Our House has been Hoppin' Lately!

I don't think I've mentioned on my blog that my house has been quite lively since Ben got out of Summer Adventure. Shortly after summer school was over I began watching my neighbor's 2 youngest kids, Becca and Zach. It's been very different with 4 children in the house instead of two. All I can say is WHEW! Ben has loved every minute of it though. He loves having them over to play with all day long so that is great. And Braden eats up all the attention Becca gives him too. He has learned to jump right in there and play with the "big kids." They have been great to help around the house when it's clean-up time and have definately kept Ben from getting bored during his summer break. But, I have definately learned that 4 kids in one house is too many for me (at least for the size house we have now.)

I have failed to take many pictures of all the adventures we have had since I began watching them. It's just too crazy in the house to think about taking photos when they're here, but they have done so many fun things together: played dress up in Ben's costumes, played store, army, playstation, house, legos, hide and seek, swam in our pool in the back yard, played on the slip-n-slide, rode their bikes, we've gone to the park, garage saling, Walmart, Aldi, and Party America together (with the help of Mom and Dad loaning me their van so that I wasn't cooped up in the house for 5 weeks.)..... Our next door neighbor just bought a new playset so the kids had fun the first day it was all set up playing in that. One day last week I ventured out to a community pool in the area with the four of them plus a girlfriend of mine and her two kids and we made an afternoon of it. They had a great time! Braden was a little too young for me to fully enjoy my time there (bc he wanted to walk all by himself and I had to keep my eye and hand on him at ALL times) but who can complain when you get to do something like this on a weekday during the summer--now this is the life! We'll just leave Braden with Grandma next time :) Ben and Zach weren't quite tall enough to ride the tunnel water slides this year, so while we sat and had a snack, I let Becca go over and ride them a few more times before we went back home. The boys have so much fun together. Here they are showing off their blue "Airhead" candy smiles and tongues (below)It was really a treat that we ran into my cousin Mona and her kids at the pool too! It was so fun to see them and catch up. Ben is absolutely bonkers over her son Josh and thinks the sun rises and sets in him, so he was overwhelmed to see him! It was cute!

While Becca rode the water slides many times, the boys got to get up close and personal with a very brave squirrel who has obviously found out that the place to get nourishment is by the pool concession stand. It was having a hay day gathering up all the droppings of all the people who had visited that afternoon. It would let the boys get within 2 feet of it before scampering under another table.

We also visited my friend Suzanne's neighborhood pool with her a couple times this summer. The kids were so glad to go to a "real" pool (our one in the back is mostly just to get wet in.) Braden quickly learned from watching the big boys that jumping in from the side (into Mommy's arms) is quite the exciting event! And as if 4 kids wasn't enough for me, I also took on my next door neighbor's 2 kids (Holly and Hunter) on the 9th of August. And I took all 6 kids (plus Zach's older brother, Johnny) swimming in the above neighborhood pool on Monday. My friend Suzanne thought I had lost my mind. But it really wasn't that difficult since the youngest one above Braden is 5 and most of them can swim. We actually had a good time and all came out alive. :)

I only have Holly and Hunter for a week full time because schoool starts tomorrow. And all of them will be heading off to school. Yes, even my little Benjamin is starting Kindergarden tomorrow morning. :( The dreaded day (for Mommy) has arrived. But, to look on the bright side, Braden and I will have our house all to ourselves. It will be so quiet. Whatever will I do with myself? I know-- CLEAN!!! What fun!

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!

On Sunday, August 5th, we went out to lunch with Mom and Dad after church to Longhorn Steakhouse--YUM! It's one of all of our favorites! Their birthday's are the 4th and 5th, so they almost always have to share a birthday dinner. But, they did each get their own "birthday dessert" (well, I guess not their "own" since the grandkids ate most of it :) ) We had a nice time catching up on the latest events and watching the grandkids make huge messes, as usual. :) Ben felt a little left out from me taking photos of the other kids, so he called attention to his Root Beer and made his own quirky picture. He's so into making funny faces now whenever I want to take a picture. It's hard to catch him with a genuine smile--silly kid! Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! Bradon says, (well, not 'says', but thinks) "Ice Cream----YUM!!!"

Can you get that mouth open any wider little fella?

Paula's Baby Shower

On Saturday, August 4th, we threw a baby shower for my very good friend, Paula. I was so excited to share in this celebration of the new little life she is about to have. Little Abby will be so fortunate to have Travis and Paula as parents. Paula has been like a second Mom to Benjamin ever since he was very small and he and Paula have a special bond to this day. I am so excited for her that she now gets to have a little one of her own. Now I get to spoil hers--AND she's a girl--even better to buy clothes for!!! :) he-he! I told Paula to show me that belly of hers--oh the fun of being pregnant!!! Another of Paula's closest friends, Candace, was the brain child of most of the details of the shower. She did a great job! All I did was come and help set up. She had a lot of games planned for us and we had a fun and relaxing time celebrating with Paula. Presents! Presents! Presents! It's all about the presents! :) What a fun day!

Congratulations Travis and Paula!!!!!

Swimming with Friends

Ok, well, I haven't been a very good blogger lately. I keep taking pictures, but not posting them. You know how summer goes though--no time. By the time we wind down, I collapse into bed-- as soon as the kids are asleep, that is (if I don't fall asleep in Ben's bed listening to his tape with him, that is.) A couple days after Ben's McD's birthday party, we went swimming with our very good friends Melissa, Bradon, Kylie and Kaycie.

The kids couldn't touch in the pool, but they definately got to test out their "swimming" skills. Benjamin actually showed me how much he has learned by not having to wear a life jacket the whole time. He did a GREAT job! I was impressed! Here Ben is showing Melissa how he snorkles. Braden just chills in his little water floatie. Bradon and Ben got a little bored, so I challenged them to show us some of their jumping moves. That got them excited! Woo-hoo--gotta love these shots you can catch them in mid-air. Very cool! Ben has a real hard time being out in the sun (swimming) for more than about 2 hours. He gets burned really bad under his eyes and it spoils his fun b/c he can't even stand to be out in the sun any longer. He just puts a towel over his head and sits in the shade until I'm ready to go. Well, the same thing happened today. He was just miserable so Melissa invited us to go hang out at her house for a little while and look at their Disney World pictures from the vacation they took a couple months ago. On the ride to the house, I let the kids ride in the van that I have been driving (my parents have so graciously let me borrow it for a few weeks) and when I turned around to take the picture, Ben put his arm around Kylie. Talk about cute!!! They say they are going to marry each other when they grow up. :) After I took the group shot, Ben said, "Mommy, now take one of just me and Kylie." I thought I would die! How adorable! Now if they really do happen to get married one day, wouldn't that be a cute pic to put in a slide show!!!! :)After we left Melissa's house, we headed straight to church for Wed. night bible study. Needless to say the kids were WIPED out! I just had to snap this photo of them sacked out together. :)

Ben's Birthday Party-McDonald's

And yes, Ben's 3rd and final birthday party was Monday night the 29th at a McDonalds out near where we used to live. His EG friends live so far away that we decided to make it easy on them and have a party out their direction. I took along a few decorations and party favors, and we enjoyed the evening visiting with our EG buddies! It was just as nice a treat for Mom and Dad

as it was for Ben! At first the boys were glued to the video games... Meanwhile on the other side of the playset, the girls (and Braden) played on this little computer.....I finally convinced a few of them to go PLAY because they don't get much time to play together anymore. Braden, Rachael, and Samantha had fun playing in the toddler zone....and Braden got a real thrill out of the plexiglass. Kylie and Kaycie looked absolutely adorable in their matching outfits. Kylie and Ben say they are getting married when they grow up--good choice Ben! :) Ben and Austin are the best of buds! Little Samantha just amazed me time after time with how much she is saying already. She's only one month older than Braden who says like 2 words so far. Here Samantha is saying "Cheese!!!" Make a wish little buddy! Ben loved his cake that we decorated so much that he wanted to show it off at all his parties, but by the 3rd one, I was afraid it wouldn't taste very good, so I made this one for us to eat. The tanks are supposed to be in the shape of a 6. Present time! A gift card----WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! Ben is at the age that he loves to get money and

gift cards. What a fun evening!!!

Ben's "New Friends" Birthday Party

On Saturday, July 28th, we had a party for Ben's "new" friends (since we've moved). He had way too many people on his list to invite to have all of them over at once, so I made him split up his parties. I know what you're thinking......he's a little bit spoiled isn't he......well, yes he is and that's why I only have 2 kids and their spaced so far apart in age--for that very reason :) I'm enjoying my boys as if their my grandchildren because by the time I have grandchildren, I will be too old to enjoy them! :)

We started off the party by playing games. Ben loves to have games at his party, so I planned for 5 games and he was SOOOOOOOOOOO excited about them! The first one we played was a water balloon tossing game. The boys weren't quite as coordinated at age 5/6 as I thought they might be. But, I think they enjoyed it anyway. Note to self: don't leave water balloons sitting out in 95 degree heat in the sunlight--they will POP! We had filled over 150 water balloons for the party and only about 1/3 of them were left by the time I went out to start the games--UGGGGGGG!!!

Next it was on to the "Shooting down the enemy" game. I had the boys bring a water gun to the party. I had made men out of construction paper and hung them on the fence post. The boys were to see who could completely soak the "enemy" first. Another note to self: Make sure all the kids have the exact same watergun next time. They all had different flow rates and therefore the game wasn't fair--kind of a flop, oh well :(

3rd on the game agenda was a ball shooting game which I didn't get any pictures of. They had to "shoot the bomb (ball) into the enemies territory so it wouldn't destroy their base."

4th on our list was our

MISSION

which I also didn't get any pictures of---uuuuuggggggg! That is the game I spent the most time on. Days before the party Ben and his friends and I painted Easter eggs brown to look like bombs. I drew clues of where the hidden "bombs" were in the yard and they had to go on a treasure-like hunt to uncover the hidden "bombs." The last clue ultimately led them to find the stash of hidden "bombs" (water balloons) which then led them to have a water balloon fight!!!

And my most genius idea of the day (or so I was told) was the 5th and final game. I offered a grand prize (wrapped dollar store prize) to the person who could pick up the most pieces of popped water balloons in the yard. You should have seen how fast those boys cleaned up my yard. It was GREAT! :)

Then it was the long awaited SWIMMING time they had all been waiting and asking and begging for. Note to anyone thinking of planning a bunch of games for a 5/6 year old party: unless your child immensly loves games, it's not really worth all the hassle because all the kids wanted to do was SWIM! I think Ben really enjoyed the games though so it was worth it all. :)

We let the kids swim for over an hour, then it was pinata time (another one of Ben's favorites on his party agenda) He got a good whack at it.

Then the rest of the boys took a turn. Present time!!! Ben with one of his very best friends, Noah. They met at preschool this past year and play so well together! Then came cake time!!! Dig in!