Summer is flying by

I know it's still July, but looking at the calendar we have three more weeks of summer until we start school! I told this to the girls on the way home from the beach and Hannah couldn't have said it better, "Man, the summer has flown by!" I agree girl. Everywhere you look, tv, mail flyers, etc. you see back to school sales. Before we know it, Halloween decorations will be on the shelves. Has it flown by to you?

Last ones.

Daddy and Rebecca burying Leah's legs

The view of our pool from the top deck
Leah playing in the sand
Rebecca thought she would give the boogie board a try...didn't last too long!
By the end of the week, Hannah needed a good nap on the beach.
One of my favorite parts was the go-carts. The first go round I drove Hannah and Jimmy drove Rebecca. Hannah didn't like it too much, she doesn't like it when I run into everyone! Rebecca loved it. Jimmy said she started grinning as soon as he hit the gas and didn't quit until they stopped! Leah begged me to take her. I was scared to let her ride b/c she is only three, but she begged and when I told her she was too young she said, "Mommy, I promise I won't fall off!" So I gave in and let her ride with me the second time. Just like Rebecca, she grinned from ear to ear the entire ride. She was grinning and laughing so much she couldn't stop. Even when we rammed Rebecca and Daddy into the wall! She loved that...we high fived over that one! The Soper's were there that night and Vickie videotaped it, so I will have to go over and watch it soon.

Almost done..

While we were there, we celebrated my nephew Ryan's tenth birthday and on Friday Christmas in July. For that we all brought tacky presents and did Chinese Christmas (I think that's what it's called) where you draw numbers, pick a gift or exchange with someone who has already opened a gift. That was funny! Some of the family brought Christmas decorations, so the upstairs of one of the cottages was decked out for Christmas, along with Christmas music. In some of the pictures below you can see that the kids had a good time taking Frosty's attire and trying it on for themselves.

Rebecca, my niece Emily, Hannah, and my niece Maggie

My nephew Ryan, my sister Michelle, her husband Mike, and my niece Abigail
Leah dressed up as Frosty the Snowman
Leah posing for her picture
Abigail dressed up as Frosty the Snowman

More from OBX

Jimmy did a little fishing and caught some beautiful fish!

A trip to the beach isn't complete without a trip to the aquarium.

Rebecca enjoying the water
Hannah playing in the waves.
Leah playing in the sand (her favorite part).

We've been swimming in the pool all summer, but it took a trip to the beach for her to get the courage to learn to swim. Here she is after just learning that she could do it.

I'm back!!

Vacation is over and we had a great time! We had thirteen adults, nine children, and two cottages. My mom's brothers (except for one), their wives, my aunt, and my cousin and her husband all came from NY to get the OBX experience. One of the cottages had a pool and a hot tub, and the trek to the beach was about two blocks, so the kids had a great time. We were also very close to American Pie where we enjoyed ice cream a couple of nights.

This is a picture of all of us. We snatched a vacationer from next door to do the honors of taking our picture.

Here are all of the kids...we were on our way to get ice cream.

Jimmy and I

Hannah and Rebecca enjoying their tastey treat.

Leah and daddy

I have a bunch of cute pictures, but I don't have time to put them on my computer right now. Instead I need to go to bed...off to work early in the morning (the crack of dark). Then on Sunday we're heading out to the beach for a week...yay!! Originally Jimmy was not going to be able to go, but work called last week and they were able to give him the week off. I was so excited. My mom's family from NY are here, they got in today, and we are all going to the beach together. We haven't all been together in years.

My kids have really been into watching home movies lately. Yesterday we were watching one of when Hannah, my oldest, was a year old. At that time I use to babysit a little boy named Cole a few months older than her. They were so cute together! Anyway, coincidentally (sp?), while we were watching the movie, Cole, his brother and dad came by. We haven't seen the boys in a long time and we found the part in the movie where Hannah and Cole were sitting on the floor feeding each other cereal. They both laughed, but you could definitely feel their embarrassment. Poor things! Wait until they are both 19 or 20 and we pull this movie out again!! I wouldn't dare....or would I??? I got some good pictures of all the kids playing together yesterday. I'll post some when I get back, along with some from our vacation. Until then.....

I'm still here!

I know I've been bad about blogging the last couple of weeks, but I have been so busy. However, I finally have all of my books ordered for school! Yay! I've been pretty stressed about this. There is no special curriculum you have to order. Instead there are tons and tons to choose from, and I don't do well with too many choices. I've spent the last couple of weeks tearing through the internet reading up on all sorts of different curriculums. And last night I ordered the last of our books. I'm pretty excited! I even ordered a book on character education. I think it's vital for my girls to learn the importance of good character. Our classroom is slowly coming along. I'll take a picture when it's done. We have the desks, but two need to be painted. Those two were old school desks from Woodland Olney. Jimmy and I told the girls that these were desks at the school daddy and I went to. They thought that was pretty neat and wondered if they were our actual desks. I wasn't the type to carve my name on desks, so I can't be certain! But I doubt it.

Girls Girls Girls

I can't believe I even have time to type this....eight girls today!!! I know Jimmy is glad he had to go to work! Actually, it's not that bad. They all didn't get here until 12:00 and have been playing good together.

Hannah's first top tooth gone!

This is Hannah attempting to bite into an apple and nock her tooth out...it didn't work.

Aunt Kim decides to step in and yank it out...ouch!
Second attempt at yanking it out. You can tell Hannah is slightly nervous.
Ta da!!

And the tooth fairy remembered to come!

Have you ever wondered...

what a three year old's manicure and pedicure would look like if they did it themselves? Well, wonder no longer...here are pictures of Leah after giving herself a makeover!

Fox

Anyone remember the swimming pool game "fox"? As a kid, we use to play this game all the time. Well now my little 7 and 5 year old are playing this. Rebecca doesn't play too much because she gets tired out too easily, but Hannah on the other hand...man, Jimmy had to make her sit out a game or two the other day just so she could catch her breath. She LOVES it!! Besides Rebecca, Hannah is the youngest one that plays so they all kind of let her off easy and a lot of times she is the winner. I don't think she realizes that they are letting her go..lol. It's neat watching my little ones playing a game that I, as a child, use to live for and for them to enjoy it as much as they do. Now don't get me wrong, I still like playing fox, but my legs can't handle climbing in and out of the pool like they use to! The next day after playing a couple of games I wake up to a lot of black and blue spots! But that's the price you pay if you want to play. :0)

This is for you Shelley!

I know I've been bad about blogging in the last week. I really have no excuse. I've been pretty busy on the computer, but it's been homeschool stuff. And we've been spending a lot of time at the pool. I did, however, make a cake last week. I forgot to take pictures, so I had to wait until the recipient of the cake sent me pictures. The little girl wanted an Aloha Scooby Doo cake. I was not very comfortable about making the scooby doo, so she bought the scooby and the palm trees. So, it's the ocean, the beach, and an island with a volcano on it. She said everyone fought over the volcano. Wouldn't you know it...it was the smallest! Oh, I did make the surfboard. I know, it looks like a remote, but it is a surfboard.

Welcome...

Michele!!! I knew you couldn't resist! We just wouldn't leave you alone, would we? I'm looking forward to visiting yet another "blogger friend" site. I have a link to her if anyone would like to check her out and say "hey". Good luck Michele, and happy posting!