To jump or not to jump?

That is the question on my young Luke's mind here.

I was leaving my friend Nancy's house the other day after her end of the year back yard bash when storm clouds started rolling in. As I was leaving I was telling her how one of my favorite things to do is to run in the rain and how I never seem to do it anymore. I used to hear rain and immediately head outside to puddle jump but over the last few years it seems like whenever I hear rain I go running for shelter.

Anyway, I was thinking about this as I drove home and when I pulled into my drive way I thought what the heck and I ran out into the pouring rain. Lily being the adventurous little thing that she is ran right along with me saying "this is fun Mom, we're all wet" Luke on the other hand stood in the garage for a good long while before he was ready to make that kind of commitment.
above picture-"hmmm should I do this"
below- "I guess I'll try"

and finally a full commitment from the little man. And then of course he had so much fun that he didn't want to come in.



And no Emily Lily is never fully clothed, shirt or pants take your pic, and sometimes neither

not such a great pic but proof that I was wet.

So next time it rains, and especially Kentucky rain, I am not going to care if my hair is freshly flat ironed or anything, I am going to walk, jump, run and or possibly sing in the rain...I suggest that you do the same

Wave pool

Who needs a fancy wave pool when your mom is so cool that she will buy you your very own blow up pool that is almost big enough to fit your big toe in.

So I'm just dumb and bought the first pool that I saw and got it home only to realize that it was meant for dolls, oh well my kids love it and they even ask me to get in with them, look at all that space to lounge in!

Oh well they love it. And then when we are done swimming we go into the pool house and Luke makes us all Naked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Ahh the life



I love summer!




ps, Mom (or whoever else cares) there are a bunch of new post's before lily's hair cut one, but I posted them out of order!!

She's got skills

Last Saturday my worst nightmare happened, my darling little dear decided that she wanted to be like her Mama and try her hand at cutting hair...HER HAIR!!! And yes I am admitting that my worst nightmare is that vain, judge me, whatever. I came into her room and there she was scissors in hand the little devil. All I did was look at her and say LILY!!! and she burst out into tears. The crazy part was that she seriously has skills. I don't know how but all she managed to do was to cut a perfectly straight hunk of bangs.

I mean seriously look at that!!! I swear I did not touch them. No big hunks cut right down to the scalp or anything, it's like she had a mirror or something. I have had adults come to me that have cut their own bangs and done a way worse job than her. I guess that she just really wanted bangs and she knew that I would never give them to her so she went and did it herself. Nice and THICK. The only time she has worn them down was for these pics, our best friends are clippies and headbands now. Can I just whine for a minute? I had finally grown out her baby bangs and all of her hair was finally one length boo hoo and now her bangs won't fit in braids tear, sob. Ok I'm done, it could have been a lot worse. And hopefully I have instilled the wrath of you know what in her if she ever does it again, but if she's anything like her mother it won't be the last time, I stopped letting my mom touch my hair by age 4.


oh and why do I have a picture of my toilet filled with toys and a flooded floor you may ask?? Well that my friends is for your viewing pleasure. No we are not trying to save money by washing things in the toilet. This is what I came in to find after telling the kids not to play in the toilet and do not dump water all over the floor, um yah I was gone for like 4 minutes. That isn't the entire story of one of my craziest days as a mother but let's just say that the day started with the kids in Time out and ended with them in time out. You fill in the blanks, and be creative cause Lily sure is let me tell you!

Let's camp

We went camping over Memorial day weekend with some friends of ours the Mendez's. I love camping. I love sleeping out side, I love that cooked over a fire even a hot dog tastes good, I love eating a tin foil dinner, I love that my kids think that sleeping in a tent is the coolest thing ever, I don't even mind the bugs that get in your food or the fact that you are always somewhat filthy the entire time. Anyway so we packed up all of our kids and decided to go camping

Luke and Gabe, best buds. My favorite part of the weekend may have been when we were hiking out and Gabe had to carry his own backpack and he says to me "Why doesn't Luke have to carry his back pack?" and I really had no answer but Ramsey piped in "cause he's Lazy" thanks hon, you took the words right out of my mouth.

A fun little waterfall we played at. We went to the red river gorge, a beautiful place here in Kentucky.

And no we were not swimming in a huge pond of pee, it just looks that way.




Sweet little Ivy just crashed in her camp chair.

I didn't really get any good pictures of the adults, but here is Ramz and Tony packing up the tent that Karen and I set up, and yes they were on a hill and rolled down it all night, just added to the fun!
Such a fun time and we definitely want to do it again, only next time we won't go to a place where we have to pack all of our gear in. That part was crazy!! Let's just say that Karen and I went early with the kids while the guys were at work. Um yah a hike that normally takes like 30 min took us 2 hours!!! Ahhh it was crazy, we were loaded up like pack mules and then we had 5 kids. By the time we made it to our camp we were both drenched in sweat and delirious with laughter. The kids were all "why are you guys laughing?" and we both were like "so we don't cry!!" hahah I can laugh now, and once we were there it was fun, but it was seriously the craziest thing and we have all decided that next time we are camping at a nice little public campground right next to the van thank you very much!
ahh it makes for good memories

Thunder

In April we went to Thunder over Louisville again. We went last year and now I think it will be a little family tradition. How could you resist thousands or people hanging out down by the river and having to pee in the most disgusting porta potties known to man?? Well we can't, and I think that all of the crazy/smelly/carnie people just add to the fun, don't you?

And yes Luke was there but for some reason he hated the air show, he thought the big fighter jets were too loud so he just chilled in the stroller the entire time.



The air show was really cool, all the latest military jets I think I would die if I flew in one of those things







Then of course there was the fireworks show, AMAZING, I can't even describe how insane it is. It's pitch black out and the fire works completely light up the sky. We were getting sprayed with Ash.









Anyway all in all a fun day. And yes I leave the place feeling so filthy that you need 80 showers to get clean again but whatever I'm sure we'll go next year!


And this was me in the van on the way up, I braided my hair and couldn't decide if it I liked it and Ramsey was no help so I took a pic of myself to see if it was any good. I also have a habit of checking myself out in people's sunglasses when I am talking to them. I just thought I'd expose my vanity, go ahead judge me hahaha

Swim Graduate????

in February, March and April we did swim lessons with Luke, every Monday and Wednesday and he loved them.


This was his little buddy Logan that was in his class (they were in ell together 3 times) He always loves the last day of class when they get to go on the boat, Good job Luke!!

It's just a shame that I don't know if he passed the last time or not cause his teacher never got me the sheet and I couldn't remember her name to have them find her so she could tell me. So he may or may not have passed but whatever, he had fun hahah

Dr. Fan

For the past year Ramsey worked with a guy from China named (don't make me spell his first name) Dr. Fan, he is in his residency to be a brain surgeon, but came to the U.S.A to get published in some study. He was here for an entire year without his wife so we liked to have him come over to our house now and again, and Luke and Ramsey would always take him grocery shopping. When it was time for him to leave his wife came over to join him and we went out to dinner. Our kids loved them and they kept on saying that they wanted to take Lily home to China with them. They were so sweet to our kids and hopefully someday we can go to China to visit them, it would be so fun.