Melina's Baptism

Melina was baptized this past Saturday.  She was so excited...it was really cute.  She was definately expecting a big turn out for the big day.  Thankfully she had a lot of friends and family there to support her.  She had the biggest smile all day long.  We are really proud of her, she is such a good little girl!

Beach Trip

The kids and I went to the beach with my mom and some of my sisters and their kids for about 4 days...we had 5 adults and 10 kids...which may not sound like bad odds but let's just say that around the 3rd day we all decided that next year we would be bringing the husbands to help out with the kids!

Here's my kiddos with their sunburned faces...curse you mom and dad for our pale skin!

Here's Granny taking a stroll with the grandkids...the lighting was perfect that evening and we got a lot of great shots.

Even the birds were cooperating with my photo shoot!

I think Leah was telling off the lazy boys...go girl!

Here's the 3 oldest cousins...they think they are so cool.

Here's me (left) with a few of my sisters...Mary (who was 9 months pregnant and had her baby 2 days later...Brody! Brody!)...then Adrienne, a.k.a. Aunt Agie, and lastly Annette, a.k.a. Aunt Nettie. By the way, I'm glad someone was watching the kids in the background...we were too worried about looking good for the pics! The waves were actually pretty big for the east coast...there was that tropical storm out there somewhere so we got quite a few big waves.

I will miss this walk...not much better in life than going to the beach.

Here's me with my little beach boy...he loved the beach and wanted to be out there nonstop.

Annette and I are trying to pull off a good pic for the photo albums...we opted for the sitting down pose versus the standing pose which doesn't leave much room for hiding areas we may still be working on after having a baby...

We couldn't keep these 5 out of the water!

First Word..."Mama"

Surprise surprise...her first word was "mama", I wonder how that came about. She says it all the time now and it is, of course, so cute. She is also starting to scoot across the floor. Gone are the easy days of sitting her in the middle of the living room floor with a few toys and going about my business. Now I have to actually watch her all the time.

Skating Rink

Yesterday my sister Adrienne and I took my kids to the skating rink. Neil is getting better...he actually rolls some now instead of just taking baby steps. Check out the carpet at the skating rink...I believe it glows in the dark...oh, the memories of going to the skating rink in middle school. My girls are pretty good at it. I manage to get around the rink without looking too clumsy. Although, look at how big my roller blades look in this picture...wow, I've never been so aware of how large my size 9 feet look!

Little helpers in the kitchen

I was making homemade chicken noodle soup last night and Neil came in wanting to "help" me make dinner. He asked so sweetly I couldn't resist. So, he pulled a chair up and began dumping things into the pot and stirring it around for me. I thought he would last about 5 minutes and then get bored and run off and play...not so. He stuck it out till the bitter end. (Nice Batman tatoos huh?...He thinks he is pretty cool with those on his arm (thanks aunt nettie). He keeps going around without his shirt on to show them off) ...Oh, looking closer at the pic I notice his face is dirty...and I don't think I made him wash those grimy little boy hands before he started helping, nice.

He wasn't the only "helper" I had in the kitchen...Savannah was close by invading the 'I don't have a place for it anywhere else' drawer, don't worry I was watching her...most of the time. And she was in heaven with all the clinking and noise that stuff was making as she tried to grab anything those little fingers could reach. Unfortunately she dropped and broke the only ladle I own so dishing out the soup became a little more challenging.

Look at that proud face! He even built up a good sweat in the kitchen. Maybe he will be a little cook...his future wife will be so grateful to me. I would have been thrilled if Rick had been taught to cook (no offense Lynda...or Rick). Not that I mind cooking...just would have been nice... :)

First Tooth!!

I knew something had to be going on because my perfect little baby had been a little fussy for the past few days...runny nose...wanting to nurse more than normal, etc. I kept checking for a new tooth but nothing...and then finally yesterday I saw that tiny little white tooth poking through. I was just glad my suspicions were confirmed and that she wasn't turning into a fussy clingy baby.

Okay, I know this picture looks totally ghetto but I thought it was so cute. Before I comment on why she was in the box I must explain that my house does not look like this normally. This is the girls' room and we were going through ALL their clothes to get rid of stuff they didn't like and things they have outgrown...hence all the trash bags and boxes full of clothes. Anyway, I left the room for a few minutes and when I returned I found Savannah like this...happy as can be...playing in the box with Neil's "claw" toy he got for his birthday. The girls stuck her in the box and thought it was cute and funny and of course she loved it...she goes along with whatever they want to do to her and she does it with a smile (see what I mean about the perfect baby?...she's still trying to make up for the torturous pregnancy she put me through!).

Glad that's over with...

Neil turned 4 last week. I naively thought I could get away with an easy party with a few of Neil's little friends. He wanted to have it at his grandparents house and for that I was grateful. They have much more room and they have a pool for the kids to swim in...so I wouldn't have to come up with any games either, nice.

A few friends quickly turned into about 10 or 11 little boys...even that would have been okay except that all those boys have siblings and in the end we had about 17 kids there, 20 if you count the babies. My stress level was rising every minute during the party. I was worried about my in-laws nice home with all those wet little bodies and not to mention the chocolate icing and ice cream. I just tried to keep everyone outside and thankfully everything was fine. The pic above is Neil sword fighting some of his friends...his favorite thing to do in the whole wide world.

Here is Neil on Rick's shoulders about to do his famous belly flop. He was acting pretty wild during his party...definately not my shy little boy anymore. He loved all his toys and even added a few swords to his already large sword collection (obsessed!).