My 12 year old

 My lettuce eating...yes just handfuls of lettuce!

 Camp going....

 hamburger cupcake and sugar cookie fry eating...

Other requests for food for his special day:

chocolate chip pancakes

mac and cheese

potato soup

a carb loving boy!

 birthday boy!

Love you!

End of softball 2012

Team & coaches for the older two minus one player. 

#5 was VERY upset he didn't get a trophy too.  I will have to keep this in mind and get him something special the end of the next game season.  After all he does go to all the practices and games-such a trooper!

ps In this picture he is holding a trophy we were taking home to give to the missing player from the older kids team.  Him being able to hold that was such a lifesaver from a complete and total meltdown!!

New summer experiences

#3 getting on the bus for day camp.  He had a blast once he realized he did know other kids going.

 Plus there is that cool fact that he got to ride a bus!  My kids always love an excuse to catch a bus ride:)

 The week really wore him out but he had a great time.  Thankful for all the staff and parents that helped out for the week!

#5 had his first overnight away from Mom & siblings.  #5 and cousin C  had the grandparents to themselves for a few days.  Report back to me was #5 didn't ask about us at all, just enjoyed his stay.  #4 was missing his brother a lot though and couldn't wait for him to come back home!

Staying cool in Missouri

  Involves water play

 At the zoo for #3, before another child ran into the birthday boy and knocked him over.  An outing is never an outing until blood is involved!

 A fun way to cool off after a hike.

Mom, mom, we found a lobster!!  Children, do I need to remind you where we live now? There are no lobsters here.

But there are:

 Crawdads 

I thought he was getting brave enough to pick one up, turns out it was dead!

As you can see everyone else went with the shoe pick up method.  For some reason they were afraid of getting pinched :)

#3's turn

 #3 way back when he was my surfer dude.  Love his blonde locks.  He had a birthday at the beginning of the month and wanted to go to the zoo.

 So we did, with everyone else in the area(or so it seemed!). Walking back to the car the kids played hide and seek in the grass.

Now he is 8! Birthday dessert pick was Strawberry Shortcake.

When he was two.....

 I received a notice that a photo archive was closing and found I had some pictures stashed there.  Was excited to see  these again.

 We are celebrating having #4 in our lives 6 years today!
(when he was 2 he didn't care for cake much)

 He is a handful but so cute and sweet too!  I love his imagination and know he will be a real go-getter in life.

 and this momma loves it when she gets blessed by the random wildflowers(even the not so wild ones) he brings!

Mother's Day of that year.  I was determined to go to the beach and get a picture taken with my babies!

Off to have fun with my birthday boy:)

Summer time

Summer is here and is going by fast!  I think we are out of the house more then in these days.  I'm motivated to get moving this summer so trying to take a good walk at least 3 days a week.  Which usually leads to fun times with hikes or other creative walkways!

 One of our walks last week was at Grant's Farm.

 The kids had fun with the goats.  Good thing they are pretty tough, #5 was very 'loving' to them.

 #2 was excited when she took some pictures of the Bald Eagle and it looked right at her.  They had a few that had been injured and not able to return to the wild.

 The horse did not want his picture taken with #3, turned around right away!  We enjoyed the Clydesdale's anyway:)

 Of course we don't have to go very far to see crazy animals around here.

Right in our own backyard we have ground hogs, rabbits, squirrels, birds, raccoons, black rat snakes and more!