The BIG DAY

Ya, I know I'm almost 30 years old... and reading books about sexy vampires might seem a little immature to some - but what can I say, I'm still a little bit "high school-ish" inside. So, yes... I got up early on the morning of August 1st and went down with my buddies (also my age, I might add) to Barnes and Noble to get my "wrist band" so that I could get my reserved copy of "Breaking Dawn" at midnight! Yes, I am crazy - and a little lame. But it was fun. I'm glad I did it. And the book rocks, by the way. (but I'm not finished, so don't ruin it for me!)

So, the girls all went to the cheesecake factory for dinner. After which we headed to Barnes and Noble for the release party. I must say, we felt a little out of place and lame being there, but after we took the test (and ACED it!) we decided it wasn't so bad. I'm not sure why we waited up until Midnight to get it, when we could have just gone to Costco the next morning and picked it up - but what can I say, we like to get a little crazy, right girls??

Here we are waiting outside - eating our cheesecake...

Here we are waiting inside - getting a little tired of waiting...

And FINALLY ... we got our books!
(and yes, mine is upside down - it was a little late, okay?)
So, thanks to Stephenie Meyer, our houses are all a mess, laundry is piling up and our husbands are all ticked off at us and hate anything to do with "vampires" or "warewolves" - but ya gotta hand it to her - the books rock!! Next we'll be the immature idiots at the midnight showing of the movie in December. Stay tuned for that!

It's What Fun Is!

Okay so we go to Lagoon only ONCE a year - and that's when we can all get in free. That's right - STAKE LAGOON DAY! So, when Ross got home from work, we hopped in the car, grabbed a pizza on the way and headed to Lagoon. The kids were so excited they could hardly stand it. We shoved a little pizza down everybody (in the Lagoon parking lot - in the tailgate of our car), and then we went in for some Lagoon fun.

the DINOSAUR EGG DROP!The Helicopters!BUMPER CARS!The DRAGONFLYThe TIDAL WAVE

Well, after running to every ride we could possibly fit in before they kicked us out, it turned out to be a really fun day at Lagoon. I taught Landon to say "It's what fun is" every time I mentioned Lagoon. It was so cute and funny hearing him say it. We were all exhausted when we got home that night. I don't think Landon and Ash knew quite what hit them. It think it's the best night's sleep everyone had since they got here. But not until we got our Slurpees that they were promised on the way home. It doesn't matter how tired children are - they always remember when you promise them something - especially when it involves sugar!

LAGOON - IT'S WHAT FUN IS!

SURPRISE!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, ROSS!

So, of course I couldn't let my husband turn 30 without doing something BIG, right? That just wouldn't make sense for me. So... of course I did a lot of planning - and with a lot of help, we had a rather large surprise party thrown together. It ended up being perfect... thanks to a lot of help from good friends and amazing family!! (Thanks, Cari & Garrick!) I seriously couldn't have done it without them. But after accepting a lot of help and spending the entire day setting up at the park... we had a very successful and fun surprise birthday party. Ross was completely shocked. I can't believe I actually pulled it off, to be honest.

After quite a bit of arguing and persuading, I rushed Ross to get ready and got 5 kids ready in less than an hour... I was practically shoving everybody out the door. Ross kept saying, "What's the big rush?" as I was hurrying things along. If it weren't for the fact that I'm a pretty wound up person normally, he probably would have known something was up... but he just thought I was in one of my hurry modes. So after a little bit of a fight and arguing the whole way up to the park, this is what he saw when he pulled up. His exact words were "Happy 30th Birthday... oh crap" - and then the party began!

THE GUESTS:

THE CHEF (and party planner!) :
Cari is missing in action... but without these guys, this all would not have happened. - Thank you guys for all your help!!


THE SPEAKERS:

..THIAGO..
..ANGIE..
..SEAN..
..STEVE..
..KYLE..

..JULIE..

The CAKES:

http://www.nothingbundtcakes.com/

Might I suggest Nothing Bundt Cakes for your next celebration? These cakes were so super good! I was so happy with them. We had Chocolate Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate, White Chocolate Raspberry, Carrot, and Red Velvet. They were to die for!

Here's Kristy helping me serve them! Thanks, Kristy!

The ENTERTAINMENT (for kids, anyway):

Thanks for coming, everybody! We had a really fun time - and it wouldn't have been successful without all of you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSS!

Celebrate Good Times... (come on!)

The PARADE

Well... we are big believers in celebrating our holidays to the maximum so - here we are with all our bells & whistles at the big 24th of July parade. I can honestly count on 1 hand how many times I have missed the good ol' "Main Street Parade". I'm fairly certain that if it weren't for these cute little faces every year, I most definately wouldn't go to all the efforts that I do to make this happen.

And when I say "efforts" I'm talkin' about these 4 lovely ladies gettin' up at 4:30... (ya, that's FOUR-THIRTY A.M.) and haulin' all our chairs, blankets and rope down to our favorite Baskin Robins spot just to make sure we have a nice place for our families to watch the parade.

Hals typically just sits contently in her chair the entire time, while all the other kids rush back and forth racing to get as much candy as possible. I think competitions are a little overwhelming for this little princess. She gets a little flustered when there is any pressure put on her to make anything happen. So... this is where she sat most of the time... or on mine or Daddy's lap.





But don't worry. While Hallie is just hangin' back... the boys are always busy cheering for each and every possible thing that goes down the street. They loved every second of it. They scored with candy, and even some awesome toys! It doesn't get better than that. Who cares about the fact that it was hotter than blazes and we were exhausted... (more "efforts") by golly - we were gonna be at this darn parade.

I'm not sure that Ashlyn or Cole had any idea what was going on. They just kept looking around wondering why there were so many people and what the big fuss was about. I think Ash was a little bit in shock.

The Fireworks

And of course, it wouldn't be the 24th without headin' up to Grandma's house for the best fireworks display ever! We are so lucky to have the perfect spot to watch in my Grandma's front yard. I have the best Grandma in the whole world who sets up tables with popcorn, ice cream and drinks for anyone and everyone (heavy on the everyone) I decide to bring up. Thank you, Grandma - for letting us invade your yard yet once again. We had a lot of fun.

Once again... the faces say it all!

FRIENDS

Have I mentioned what great friends I have? Our friends are like our family these days. I can't seem to plan an event without them. They are the best. We are very lucky to have so many good friends who are always around us.

Thanks for coming, guys!!

The CARNIVAL

What the heck, let's get up the next morning and head down to the park for the carnival! Ya, so maybe we bought a whole bunch of tickets and then realized that we were all getting a little dehydrated and sunburned. I looked down at the kids and realized that the sun was imobilizing them. (I'm a good mom) And after being told that my baby looks sunburned several times, (I'm a good mom), I finally decided to give my last tickets to Ang and head home. (Good thing I talked Ross into going!) Ya... I don't have good judgement about these things lately.

Happy 24th of July Y'ALL!

Just Chillin'

Everyone always asks me if I ever take time to just "slow down" in my life. I tend to run myself raged most of the time... but I would like to share some pictures of us doing just that - slowin' down a bit. So... here are some pictures of us just hangin around over the past 2 weeks or so. Nothin' special. Just wanted to share some of what we've been up to. Enjoy.

The girls helped me make dinner by putting the spread on the garlic toast. What good little helpers I have. (I think Ashlyn might have wanted a banana, what do you think?)

S L U R P E E S ! !

These were one of our favorite treats while our cousins were in town. Whenever we were out, I would bribe them with Slurpees! It worked like a charm every time! (okay, not EVERY time!) However, there is stradegy to buying Slurpees for 4 children at once. You can't let them choose which flavor they want or all hell breaks loose. Besides the fact that my husband would kill me if RED Slurpee was spilled on the new car, there would always be a fight over who had the best flavor and so on and so forth. So, I usually opted to just give everyone banana. They love the flavor and it doesn't stain. I know, I know... you're impressed at my Slurpee knowledge. I rock.

L I T T L E P O S E R S !

Can you tell we take a lot of pictures? These kids just see me with the camera, and they instantly stop whatever it is they're doing and suddenly they have the perfect little smile on their face. And they even hold the pose until they see the flash. "SAY CHEESE" isn't even necessary anymore. They are professionals. I have given them many years of training - what can I say? I must say, though... I have the cutest little models out there. I've got a lot to work with!

We thought Landon looked pretty dang stylin' in these goggles. He slipped them on and I new it was yet another Kodak moment. These are the kinds of pictures that just define this little guy. I can't describe the adorable corky little personality that the little fella has. He is such a little ham. He could truly entertain an entire crowd if he really wanted to. He cracks me up. It has been a joy having him around.

And of course, the highlight and "grand finale" of our "just chillin' moments" - was when Hallie came running upstairs to show me this. She decided to back the Speed Racer car up and let the wheels go nuts in her hair. I was a little mad, but then I took a step back and decided it was really funny. I had to take a picture. As you can tell, she is forcing this smile out with sheer panic behind it. We ended up having to cut it out after working with it for quite some time. You can't even really tell now. It just looks like she has a little short layer framing her face. I can remember this happening to me when I was little - only I'm fairly positive it was my sweet brother who drove his "Stomper" up in my hair. Bless his heart - he was good to me.