Seattle!

Since the other kids have been gone...poor Seattle doesn't know what to do with herself! I think it's mixed between being lonely...and pure excitement that she doesn't have anyone else telling her what to do! (besides me of course:)

We've had a LOT of one on one time!! It's not exactly the vacation I was hoping for...napping, napping, relaxing, and more napping! Ha! Seattle only has 2 settings...GO, GO, GO and CRASH! It's getting me prepared for next week when the kids are in school! Berlin has 3 settings...hungry, sleepy, and just hold me...the problem is...Seattle never gets sleepy when Berlin does! GO figure?!

When I said Crash...I meant it!

It's nice to be able to go out to dinner and spend less than $15 on fast food again, but I'll be excited when they're home again! I LOVE having a loud and busy house! I know...2 kids are loud...but all 6 are harmonious! Call me CRAZY...but I miss being asked 20 questions from Madison when she hears a noise or sees a bug, buying things from Paris' store where I get checked out by a pink calculator, being caught up on the latest "tween drama" on Wizards of Waverly Place or Hanna Montana by Brooklyn, and being asked a million times by Boston if his room is clean enough to play the Wii now! Sooo classic! Seriously miss them tons during the day! Night time is AWESOME though! (not what you're thinking!) Phil get's home and we go out! We don't even have to tell Seattle and Berlin where we're going...to try and make it sound fun! This I will miss:)

Kid's Vacation! (The Lake 2009)

For the past 3 summers our kids have been able to visit my parents for a couple of weeks and love going to the houseboat...but of course this summer has been a little busy for us!

My parents wanted to have the oldest 4 (they offered to take them all...but I did want them to have fun!) come out but Madison is still too young to fly by herself:( We have in the past met in L.A. and swapped the kids that way...but with a 6 week old it was just too far for a 1 day (10 hour) round trip drive!

My other neices and nephews all got to visit my parents and their houseboat over 4th of July weekend, and my dad really wanted to make sure that ALL of his grandchildren got to play at the lake this year...so he flew out Monday night and got in around 9:30pm. He wanted to drive straight back that night, while the kids slept, but Brooklyn lost her retainers (because she wrapped them in a napkin...grrrr!) and had an ortho appointment Tuesday morning at 8. So the plan is...my dad's driving Brooklyn, Boston, Paris, and Madison...in Phil's car...to my parents house, until next Sunday, (the day before school starts) when he'll drive them back here and fly out on Monday morning! I would have never asked him or expected him to WANT to do that drive...but my dad's awesome! He did the drive AND loved it! Thanks DAD you're the greatest!! I HOPE EVERYONE IS GOOD!!!

Growing up so fast!

I can't believe how fast the time flies when you're busy! This summer has flown by! My mom is always begging me to update her on Berlin's size and how she's doing...and since I just got off the phone with her I am going to make good on my promise and take a picture of her right now...

Okay, so here she is! She's already 5 1/2 weeks old! See time flies! Even though she started off at a hefty 10lbs 2 oz it actually took her a couple of weeks to make it back to it! She is the only one of my kids that could down 4 oz per feeding at just a week old! I would feed her 2 ounces and she would act like she was STARVING afterwards! I was shocked when her doctor said she wasn't back up to her birth weight at her 2 week check!

Unfortunately, in the past few weeks she has developed the same trait the other girls had...she's an "urpy lurp"! (Translation...she spits up A LOT!) It stinks literally! Ha Ha...I can't seem to keep enough burp cloths on hand! I go through at least 3 changes of clothes per day and she must hold some sort of record...because she can go through about 2 outfits per feeding! They never seem to spit up all at once...at least not mine. They do this great burp...then a little dribble and then they begin to fall asleep. Then right when you think it's safe to move...they spit up on you! After a little while you think it's safe to change their outfit...and BAM...round two begins! I haven't tried the formula that's supposed to help spitting up yet...right now I've just been trying to monitor how much comes out...so I can put that much more back in!

During the day she doesn't sleep much unless I'm holding her...which doesn't let me get much done around the house. This time around I kind of don't mind...I just do most of my housework when Phil's home or have the kids help out. At night she sleeps from about 4-6 hours, so I can't complain. I know it's going to go by fast and before I know it...she'll be running around like the others!

Oreganos!

Maylene, Sandy, Me

Amy, Cynthia, Kim

We decided that since Sandy's moving...we better use it as an excuse to have as many of these outings as possible! WE always love great excuses to hang out!

Pam, Deborah, Maylene

It was great seeing Deborah again and meeting her Sister-In-Law Pam who's moving here from L.A. Kim, Pam, and Deborah are all expecting...and look absolutely FABULOUS! It was a little warm while we were waiting outside...luckily the misters kept the temps out of the 100s.

As usual we had GREAT conversations... a TON of "photo ops"...and DELICIOUS food. I've already blogged a bunch about Oregano's before...so I'll just post some more great pics from one of our last girl's nights that will be including Sandy!

I'm sure she'll be back to visit! Maybe once the babies get a little older...we'll have to switch these to "Girls WEEKENDS out!" Thanks everyone for the GREAT night! We'll MISS you SANDY!!

Some sisterly love!

Sunsplash!

Okay so as you can see I go out on my fair share of "girls night outs" with several of my friends. I don't ever want to grow out of having fun! It's my break away from the kids and the sometimes mundane routine of things. The guys usually get their time away too with Basketball, Golf, Softball, and even Work! (Yes I said WORK! If I could go somewhere and have absolute quiet...or close to it...with the only interruptions coming from other adults or my stomach telling me it's time to take a break...THAT WOULD BE CALLED A VACATION!! I know it can also be very frustrating and tiring, I used to work full time while Phil was going to school and it was hard to leave the kids at home (you feel sad for a bit) and you have a whole new set of trials...but the upside is...you get to have adult conversations, wear cute clothes, and boss people around that actually get paid to listen to you!!! I know Phil loves the cute clothes bit:)

All joking aside, I know that I am really lucky to be able to stay home full time with my kids and I really wouldn't change it for the world...but it is still really nice to get a break once in a while...and to have an AWESOME husband who totally supports me and usually OFFERS to take the kids off my hands while I go have some fun!

Since one of my good friends Sandy is moving to Colorado in a few weeks, we decided that we should do something fun that we haven't done before. SO instead of a Girls Night Out...we did a Girls Day Out at the Sunsplash Water park in Tempe! Since her schedule was filling up so fast, we only had about a day's notice to let everyone know what we had planned. It worked out that only Sandy, Bettijo, and I could make it...but we were still so excited! I haven't been to a water park since I was in college! I think it was 7 peaks in Provo!

We all met at my house around 10 and drove out to Tempe together. The park opened at 11 and it was already 100+ degrees when we arrived! Here's our sweet shot as we were just getting there...

All of us have kids at home...so being somewhere with lots of kids around actually made us appreciate not having them around! We took full advantage of our freedom! We went from slide to slide without having to take a "potty" break or time for a nap! It was soo sweet!

Sandy purchased a waterproof camera so we thought we would take some sweet shots of us at the park...we seriously were having WAY to much fun!!! We ended up staying there until around 5 in the evening...and were all ready to go home and chill (literally) with our families! I'm so glad we went!

Me , Sandy, Bettijo

P.S. Don't judge the photos too harshly...A. it was 118 during the hottest part of the day (hence the sweatiness) B. The underwater camera was NOT digital so it was old school...no retakes!! C. I just had a baby...so we'll pretend that's why I'm so curvy in my suit!!

I love how CLEAR the water is!! Gross!!

This was a water slide "rollercoaster" it actually would shoot you back up hills! So much fun...but serious biff action at the end!

The Lazy River...so relaxing!

This was some freaky "A" ride that I personally passed on...I was the official photographer of this event! Bettijo and Sandy went down this steep hill and then they shot up the other side...looking like they would fly off the other end before slowing back down! They said it was fun...I say it didn't look like it:)

Family Swim Time

Since Shavonne and Greg were in town--we decided to make a day out of it! We met up at the Arribas mexican restaurant for lunch...then across the parking lot to the Arrowhead Mall...where we had to throw down some serious cash for school clothes and shoes, times 3...for the new year coming next month! (I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by!)

After our exhausting shopping trip...(we made it out with NO kids crying, both babies STILL in the stroller, AND all the things on our shopping list in an hour flat! Now that's what you call progress!)

We decided to go back to our pad and take a dip in the pool. Berlin wasn't in the mood for a nap, so the rest of them went for a swim, while we watched in the 100+ degree heat on the side. Since it was so hot, we basically took a few photos and then jammed:)

Drake, Shavonne, and a happy Haven!

Such a sweet expression!

A happy HAVEN!! Yay!

Playing baseball with a "sawed" off noodle!
My sleeping beauty!
She was really wanting to HOLD the camera...instead of pose!
Haven and Madison
Paris and her sweet goggles!

Brooklyn and Sky...LOVE THE GOOGS!
Phil's expression says it all...he's a DORK! HA HA HA