Masi

On July 28, 2009 I took Masi to pick out an iPod. She earned $150 ALL BY HERSELF by doing chores around the house. I took her 7 months to save all of her money. I am so proud of her. She set a goal and stuck to it. She is such an amazing little girl.

I would like to share this story: I took the kids to the toy store to buy something with the allowance that they had earned. Lexie had saved her money and wanted to buy a special toy. While we were there Masi found a Brat Doll that she really wanted. I told her that she could buy it if she wanted but that would set her back $15 dollars. I continued to explain that it would take that much longer to get her iPod. She was so torn. She really wanted this doll. She held on to it with tears in her eyes the entire time we looked for Lexie's toy.

When we were all done shopping she carried it all the way up to the check out lane. She was clenching it to her chest. I told her to put it up on the belt if she wanted it. She held on for a moment longer while she decided what she really wanted to do. She hesitated for just a second then gave it to the clerk to put back on the shelf. It ripped my heart out. I wanted so badly to just buy her the doll. It was only $15 dollars. But what lesson would she learn?

I am so proud of her for the choice she made and was truly amazed at the willpower this sweet, little girl has. I honestly don't think I would've done the same thing at her age. She controlled her impulse to buy at age SIX!!! She left the toy store without a new toy in tow, while her older sister and younger brother skipped happily along with theirs. What a big girl.

Masi,

I love you very much and you make me very proud everyday. I'm so glad God sent you to our family.

Love,
Mom

Lava

Lori, Craig, and I decided to take our kids to Lava. I always get stressed out in Lava, though, because it's so deep and I get nervous trying to keep track of all my children. But we had fun and we all helped each other out. Our family friend, Diana, joined us so we had 4 adults and 6 kids. Not too bad.

Ashton heading down the little slide.

HaydenThe three boys. Hayden, Tyke, and Ashton. Taking a little snack break.

I thought for sure Lexie would want to try out the new slide but NOPE. She wouldn't do it. So, they just went down the old ones and had a blast. I, on the other hand, tried out one of the new slides and I had the deepest wedgie EVER. It took me like an hour to pick it. :o/ Ha.

Masi and Tyke heading up the stairs to the slide. Tyke chickened out and came back down.

MasiLexie

Love this pic of Hayden

Ady

Masi

Lexie

Tyke

Sweet Days of Summer

It was so fun for the most of the fam to meet up and go to the 24th of July parade. It was a beautiful and very HOT day.

Here's most of the crew (l to r): Ady, Kesley, Kaiden, Kendall, Lexie, Kylie, Tyke, Hayden, Me, SpencerTenae and I were dying at this man with the PINK umbrella. Hmmm...? Masi loved the horses, of course. I like how the one has leg warmers! Very stylish. Lori, Moi, and Spencer

I always am so grateful I live in these days instead of the Pilgrim days. I would be very tired from all that walking! ;o)After the parade, Tenae and I thought it would be fun if we went to the Marina, seeings it was so darn hot. I think it was like 98 degrees that day. Whew! HOT! So, we packed a picnic and headed out.

Kaiden and Tyke

Tyke, Kelsey, Kaiden, Kylie and Lexie
I love Kaidens swim gear!

Splish'n and a splash'n

To add to the fun, my Aunt Vennie showed up with her boat so we could ski and tube! Woo-Hoo!!

Kylie, Lexie, Kendall, Tyke, Dad, and Vennie

Craig and Tyke. Craig being a goofball, weird, I know.

Ashton

Me and Craig
Tenae, Kaiden, Masi, and DadLove this pic of Kylie and LexieKendallCraigTyke watching Craig ski. Look at his ski gloves. They're a bit large. He's so cute!

Ashty watching his Dad. Precious.
Sweet Masi
Ashton love'n the boat ride!

Check this out. As we were driving on the boat there were a bunch of ducks on the water. Nothing unusual, right? As we would get closer they would duck under water and out of sight. Well, these ducks were different. As we drove by, the didn't duck. They stayed afloat and hissed at us. We thought it was strange so we turned around and drove right up to them. They hissed and hissed then finally ducked under water. To our surprise we saw 2 tiny ducklings pop up out of the water! They were burrowed in each of their parents back feathers. They were warning us to stay back. Don't worry, the baby ducks were just fine. They swam back to each other and hopped back up onto the mom's back and off they went. It was so neat.

Stay away!

You can see the baby on the left of the picture. He's under the wing.Up popped the baby!

Made it back to MomHopped right back on.Their babies were safe and sound so we left them alone and they went on their merry way.