Colorado with Papa

In June we went to Colorado with Papa. It was the kids' first time in the mountains. 

 We rode around in the mountains in these atv's

 Papa took us to a store that had tons of stuffed animals. REAL stuffed animals.

 Oh no! Watch out!

 The cousins had fun playing together at a park.

 Ben was a good little baby.

Chloe snuck in some daddy daughter time.

First year as a Shockdawg!

Luke played on a competitive baseball team this year.  The whole family had a blast at his games and he learned so much!

Before the season they took team pictures.  

Here is one of Luke's at bats.  Didn't do a very good job with the video camera, but I was holding the camera up over the fence and couldn't see what I was taping very well.  

This video clip is the whole inning. This was at the end of the game.  Luke was up to bat first and got a double.  Next kid strikes out, next kid grounds out.  Luke is on third with 2 outs, 2 strikes, and his teammate hits a dribbler to pitcher. It would have been an easy out at first, but the kid throws home and Luke slides under the tag. SAFE! We win!  After the game Luke said, "That was the best moment of my life."

Luke's team was the regular season champions.  They lost in the tournament, but they still had a great season!  

Coach Gray made practices extra fun by including an ice cream break. Great for team bonding on those hot summer days.  

His teammates voted him MVP!  He was so excited! His coaches gave him the speed demon award.

Luke won't be able to play with this same team next year.  They were a variety of ages and with more kids trying out this year they are splitting them into teams that best fit their age and level.  Luke turned 9 during the season and was the oldest one on the team.  He had a couple teammates that turned 6 during the season!  Luke will be jumping up a few age levels and playing on a U11/12 team next year.  It will be a challenge for him, but with the way he is improving and his love for the game, the coaches think he is up for the challenge.

Solar Eclipse

We drove up north a ways to see the total solar eclipse.  We found a nice little spot and camped out and waited for the big event. It was a VERY cloudy day and that made it a little disappointing, but there were a few breaks in the clouds so we still had a very good experience.

First Piano Recital

The kids took piano lessons this summer.  At the end of the summer they had their first recital.  They did a great job! 

Baby BEN!

I literally forgot about the blog for awhile.  I had trouble uploading photos and this mama doesn't have time for technology troubles, so the blog was on the back burner for awhile.  I'll blame it on having a baby.  BUT I got the problems figured out, so I'll try to do a little catching up!  

I had a baby in March!  Little Benjamin.  This guy surprised us! I totally thought I was having a girl.  We didn't find out he was a boy until he was born.  That was the most exciting moment of my life.  I am so glad we didn't find out. It made the suspense in the delivery room incredible! We also didn't find out Addy was a girl. That was exciting too, but it was a different excitement.  I think the difference was that when we didn't have any kids, the excitement of a baby was more exciting than if it was a boy or a girl.  #5 was different because when you have 3 girls and 1 boy I think it's natural to kind of hope for a boy to even things out. I was really trying to not hope for a boy because I love my girls so much and I knew another girl would be fun and fine and awesome too.   The moment of finding out and seeing the little guy when I thought it was a gal was just so fun! 

 Here's the proud Daddy meeting his second son.  He's such a good daddy, I'm so glad that 5 little kids get him!

 I was pretty proud too.  It was hard to take my eyes off of him.

 To find out if they had a brother or sister, the kids came into the room and saw what he was wearing.

They were so excited!  We didn't want to tell them on the phone because we wanted to see their reaction.

My little tribe.

Full hands=full heart.

My 35th Birthday

A few days ago I turned 35!  My kids always try to make it special for me.  This year they made me breakfast!  I was informed to sleep in, which I had no problem doing since I was about 12 weeks pregnant at that time!  It took them a long time to make the breakfast, but they learned some important problem solving skills in the process!  They said that when they discovered there were no eggs they started to panic. Luke ran over to the neighbor's house to see if they had any, and they didn't.  He then snuck into my room to get my phone and he called Aunt Rachelle.  Rachelle and Bren have chickens now so we get some eggs from them sometimes.  Rachelle hadn't left for work, so she brought some by.  Whew!  They didn't know what they would do without eggs because they need them for the pancakes and wanted to make scrambled eggs.  Addy make the most delicious and beautiful gluten free pancakes and Luke made some scrumptious bacon.  I'm not sure who made the eggs, maybe it was a team effort.  I was so surprised at how nicely they arranged the plate, it's better than IHOP!

Kitchen Before and After!

Since we moved in we have been slowly updating our kitchen.  Here are some before and after pictures of the progress.  We are pretty much done.  There are a few more things that we would like to do, but it will be awhile before they make it to the top of the list. 

This is a picture of the kitchen the day we put an offer on the house.  

This is what the kitchen looks like now!

Before.

Ahhh. Much better! The dishwasher is not going to run much longer.  We will eventually replace it with one that matches the fridge, but until then, we are going to let that dishwaser wash as many dishes as it can. We would also like to get new flooring throughout the house.  That won't happen anytime soon!

Office area before.

Office area after.  The tv on the wall is like a window through the garage.  Wecould not see cars coming down our driveway before, but now we can!  And I can watch the kids playing basketball or riding bikes while I'm making dinner.

I love walking into this kitchen every morning!