Box O' Pictures - UPDATED

- My mom has this big box of pictures that has about 40+ years worth of pictures in it. It's really fun to go through every now and then - even though I've seen the pictures over and over again. I actually have the box in my possession right now. I was looking through it to find a certain picture for a future post of mine, and I just couldn't help but post these two pictures that I found:





The first one is my brother Paul in 1981. This picture was taken on our family vacation out West that year.

The second one is my nephew, Travis, maybe in 1997?! I'm not sure if this picture was staged or not, but it is just too hilarious! (Leanne - maybe you can help me with this one!?!)

Funny stuff!


***UPDATED*** My sister tells me this was not staged! How crazy is that?!? Look at their shirts for crying out loud!! Love it!

The Grand Canyon face!

There is a story in my family, although I don't recall ANY of it, but it goes something like this:

My dad took a month off of work for us to go a travel the west side of the U.S. You can read about this vacation here and here.

Random Stuff!!

My friend, Shawnie gave me this award the other day, and I'm a little late in posting this, so sorry Shawnie! Oh, and check out her blog - she just had a new baby on Saturday and he is adorable!!!

O.K., now I have to give this award to three others:

Andrea

Steph

Clair

Winners, be sure to pass the award on linking back to the person who awarded you! Thanks!

And speaking of Clair, I used to go to church with her, and she has started an AWESOME blog, called Mummy Deals, for those of us that like a deal - and who doesn't, right!?! Anyway, I've talked about some other Money Saving blogs before, but this one comes in very handy for those of us that live in the Northwest Indiana area. It's got a lot of the local grocery store deals, so check it out HERE!!

Next on the agenda - Bloglines!!!

I have all of my favorite blogs (I'm afraid to admit just how many blogs I like to read - my husband's probably reading this) saved in my bookmarks, and just about everyday I'll read through them. A lot of people don't update their blogs everyday, so a lot of it was a waste of time for me to keep checking them.

Awhile back, I heard about Bloglines. It is a tool where you add all of your favorite blogs, and then they tell you when it is updated. It sounded great at the time, but I just didn't have the time to sit and add all of my favorite blogs, which will still remain numberless, so I passed and thought maybe I'd do it another time.

Yesterday, my boys were watching a movie, so I thought I'd check it out again, and man oh man am I sorry I didn't do this sooner! It did take a little time to add all of my favorite blogs, but it was well worth that little bit of time!

No, this is not a sponsored/paid post - I just thought I'd pass on the new tool that I LOVE!!!


And lastly, my friend Megan has started a new blog, called Prim and Proper. You can find "all things mom," and great giveaways too! Check it out!

"Mommy, can I have a snack?"

This phrase mostly comes out of Brett's mouth, and then Owen just gets on board, because...well, that's just what they do. It doesn't matter if we've had a HUGE breakfast or not - he is always ready for a snack. And it isn't always the junk food that he wants - although he loves his Oreo's just like his daddy - he just wants to eat! Last night after dinner, we were getting ready for bed, and he asked for a snack - WE JUST ATE DINNER!!! I'm not sure if he's just growing or what, but man - if he's eating me out of house and home now, what's going to happen when he's older?!?!?


Please tell me that I'm not the only one that hears this phrase 500 times a day!!

First day of First Grade - FIRST GRADE!!!!!

Where O Where has the time gone?!?!?!? I find myself saying this a lot lately! My kids are growing up right before my eyes, and it's going by WAY TOO fast!!!!

Today was Chloe's first day of 1st grade. She was giddy with excitement yesterday after "Opening Home!" She had a hard time going to sleep, but she certainly didn't fight us about going to sleep, because she wanted to wake up and go to school!!:)

She crawled into bed with us VERY early this morning, because she was cold - YES, it was VERY cold out there this morning - and she had a hard time falling back to sleep. She kept asking if it was time to get ready! Too sweet!

We got her ready, fed her breakfast and she was on her way! Not before a few pictures though! :)

In daddy's truck - ready to go! Check out her grin!

I was chatting with Jen last night about not knowing quite how I feel about her going to 1st grade. I cried when she went to Pre-K, and I cried when she went to Kindergarten. I did not cry today. I think that it has to due with the fact that I just know she's growing up, and this is just something she does now. I'm not saying that I like that she's gone all day (man am I gonna miss her) but I know she has to go, so I'll just deal with it.


****Mom, you can click on the blue links to go back to previous posts - she looks like a baby in the Pre-K pictures!:)****

The day before the 1st day of 1st grade...

Does that title even make sense?!?!?! It's hard coming up with a new title for every.single.post!!!

Anyway - Yesterday, Chloe and I were talking about how we had to go to her school tonight for an Open House. About how she'll get to meet her new teacher, see her new classroom, etc...

Today, Chloe asked me when she gets to go to her school, and I told her it was tonight! She said, "Oh good! I can't wait for Opening Home!!"

I just had to write a post about this, because these are the types of things I don't want to forget!:)

Mel, Amy, Aimee and Kate plus 12!!!!!

Man did we show up Jon and Kate yesterday!!! Not only did we have TWELVE kids, but we let them get wet AND dirty, and not once did one of us yell "HELLO?!?! COULD I GET SOME HELP OVER HERE?!?" ;)

So it took some convincing, but I got everyone to go downtown with me yesterday! Melanie wasn't so sure she wanted to go, and neither was Katie, but eventually they agreed, and we were on our way!

The day didn't start out exactly as we had planned. We planned to go to one train station, and when we got there, we parked the cars, and realized "Wow, we don't even have to pay for parking - GREAT!" Well, once we got everyone unloaded out of the car, Melanie noticed a sign that said "we tow 7 days a week!" We were in the monthly permit parking lot. We quickly got in our cars, while Auntie Katie watched all of the kids, and we tried to find parking. To no avail. We drove all over the place, and could not find the public parking! I decided we should just head to another station, in the hopes of catching the same train. So we got everyone back in the cars and drove like speed demons to the next station. We had like 14 minutes! It was crazy!!! We were giving kids instructions in the car, and planning out who was going to put the money in the slot for the parking, and telling them that they couldn't fool around or we were going to miss this train!! We were running like mad people, only to find a couple flights of stairs that we had to get THREE strollers up! Thankfully I just had an umbrella stroller, so I folded mine down, and helped Mel with hers. We got the kids on the platform, and then we went down and helped Amy with hers. All of this, only for the train to be LATE!!! In the end, we were glad it was late, but had we known it was going to be late, we wouldn't have been acting like chickens with our heads cut off! And because the train was late, we had the opportunity to take a couple of pictures! :)

Here's all twelve of the kids!



(l to r: Melanie, Amy, Katie and Aimee)
And the mommies ready to brave the City of Chicago!!!:)

For a lot of the kids, this was their first train ride, so that was a lot of the fun for them! :) I couldn't get everyones picture, because we had to split up.





First Stop - Millennium Park

We couldn't believe that we actually got all twelve to look at the camera!!!

The kids looking up at the buildings after we got off the train

Anna and Chloe were the best of buddies all day!

They all loved the bean!

Especially Brett! He loved that he could look up in the middle of it and see himself! :)

At the park, they had a Family Fun Tent where the kids could go and play - they had loads of fun making paper, and fans and hula hooping, and building with blocks, etc.....

Next Stop - The Fountains at Millennium Park

The kids loved this (well, except for Brett and Tucker. Brett just didn't want to go in, and Tucker had a broken arm :( ). We brought bathing suits so they were able to get as wet as they wanted!

On to Walgreens, yes, Walgreens. Bretts flip-flop broke. (Did I mention that my flip-flop broke at the beach?!? Crazy.) Anyway - found a pair of flip-flops for $.54!!!! WHOO HOO!! This was the scene for me from the inside of the store... :)


I just thought this was too funny not to get a picture of. Notice the smooshed heads and faces on the window! :)

Now it was time to find the trolley to take us to Navy Pier. It was a little bit of a hassle, and it took A LOT of time, but it was worth it!



LUNCH TIME! We ended up just going to McDonald's inside Navy Pier. We figured it was the cheapest with that amount of kids, and it would probably be the only place to get a table for 16 right away! :) The kids were SOOOOOOO good! They all sat and ate so nice. I guess it helped that it was 2:00 and they were STARVING! :)

At the Navy Pier, that have a little "garden" upstairs. It was really pretty. And would you believe that we actually got all of us to get ANOTHER picture!!!


We ended up going outside to the area with all of the rides, and it took forever for everyone to agree on one ride (each ride is $5!!!). We ended up going on the Ferris Wheel. It really worked out to our advantage though, because it normally costs $6/person. Well, because we had so many people in our group, we were able to buy a Family Combo Ticket which made it a little less than $3/person!! :) We love to get a deal!!






After the ferris wheel, we decided to try and get pictures of each of us with our kids. It's no easy task with my kids, so I was thrilled when I ended up with this photo...


We bought a quick snack, and decided it was time to head on home. We had such a marvelous day! The kids were all so well behaved, and they had a lot of fun! We had so much fun, that Melanie said we should make this a tradition each year!! :)

I also just want to add that I am just so blessed to not only have these friends in my life, but now all of our kids are making lifelong friendships and growing up together. It's just so great!

1,2,3.....4,5..6!!

(this picture is a bit blurry...my camera was on the fritz!!)

That was what Melanie and I did all day on Tuesday. We counted heads at West Beach! :)

I pretty much forced Mel to go to the beach with me. She said she really didn't want to go, but would be happy once she got there. So we packed some lunches, and headed for the beach! The kids were so excited!! (they've been missing the lake:))

Chloe and Simon loved the waves the best!




And Owen just wanted to sit in the wagon! :) He did do other things, but man does he love to just chill out! Again, how am I ever going to get rid of that pacifier!?!?!?!



Melanie and I tried so hard to get some cute pictures of the kids, and then my camera puked on me!!! Oh, was I mad!!! I was even bribing with candy!!!!! Oh well, they still got the gummy worms, and we got a couple of cute pics...







I'm feeling like I have to fill my days with fun, because school starts next week! Today is a down day, but tomorrow, we are heading downtown Chicago!!! On the train!!! With a total of twelve kids!! I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say!!:) Stay tuned for a post about that! :)