How times have changed...

Some of the boys...taking it easy!

The boys played a little b-ball. After watching this, my guess is they were all pretty sore the next day! They haven't done this in quite a while! :-)

Of course, the bubbles rarely make it too far past the machine...they all like to stand close to catch them!

More kid pix...

It's amazing how we can spend so much money on toys, and yet they would rather play with rocks and sticks outside! :-)

We had a cookout at Derrick and Angie's this afternoon, which was long overdue. Angie and I had been planning this for a few months I think, so we were all finally able to commit. It is always fun to get the kids together to basically watch them interact and see what major events will take place. Surprisingly, there were no major issues for the day and everyone seemed to get along great. We have all agreed that so much has changed recently. Just a few years ago, these cookouts would have been quite a bit different. First of all, we wouldn't be up every five seconds chasing the kids around, but even more so, we wouldn't have even thought about leaving at 9:00 for bed time! :-) I didn't get a great shot of baby Chase (Dan and Christine's), but he was there as well, even though you won't see any pictures of him. I brought our bubble machine and of course, that was a big hit!!

More Kid Pix

Daddy and her sweet angel.

All the kids were playing in the rocks...sorry Derrick. You'll need to do some cleanup once we leave!

Miss Stella driving her car!

Sweet Ava Mae in her little sundress!

I think Lily was trying to wink at me!

Kaleigh and her sassy Hannah Montana shirt (one of many)!

Another funfilled day..

Still loving the bubbles thing!

They took the bubble machine in the swingset, and had even more fun with it!

This always makes Mommy a little nervous!

Taking a cartoon break...hoping for a little nap time as well! Wishful thinking!

My three little wolves...this was them howling at me!

A little Max and Ruby time.

Kaleigh was being silly and realized the pom pom could be a wig!

Daddy was hiding under the pillow and then jumping out and scaring them...hence the expression on Parker's face!

Aunt Shell and Uncle Tim had a wedding to go to this evening, so we watched all the kids again tonight. This time, Daddy was home too so I wasn't all by myself. Mommy cleaned inside and Daddy cleaned out the garage, and since it was a beautiful day, they spent most of it outside with Daddy. What a fun day!

A fun...yet exhuasting day!

Once both of them were up, we went into Aunt Shell's bed for cartoons!

Cheers!

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out....this is out came the sun! :-)

I spent the day at Aunt Shell's today so I could watch the kids. They had so much fun together and to be honest, I did get quite a bit of work done. I had my laptop on the main floor, and could either hear them all upstairs playing in their rooms, downstairs watching cartoons, or outside on the swings. They did a great job of keeping each other company and playing together all day!! Also, as you can see, Kaleigh was helping with the continued potty training. She is a big helper. During one episode on the potty, I was sitting in Kaleigh's seat right in front of Olivia, and we were just talking, and all of a sudden, Olivia got really close to my face and said, "Mommy, I can see me in your eyes." It melted my heart, she is so sweet!

Slumber Party

No Mommy, we're not jumping off the steps! hehe

I'd say we're sitting just a little close kiddies!

Everybody loves Ty (Tim's nephew)

Mommy and Olivia spent the night at Aunt Shell's today. Since I was off on Friday and so was Shell's sitter, I was able to watch the kids. And, rather than get Olivia up early in the morning, we just spent the night. The kids thought this was pretty neat!!

Fun Sunday!

The boys went golfing again today, so the girls decided to take the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum. We knew we would be a little early, so wanted to do lunch before heading over...in other words, we knew we wouldn't be able to get them to eat once we were there. So, what better place to pass the time than McDonald's. I wonder why so many kids are overweight, but it is just so darn convenient sometimes. They do actually manage to finish a meal, even in the midst of running around like crazy people. So, it is a win win! :-) Anyway, once we let them play a while, we headed to Bloomington. We managed to still arrive a few minutes early, so decided to walk through the Corn Fest right downtown Normal. The kids enjoyed all the fun things at the Corn Fest, while Mommy and Aunt Shell enjoyed watching all the people. Kaleigh had her face painted before we left as well. So, then we made our way to the Children's Discovery Museum. What a wonderful place...the kids have so much fun and there is really so much for them to do. We spend a fair amount of time on the first floor at the water table, and also the third floor in the painting room. I think if these were the only two attractions at the place, they would have just as much fun! So, we spent a good few hours at the museum before meeting up with the boys!! Since they convinced us to let them go golfing again, they said they would take the kids home and we could go shopping or whatever we wanted. Rather than do that, we treated ourselves to a movie and had a nice peaceful afternoon! It turned out to be a great day...we didn't get any more work done at the house...but it seemed productive nonetheless! The pictures for the day are listed below (3 posts).

On our way...

Miss Olivia Grace

Mr Parker Adam

We stopped to take a break in the shade, and to enjoy our popcorn and snow cone!

Oh yeah, the ISU table was giving out pom poms, which were a huge hit!

Children's Discovery Museum

Such a big girl climbing the rock wall...she hadn't been able to do this until today!

Olivia loves puzzles, so this combined two of her favorite things...puzzles and music!

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

Kaleigh loves to hear herself sing, so she was able to record herself and watch it back on the screen. She was having a ball!

One of Kaleigh's favorites in painting...she is so stinkin' creative!!

More Museum Pix

This is the favorite...the water table!

Making some wonderful music together!


They had to take turns checking each other out at the grocery store!

Not sure what to call this contraption, but they stood here and watched this for quite some time!

This is definitely a close second...they love to paint on the walls!

And finally...finish up the afternoon with some legos!

Back to Aunt Shell's

Sweet Kaleigh Ryan with Miss Olivia.

This was a new dance move they came up with....

...monkey see, monkey do!!

Olivia was taking a ride in the monster truck!

Break time!

After the Eureka Reaganfest this morning, we went back to Aunt Shell's cause the boys were meeting us there after golfing to cook out. We spent the evening there and just had a great time watching the kids, as we normally do!

Eureka Reaganfest

Our kidlets ready to go!!

Brian had a booth for the school Dare program, so that was a big hit. We got lots of coloring books, stickers, pencils, and candy!!! Thanks Brian!

After the Reaganfest, we were going to Aunt Shell's for the afternoon, so we told the kids to line up at the door!! It's amazing that sometimes they do actually mind what we say!

Since the guys were going golfing this morning, Aunt Shell and the kids came over to go to the Eureka Reaganfest. They have several booths and at the school, we were planning to go to the blow up slides and things they had, but unfortunately we were too late. Once we finally made it to the school, it looked like the rain was coming, so we went home to wait it out and then they have already deflated them. So, maybe next year. But we did take the kids to the park afterwards for a little while once the sun came back out! They had a good time just the same, adn were pooped when we got in the car to go to Aunt Shell's!