Our Annual Cabin Weekend for Labor Day

It was a lot of fun as usual.  The kids were EXHAUSTED afterward.  Too much fun to be had outside and not enough naps or night sleeping.  :)

They did the usual 4-wheelin' and mule rides.  Lots of fishing again.  They caught PLENTY of fish for the whole family.  Nothin' like spending a weekend with about 20 other family members.  It really is fun and every family should do it.

As does every kid her age every year, Chelsi loved the singing bass.

Kae and Grandpa.

 

Tommy, Nicole and Kae.....btw the baby came just days later.  Phew!



Fishin' fun with dad.



No, we didn't eat this one.



Help, I can't get out!



Time to eat the fish!!  YUM YUM!



And some fruit for the girls.



What a great time.  I love times like these with the kids.

Pictures from a VERY girlie birthday party

Kaelin told me after everyone left that she really liked her birthday.  She 'especially' liked the makeup and hair part.  I figured so.  She's such a girlie girl.

First her friend K came over and they did a little swimming.

Then they had McDonald's for lunch and it was on to getting their hair and makeup done.  My cousin and aunt M were so kind as to fix hair for the girls.  'Cole was even 9 months pregnant, but she was willing to do it anyways.  (Thanks 'Cole!)  The girls had a blast (the little girls anyways).

The table (aka Salon).

Happy Birthday Binah!

I can't believe my girlie is 5!  I know it's not her birthday here yet, but in Korea it is.

I'm still in awe of the unselfish sacrifice your birthmother made.  I pray she's at peace with her life, happy and healthy.  I pray that when she thinks of you, she knows deep in her heart that you are loved very much.  

We are blessed to have you in our lives.  You helped complete our family.  I hope you always know just how much we all truly love you.  You are a beautiful girl with a beautiful smile and I imagine you got that beauty from your 'Korea mommy'.

Happy birthday big girl!

Mom

BUMMER! (Amy V in FL this is for you)

I walked in from outside tonight and noticed a small tear at the bottom of my shorts.  I had to say something to my husband.  I'm pretty bummed about it.  I love these shorts.  I've had them for 15 years!  Yes 15 years.  Me, Amy and Sonya bought a pair of matching Umbros right before our Senior trip and I still have mine.  A little faded from chlorine pools, etc., but fine otherwise.

I can't believe I'll be saying goodbye.  8'(

Anyone up for an evening swim?

With 100+ temps we wait until evening to swim.  The water's more like warm bath water than a pool.

Tonight we went out after church and it was feeling just right.  Before the summer ended and we took the pool down, I wanted to get some video/pictures of Chelsi now that she prefers her waterwings to floaties.  Brian was sweet enough to do it for me since I was already in with her.  Anyways, about mid-July when we really were able to spend time in the pool she saw her brothers and sister swimming and jumping around and the most she saw was Kaelin with waterwings.  She insisted on wearing them and has been swimming around ever since.  She's just like her brother Chase.  He loved to swim with wings at this age.  Nope, not Cole and Kae.

Watch Chelsi Swim

Dad’s trying to talk her into becoming

a baseball fan.  He's got her liking doing 'Charge' now.

Click Here for Video

Cinderelli, Cinderelli

That was all I could think of as I could hear the boys working away in the kitchen, while the rest of us played and watched tv. 

The boys decided NOT to follow the rules today.  They just made a HUGE mess in the house.  They didn't clean up after themselves at all today and the house was a wreck!  We don't give them lists of chores.  We just want them to clean up after themselves.  Well, they chose not to and they received discipline for it.  It was actually pretty funny in the end.  Here's them doing some of their punishment chores.

Click Here for Video

SURPRISE!!!

We (i.e. Chelsi) got a great surprise in the mail early this morning.  Yeah, I ordered those YoungHee dolls for the girls for Christmas and they arrived this morning, but that wasn't it.  Cole brought me a package and all I could think was "I didn't order anything else".  I looked and it was from Chelsi's adoption agency.  I opened it and it was a gift from her foster mother and a note.

Well, I read the note to Chelsi outloud before we opened the gifts and I couldn't even get through it.  It was SO touching!  It was so short, but so sweet.  She is so loved, all across this world!  I'd post what it said, but that is for my Chelsi to have and treasure.

Here are some pictures of the gifts.  (She sent the boys some socks too, but they ran off as soon as they put them on.)

They passed!!

All three of our older ones are in swimming lessons and they all 3 passed!  I can't believe Cole's already going to be in Level 5!  He just started lessons for the first time last summer.

I'm so proud of all 3!!!

Take me out to the baaalllgaamme…..

Finally, we took the kids to their first ballgame.  We'd been saying we'd do it since at least last year, so this year we got none other than bleacher seats.  And great ones at that.  Sure it was over the visiting team's bullpen, but it was VERY close to the field.

Started out as a boring game.  The Brewers were up and there was almost no action.  Then it POURED!  It felt really good though.  The kids thought it was fun to sit in the rain and watch a ballgame.  Then the game picked up.  They tied and then they won it.  By the end of the game Kae was yelling 'charge' and Chelsi loved it when the did the "clap your hands".  Chelsi even slept part of the game.  We all had a good time.  Gonna have to do that more often.

Most fun for the kids.....running the bases after the game.  Nothin' like being on the Cardinal's field and running the actual bases. 





My favorite.....

















And a lady at the game was nice enough to take a family pic for us in return for a family picture of them.  We seldom get me in any pictures because I'm always behind the camera.  Not that I'm complaining, but sometimes it's nice to remind the kids that I am part of the family.  :)

Float Trip 2007

I swear these things get to be more fun every year!  This is our family.

It was Kae's first and she had a great time!  We got on the water about 10:00 and I think we were back about 3:00 or so.  We had some nice long stop breaks in between so the kids could stretch their legs and the adults could soak and cool off.

We had about 8 kids on the trip this year and they all had a good time.  Even the newest little ones.

Here are some pictures:

The boys getting ready to leave.



Cole rode with his Godfather and his wife. (hope you don't mind guys)

 

Kae and Chase road with us.  (Yes dad smokes those nasty Swishers when he hunts and fishes.)



BREAK TIME!! 



After the float trip we retired to Jay and Shannon's for the annual frog/fish fry.  YUM!!!!

Happy 4th!!!

We didn't spend the 4th of July like most folks.  It doesn't work well to have a 10 yo, 7 yo, 5 yo and 2 yo out past 9:00 to watch firewords on a weeknight.  We took it easy that day and spent the day in the pool and got out the 2 year old waterslide that's been in the closet, still in the original package.  That's what happens when you get something on clearance at the end of the season and forget constantly.  Needless to say, our kids will get to see firewords.  We're going floating this weekend with the older 3 and afteward we'll go to a fish/frog fry and shoot off the fireworks the.  The kids CANNOT wait! 

Here are our action pics from the fourth.



















 Chelsi's been having a true sense of wanting to grow up a little too fast....at least for mommy.  She wants to wear goggles like big brothers and sister and now she wants waterwings on and lets go to swim by herself.  What happened?!