to see where I am or if I'm following. She is off on her own, and I am running after her trying to keep up and minimize the damage of her wake. Here are some pictures of her birthday! Thanks to all of our family for coming over, and thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law for making the cake! It was fabulous!!!
Happy Birthday my sweet Vivi! Your smile brightens my day- I love you!
Happy Birthday my sweet Vivi! Your smile brightens my day- I love you!
Friday, October 15, 2010
10 Year Anniversary
Shawn and I had our ten year anniversary in May of this year! We decided to celebrate by going back to our Honeymoon site Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in July! My mom watched our kids and we were off for 5 days! We had a blast! Here are some pictures of our wonderful trip!
On the beach in front of our hotel!
Shawn boogie boarding! We loved doing this!
Eating a yummy all inclusive dinner!
The flea market in downtown PV
Downtown Puerto Vallarta
Downtown again :)
Downtown Puerto Vallarta!
Me in front of our hotel (the Riu Palace Pacifico) It was a beautiful hotel!
The pool at night!
Shawn at our hotel!
Me at our hotel
View from our room!
On the beach in front of our hotel!
Shawn boogie boarding! We loved doing this!
Eating a yummy all inclusive dinner!
The flea market in downtown PV
Downtown Puerto Vallarta
Downtown again :)
Downtown Puerto Vallarta!
Me in front of our hotel (the Riu Palace Pacifico) It was a beautiful hotel!
The pool at night!
Shawn at our hotel!
Me at our hotel
View from our room!
Claire's 7th Birthday Party!
I still can't believe Claire is 7 years old. Don't you totally remember being seven? It is the age I can look back on and actually remember things. Before that age it's a bit hazy. Claire had a Luau party. I thought with her birthday being at the end of June we could do some sort of swim/sprinkler/slip and slide Luau thing. Unfortunately it was unusually cold and rainy on the day of her party so we had to change plans. We also decided to invite all of her friends..... I may need to capitalize ALL. We invited 25 people and 20 came. I imagined only half would come so I was surprised. Claire loved it, but I was slightly overwhelmed. Luckily my sister in-law stayed to help me and Shawn!!! So, here are my make shift plans and some pictures-
I love you Claire Bear I hope you had a great birthday!
When the kids arrived we gave them each a lei, and took their picture in a cut out of a surfer and hula dancer.
While we waited for everyone to get there the kids jumped on the tramp and the bounce house.
Then we had a relay race. It was girls against boys. We set two suit cases in the middle of the floor. Each was packed with sunglasses, a hat, flip flops for both, and a Hawaiian shirt for the boys and a grass skirt for the girls. We had a giant blow up palm tree a few feet away from the suitcases, so the object of the game was to run to the suitcases and dress yourself for the trip to Hawaii, then quickly run and touch the palm tree like you actually went to Hawaii, then run back to the suitcase, take everything off and then go and tag the next person in line until everyone had a turn. If I remember correctly I think the girls won! It was so hilarious to see the kids doing this. I loved watching them!
Next we opened presents (which took a mega long time to open all of them) and had cake.
Then we went outside and gave everyone a beach ball. We wrote every ones name on their own beach ball and then played a game. I don't really have a name for it, but we got a big blanket and everyone put their ball in the middle and grabbed a part of the blanket and then they would start throwing the balls in the air until only one remained. The remaining ball/person was the winner! It was pretty fun! We played that a few times and then the kids just played until their parents came to get them.
Claire got a bike for her birthday from us. Here is a picture of her on her birthday. We ended up replacing this with another bike a month later because she blew a tire out one day and it ended up being cheaper to buy a new bike than replace a white tire (did you know they don't sell white tires in the store)- you have to special order them. In the end she did get a better bike (I'll have to take a picture of it).
My cutie pie 7 year old!
I love you Claire Bear I hope you had a great birthday!
When the kids arrived we gave them each a lei, and took their picture in a cut out of a surfer and hula dancer.
While we waited for everyone to get there the kids jumped on the tramp and the bounce house.
Then we had a relay race. It was girls against boys. We set two suit cases in the middle of the floor. Each was packed with sunglasses, a hat, flip flops for both, and a Hawaiian shirt for the boys and a grass skirt for the girls. We had a giant blow up palm tree a few feet away from the suitcases, so the object of the game was to run to the suitcases and dress yourself for the trip to Hawaii, then quickly run and touch the palm tree like you actually went to Hawaii, then run back to the suitcase, take everything off and then go and tag the next person in line until everyone had a turn. If I remember correctly I think the girls won! It was so hilarious to see the kids doing this. I loved watching them!
Next we opened presents (which took a mega long time to open all of them) and had cake.
Then we went outside and gave everyone a beach ball. We wrote every ones name on their own beach ball and then played a game. I don't really have a name for it, but we got a big blanket and everyone put their ball in the middle and grabbed a part of the blanket and then they would start throwing the balls in the air until only one remained. The remaining ball/person was the winner! It was pretty fun! We played that a few times and then the kids just played until their parents came to get them.
Claire got a bike for her birthday from us. Here is a picture of her on her birthday. We ended up replacing this with another bike a month later because she blew a tire out one day and it ended up being cheaper to buy a new bike than replace a white tire (did you know they don't sell white tires in the store)- you have to special order them. In the end she did get a better bike (I'll have to take a picture of it).
My cutie pie 7 year old!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hillgroves visit!
We were lucky this summer, at the beginning of June, to have our friends from Washington come down and stay with us for about 5 days. We have kids around the same age so it's fun to see them all together. Jessica and I have known each other from way before we had kids too, so it's amazing when we get together and see all of the kids we have between us now (seven kids).
We went swimming, to the Lady bug release at our gardens, to This Is The Place park, to Gateway..... and now I'm forgetting everything we did, but we had fun! Here are some pictures of their visit. I can't wait to go up to Washington and visit them as well as other Washington friends- I miss you!
Most of us on the train at This is the Place park (Calvin and Justin were at an art show and Shawn is taking the picture, and Vivi is asleep in the stroller).
Will and Ollie
Claire and Vivian (they have a Vivi in their family too!)
Will, Ollie, Vivian, and Claire
We went swimming, to the Lady bug release at our gardens, to This Is The Place park, to Gateway..... and now I'm forgetting everything we did, but we had fun! Here are some pictures of their visit. I can't wait to go up to Washington and visit them as well as other Washington friends- I miss you!
Most of us on the train at This is the Place park (Calvin and Justin were at an art show and Shawn is taking the picture, and Vivi is asleep in the stroller).
Will and Ollie
Claire and Vivian (they have a Vivi in their family too!)
Will, Ollie, Vivian, and Claire
Monday, August 16, 2010
Will's 4th Birthday
Transformers invaded our home for Will's b-day! We had so much fun. He had a transformer cake. We had a giant transformer poster that all of the kids got to take their pictures in front of. We went on a scavenger hunt to find the "all spark" (pinata), and we had an autobot/decepticon bounce house! Here are some pictures!
Freckles
The other day Will was watching TV and there was this cute little girl with red hair on TV and she had cute freckles all over her face. Will was so excited, he said "That girl is pretty. She has spots all over her face!". I laughed so hard. In his eyes freckles are just spots.
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