Take Me Out to the Baga....

Did you see that America's Funniest Video where the kid is singing (at the top of his lungs), "Take me out to the baga, take me out to the game"???
We saw that years ago and we still can't hear that song and not sing it like the 3 year old!
So FRC-East (Josh's official place of employment or is it the dept. of the navy, or is it the Federal Government....I don't know???!!!)
Anyway, FRC-East had a family night at the Kinston Indians ballgame.
It is tradition for us to go every year.
This year we got a special treat and got to hang out with Iron Man for a little while. Yep, Josh's friend, Aaron went with us to the ballgame. And while he really is an iron man :), we also got to see a man in an Iron Man costume. Blake couldn't tell if this was a good thing or not.... We were also quite entertained with Scout - the mascot. We love watching for him and watching him do crazy things.

Madison actually wanted a hug from "Scott" this year and wasn't scared out of her mind!!!

Age 5 - Madison wants to go to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday and ends up hiding under a table with her hands over her head because Chuck E came out to greet her! Something about those big costumes.....

Age 8 - she is okay with it!
By the 2nd inning, the kids wanted to know if it was almost over. We had already eaten the hot dogs, chips and most of the drinks. They want more.

Tyler spots a giant hand/finger thing and is begging for one of those.

The girls spot Dippin' Dots and want that.

So decisions have to be made and the choices are either the giant hand/finger thing or Dippin'Dots (since they were both the same price - $5).

Here are Tyler and Blake with the decision they made....

Yah big hand/finger things!!!!

Madison's choice - Dippin'Dots.

Jamie and Josh's choice - Dippin'Dots. Hmmmmm.....

My choice was the Maola cookies and cream ice cream. (fyi - much better price for anyone going to the ballgame this summer!!! $2 a cup vs. $5 for Dippin'Dots)

It was a fun family night. Would have been even better if we had not sat in front of drunk and loud engineers!! AND if I had not sweated from 7-10pm. I am not a big fan of gettin' all shweaty!!

The best part of the night (and this tells you how hot it really was) - we are walking to the car and Blake says, "I have water in my butt." This translates to "it is HOT and there is sweat running down my butt!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! That is pretty bad for a kid that has on super absorbent diapers!!!

Dads' Tent Creations for the Kids

Maybe you should check out the other blog of the kids' creation first....
The kids had so much fun last week creating a tent house that they decided to do it again. Oh well, I never did repair the linen closet from the 1st attack.
Josh (our favorite engineer) decided to help them with their tent house today. It came equipped with hallways and rooms for every kid.
I especially love the "entrance" sign on the big red hand that is pointing to the entrance. Here is Madison close to her room. She loves her room because she was lucky enough to get the a/c vent!!! Oh yeah!
Yep, that is a mattress above her head.

I was even able to squeeze my big ole butt through the "hallway" and into the tent house. I am requesting a "reading room" next time. Of course it needs an MP3 player, little fridge and a Keep Out sign. :)

At first Bella was not allowed in to the tent house because she didn't read the signs but then Tyler grabbed her and let her come in for a while. (Maybe he read the signs to her???)

Look at those long skinny legs on that dog!!!! She got a good shave this week to keep her cool.

Here is the tent house architect.....

JOSH!!! Thanks for making the best tent house EVER!!!!

And on another side note, look at Madison's front teeth growing in!!!! I thought she would never get those teeth back. They were gone for some of 1st grade and all of 2nd grade!!!!

Welcome teeth (please behave and don't require braces!!!).

After 3 hours of the tent house, the kids are still in the playroom hanging out.

Josh and I are sitting in the quiet living room enjoying QUIETNESS.

Yep, life is good!

Kids' Tent Creations

There was one day that we didn't go anywhere (at least not until 5pm that night) and I thought the kids were going to lose their minds. They actually had to get creative and come up with some of their own entertainment (thank goodness they put away the remote and video games!!!).
This is Tyler's blanket house....
Doesn't that look fun and bring back memories of the "good ole days"???And don't be judging that poor little plant in the background. Can I just tell you how much I love that plant and I just CAN'T throw it out even though it looks so pathetic. This is the peace lily that Josh brought up to the hospital when I had Blake. I just don't know what to do for that poor little thing. Any suggestions??? I tried a bigger pot, fertilizer, different room for different lighting...??? Help!!!


And this is a picture of Tyler with a paper that says "I made this". Just in case there were any questions!!!!

Jamie and Gabbie (with Tyler's help) made this house. It was equipped with everyone's own room. There was even a room for Tyler and Blake.

This took a LOT of chairs, blankets, sheets and pillows. I had to give in to my OCD ways and let them pull everything out. There is still a closet in my house that is in desperate repair of refolding sheets. Oh well - it was worth a great afternoon of imaginative fun!!

Brittany

Sorry about the sideways photo but............ We have a new little friend. Her name is Brittany. :)
Jamie and Madison love to dance with her and dress her up.
Look at those leg and arm extensions.....Wow! I'm impressed.


Wait a minute..... She kind of looks like my girls!!! What's going on here????

I know those eyes!!!! And that face is constantly yelling at me to fix some chocolate milk!!!!

OOOOHHHHH - it's our Blake!!!

Blake wakes up in the morning begging to "play Brittany". So the girls put him in a leotard and fix up his hair that would make Grandma Deanna proud. Then they crank up some tunes and get their groove on.

It'll be so funny to see his reaction when he is about 12 and he sees these pictures.

This really takes me down memory lane because when I was Madison's age, I would put bonnets and hairbows in my brothers' hair and make them put on a show. We do have pictures for proof!!!! (and to clarify - it was my younger brothers - Keith would NEVER let me do such a thing)

Don't let his "Brittany" act fool you. Blake is really ALL boy - cannonballs in the pool, making any and every item in the house a gun for shooting, stomping in the puddles, constantly driving little cars and planes around the house - ALL BOY! :)

Just don't tell Josh about this - oh never mind, he is the one who took the pictures!!!!! HAHA!

Summer Days with Crazy Hair!!

We are having a BLAST swimming and going to the beach everyday since the start of summer. Josh has been in Taiwan the past two weeks so we have just been hanging out trying to stay busy. It's so much easier for EVERYONE when we are busy!!
Here is little Blake who loves swimming around in the pool. He thinks he is just as big as everyone else! He loves swimming. All the kids do! Here we are at the pool. Between Carla and I, we had 10 kids at the pool (11 and under). She was taking care of a friend's child and I had Nic and Taleia with us. Looks like we have a daycare class with us!!! It's always an adventure!!!! They have fun together!

Before we left the pool, the girls gave us a fashion show with some fancy hair styles!!!! Grandma Deanna would be proud (or scared...). I was laughing so hard. Madison Miller is such a ham! They all are!!!

They proudly called this their "George Washington" style.

Here is Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.....

And last, but not least we have James Madison and John Adams.

Who knows what is next??? Stay tuned....

Mammoth Zucchini!

My neighbor gave us lots of zucchini and squash yesterday. She has more than she knows what to do with from her garden!!! I thought, "why aren't we getting all that?" Well, her garden is twice as big (maybe we'll expand next year...) and she probably checks her garden everyday. I have to admit that since it has gotten hot, that garden is on its own!!! We do water it everyday but the sprinkler is in place and we don't even have to walk back there to turn the water on. So today I went to check the garden out and boy oh boy, check out what I found.....

That is one big zucchini. I may not have A LOT of them but one of ours is like 4 or 5 put together!! I passed that big boy on to Carla for her family. She is going to make zucchini bread. Yummy!!! I hope she shares!!

Here is all that we were able to pull out of the garden today....


We are so excited to the see the "fruits of our labor"!!! I have a Garden Vegetable Pasta dish I am going to try out from a Pampered Chef recipe book. It includes all of our garden veggies we are getting right now. I wish our pepper plants would have come up because I just about cried yesterday when I had to pay $1.78 for a red pepper!!!!! Ouch.