Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

So B's birthday was in early June. But she wanted to wait to have her party at the beach with her friends. SUCH an awesome idea that made it really easy on mom. Like her big sister, B does not like cake. So..we had vanilla ice cream in the shape of a cake. B wanted a beach theme, so we did a sand castle cake with "Nilla Wafers crushed on the top. (note to self: this was awesome tasting!). For activity, the kids decorated beach balls (thanks Oriental Trading). Nice, easy, low key party!



Big Man's 3rd birthday is next week. But we are going to be out of town for a family thing, so we had a party this weekend. Again, very low key. Big Man loves Mickey Mouse and he loves bagels. So we had a breakfast party with bagels and cream cheese, followed by Mickey cake. Big Man was very happy!



Those are our summer birthday parties. So nice and easy. I love that to date we have been lucky and able to do simple home things for the kids!

On Two Wheels!

So much for not neglecting this blog...anywho.

K took a big step in the last few weeks - riding her bike WITHOUT training wheels! YAYY!

First, here is her on her way-to-small old bike, doing it.

Then, this is her taking off on her new (bigger) bike:



And if that isn't enough proof, here is a nice video:


sorry this is sideways, forgot to do it on the FLIP.

What Will You Remember (or Regret?)

I have a friend who is doing an amazing trip right now. This family of four packed up the RV and is trekking across the country from DC to Montana and back for 6 weeks. I am sooo jealous. She (and the kids) are posting regularly from the trip and it sounds just amazing. They have seen so many things - amazing waterfalls, mountains, streams, lakes, and TONS of animals - moose, bison, all kinds of deer and goats, bears, etc. They have been to lots of National Parks and seen so much. They are also smart and put plenty of time in for the kids to play at the campsite pools and miniature golf, etc. Such an awesome trip.


Now those who know me know I am NOT a camping type of girl. BUT - I have done a one-week vacation in an RV (albeit with adults - not kids) and really enjoyed it. For a trip like this there is really no other way! I don't know if DH and I can get 6 weeks off in a row - but I am sure we can get 4 weeks. In the next few years we are going to come up with a way to do it. DH has never seen Grand Canyon. Maybe we fly to Arizona, and rent an RV there. Do Grand Canyon, Sedona, Yosemite? Hmm....

The quote my friend put on her blog is “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

I think she is right.

19

Number of "mommy"'s from the backseat during a 20 minute drive to work. The best part is that if Daddy answers he just completely ignores him as if he didn't hear him. Example:

Big Man - "mommy? what kind of car is that?"
Daddy - "its a convertible, buddy"
Big Man - "mommy? what kind of car is that?"
Mommy - "a convertible"
Big Man - "oh"

You would think with only one child in the car for the drive in the morning (the girls are at daycamp), it would get better. Wrong. It gets worse. My favorite is this:

Big Man - "mommy?"
Mommy -
Big Man - "mommy?"
Mommy -
Daddy - "Yeah, buddy?"
Big Man - "mommy?"
Daddy - "mommy's busy, buddy, what do you want?"
Big Man - "no! mommy"
Big Man- "mommy?"
Mommy -
Big Man - "mommy?"

Neglected

Sorry, I just have fallen out of my routine and am finding it VERY hard to get back. I exercised today for the first time in almost a week. It seems like summer started I have had a hard time focusing. My house has gone to pot and so have I!! Hopefully today is the first day to getting it all back..incuding this blog! Sorry I have been so bad at posting- and I have lots of fun stories to share including more beach adventures (7 women in a motorboat nobody knows how to drive, fun in the waves, birthday parties, etc) and other stuff (camp fun, learning to ride a bike without training wheels, etc).

Will get back to regular posting...I promise!

This is Where my Husband Divorces Me

So we had a family variety show at our beach week. The men were less excited about said event. But they all participated. Here is our performance. I love how Big Man gets into it!

Back from the Beach

What do you get when you stick 14 adults and 14 children in one house with 10 bedrooms? LOTS OF FUN!!! We had such a great time on our beach week. The weather was amazing, the kids all got along, the house was great (although carpeting of any kind to absorb sound would have made it perfect), the ocean was calm (with enough waves to allow playing), and the food and drink just kept coming. It was such a great time. The only thing it lacked was sleep. With 14 kids all sleeping on the same floor (ok, the baby was in her parents room upstairs), as soon as one is up - they are all up. And it seemed like by 6am they were all barreling through the house. They did go to bed around 8pm, but the parents were all up much past that. Meant that this morning- when I went back to work, and woke up early to work out - I actually was sleeping in. ;)

Seriously, it all worked out so great. Each family was in charge of one dinner, one happy hour, one kids activity and one cleanup night. Was like clockwork. Even the family variety show was great. Will post more this week about the fun we had, but here are a few pics.