The waterpark

Last week, we took the kids to one of the last days that our local water park was open. "Santa" had gotten the kids season passes for Christmas last year. I think it might have been one of the best gifts I have Santa has ever gotten.

The kids commented so many times during the summer how glad they were to be able to go. We would pack a lunch and head out. (I only made the mistake of buying lunch at the park 1 time.....I will NEVER do that again. 2 slices of pizza, a corn dog, 3 drinks, and a funnel cake cost $28. Ridiculous.)

  Some days I would take Emma, and some days she would spend some time with Grandpa S. She did pretty good, but some days I just knew that she either needed a nap or that it was just way to hot to take her. I am very thankful that Grandpa was willing to watch her.

( The 1 draw back from having such a gap in age in the kids is that the older kids want to go go go and don't always understand the needs of a baby. )

I am thankful for the good summer. I am sad that these are the only pictures I was able to get this summer at the water park. I just didn't want to leave my camera unattended while we were off having fun. :(

I can feel the seasons shifting, and I am now very much looking forward to fall. It has been cooler the past couple days. Very perfect if you ask me. But this weekend it is supposed to get hot again. :( Like I said, I am ready for fall.

summer days

I think I have lost track at what number day we are with the number of days we have with temperatures over 100.

With days like this I am so very thankful for friends with a pool.

Emma girl has sure enjoyed it.

Well....most days. :)

Maddie and Nathan have enjoyed cannonballs.

And being flipped..........

off Daddy's shoulders.

I L.o.V.e this picture.

Well....

and this one.

Ok. and this one.

She is trying to sit up all by herself.

She can stop any time now.

Really.

I am so thankful for this little swing. She loves it.

This is what she did the other day.........................

When we were doing......

 
                                                               this.

                                 This was after the water balloon fight we had.
                                                        Maddie and I won.

Happy Hot Summer days.

A family day

Yesterday, was a lovely family day.

We putzed around the house in the morning and then went swimming in the afternoon.

It was just us at the pool which was nice.




I think the kids LoVe it when Daddy is at the pool to play with.




Sissy is trying to master the backwards backflip. She is really getting good at it. Brother tried to do it and then did a back flop which hurt his back and then he was done with it. :)




Since Daddy didn't have to work last night we decided to take advantage of the beautiful evening and we went to a beautiful little park that we found a couple weeks ago. It is actually an old mill.

It is a beautiful place to go to.





There is a little creek-runoff thing that goes from the pond area down to the actual creek. The kids had fun wading and skipping rocks.

Dada was nervous at first. She thought she might fall.



But Daddy came and helped her cross and she was just fine after that.




She tried to cross in her flip flops. It didn't quite work out!! :)



We saw a little girl who caught a HUGE toad. I'm surprised that Brother didn't ask her if he could have it. I had NEVER saw a toad that big. Her cousin also caught a turtle.






There were all kinds of crawfish in the creek. They would hide in between all the rocks when they saw us coming.

Hunny tried to catch 1 to show the kids.

But didn't quite get it.

Some of them were HUGE!

I had never seen a crawfish before. I thought they lived more in the south.



I love this picture of Dada.



I told also LoVe this picture!




So that was our day. I really enjoyed our time at the park. Although there were other people there, it was very peaceful and relaxing.

So what's so hard about 10 kids anyway.

Warning......Picture overload

Yesterday, I had to prove to a couple of my friends that having so many kids wasn't such a big deal. I mean once you've had 1, what's 9 more right?!?!

I thought that the best place to prove this was in the liquid babysitter.

When I woke up for the day at the crack of dawn, it was overcast and looked like it could rain at any moment. I started praying that the Lord would hold off the rain until later that afternoon so the kids could swim.

I think my 1st failure in this feat was asking my sister Joy to help me. But I thought that safety won out in the whole....I have to beat you attitude. ;) I thought it would be better to have another set of eyes and hands with so many kids in the water.

By 9 in the morning the kids were already bored to death and wondering when they could get in the water.

I figured why not. So in they went at 9:00.





Ei Yi Yi....the jumping. I think there was contest after contest after contest of jumping into the pool.

Even Carl and Nora got into the act. I was so proud that they overcame their fear and did it!!






I was so thankful for the Lord's guidance. For some reason, I thought the girls should check their sugar around 10:00. Thankfully I did b/c Dada's sugar was in the 60's but Kate's sugar was 24. Yes, you read that right.....it was 24. She was acting fine, and no symptoms, but 24 is a scary #.



Later on it was lunch time. The kids were so hungry, I think we ate around 11:00.



I had brought our tent so they could play if they got bored with the pool. so the girls all ate in the tent. It was their "hut."



Then it was Popsicle time.

I think that Tancy's #1 looks funny in this picture!





I LoVe Nora's look on her face here!!





Time for more swimming......



Nap time for Josie!! :(

I tried to tell her that MOMMY was MAKING me do it.

That didn't exactly matter to her. She still wanted to be out with the kids.

She only fought sleep for a minute and was soon on dreamland!!






As the afternoon wore on the kids started getting a little tired. The kids got along great all day. Their was only a couple tears.



Like I said, I was so thankful that Joy was able to help me. It was just comforting to know that I had an extra set of hands if I needed them. And hey, who doesn't like to spend the day by the pool!!



Oh yes, the jumping continued all day.



Even Joy got into it!!



After work, Daddy came over to swim. It was so hot and humid that day that I'm sure that jumping into that pool was such a relief.



Hunny was immediately attacked by the kids wanting him to throw them into the water. I don't think he had a moments rest the whole time he was in the water. But I don't think he minded it a bit!!

Especially when Nora asked in her adorable little voice....but not too high!! :)



By 4:20, we had 2 simultaneous meltdowns. I still don't quite know why Josie was crying. Maybe she was just sympathetically crying for Carl, who we think either got a cut on his foot or a bee sting. We still aren't for sure.

But there I sat holding them both. Until it rained. At 4:30. Right when their Mom came to pick them up.

The Lord answered my prayer. It didn't rain until everyone was ready to go home. THANK YOU LORD!!!



So to all those just dying to know if I survived. Yes I did.

Just barely........and after sleeping 12 straight hours last night I feel as good as new!!!

Oh, BTW, I think I will stick with just 2!! ;)