Our Summer Bucket List

In an attempt to do really fun things with the kids all summer long, we asked the kids to come up with list of things they wanted to do together.  After that we got a big poster and listed them all out with a calendar of dates already set!  We are having a blast this summer.  We started out by getting new bikes for the kids and a bike trailer for Baby Girl to be pulled in.  This has provided hours of family fun! 

Here is our "Bucket List".  The ones with * next to them, we have already done!  Many of them will be repeated.

Summer Reading Program*
Art*
Play Teacher*
Eat Healthy Stuff*
Go to a party if invited
Keep our rooms clean*
Be safe*
Play the piano
Play outside*
Make a cake
Play with friends*
Go to a restaurant
Go to Jump House
Feed Pets*
Go Bowling
Go Swimming*
Go on a Bike Ride*
Go to the Library*
Go camping in our camper
Go to the Aquirium
Go to the Zoo
Go to a Park*
Exercise*
Plan a party with friends
Go to the Theatre
Stay up late, eat pizza and watch a movie
Go to Museum
Play date with Gabe
Go to local favorite play place
Go look at pet store animals
Dinner with Missionaries*
Go fishing
Go to Grandma Kunz's house without mom
Make a new treat (doing this on July 4!!!)
Make ice cream
Find a new park
Gymnastics*
Swimming Lessons*

We are looking forward to a great summer!  I feel like now that we have hit the month of July our summer is half over with, we go back to school in 6 weeks, BIG BUMMER!!!  We have too much fun playing together!

Our 4th of July Celebrations!

This year was so much fun for our family. We actually went out and participated in the world! In the past it seems that we do one or two things or Master Chief is working and Mama doesn't want to attempt all the festivities alone with 3 kids! However with Master Chief's awesome new position we were able to have him home so we could party, and that's just what we did!

We started our day in festive colors! Not really 4th of July clothing, but still red, white and blue! We got our pockets full of plastic bags so we could collect candy at a local parade!!! And off we went. We got to the parade about an hour and a half early so we could get a good spot. Master Chief was a genius and planned a lunch for us and we sat there in the heat and waited. Now, one might think that sitting in the heat waiting for a parade to start might be boring. But not for us!!! We giggled, we played and Mama took pics! Her lips crack us up in this one! She was caught in the middle of eating her chips!We did find a small rock to sit on for shade, and took turns sitting in the shade!!!And then there was silly Kermit. Kermit decided Mama had enough pics and he made it a game to try to hide from the camera. Gotcha!!! You can't hide from me!Mama's cousins joined us just as the parade began and since it was a water parade she put her camera away.

The parade was fantastic. They would spray you from their floats and toss out candy. We couldn't ask for a better experience. That is until Kermit decided to retaliate! A gentleman handed us all a COLD bottle of water and then a group of girls from a local softball team were
on the next float. Kermit saw this as a golden opportunity. He opened his bottle of water and ran up to the girls on the float and started splashing his water out at them. Well they came prepared and they all had super soakers and they aimed right for him!!! It was so funny! Leave it to our little Casanova to get the girls!

After the parade we went straight over to our little town water park. They have a splash pad which Baby Girl enjoyed when she wasn't trying to run away in the water where Kermit and Miss Piggy were playing. She's fast! She doesn't want to be held in the water and in true Baby Girl fashion, she thinks she's 6 1/2 and can go where her older siblings are. EEKS!!!

In the mean time, Miss Piggy quickly got cold and sat out in the sun with Master Chief and Kermit wanted to go down the water slide. Thank goodness for Mama's cousins to be there... we were out numbered! They took Baby Girl while I stood at the bottom of the slide to catch Kermit. It didn't take too long before Kermit didn't even need me at the bottom. He'd fly off the slide, go under water, pop up and swim over to me!!!

Once we finally decided we'd had enough water fun we headed back to our house for dinner. Master Chief had been preparing ribs for us and man were they good!!! We had ribs, corn on the cob, garlic and rosemary potatoes, rolls and homemade pumpkin cheesecake (that Master Chief claims is better than The Cheesecake Factory!!! Thank you sweetie, that made my day!) Baby girl thought the ribs were so good! Uncle Paul, this one is for you. Master Chief thought you might like these pics.After our feast we went over to our extremely awesome home teachers house and partied with them. They had bounce house water slides and Kermit was in heaven!!! Miss Piggy didn't want to get wet and be cold but Baby Girl... well there was no stopping her!

Once we got them dried off they did a few fireworks, the poppers and sparklers. Mama was trying to learn some new things with her camera and this was the best shot she got... She has a lot to learn, lol! We all went home exhausted and happy! Happy 4th of July to our family and friends!

Random Thoughts

A few fun, yet totally random thoughts... But it's a Monday, so it's okay!

-Miss Piggy loves to wear skirts and dresses. I am not sure where she gets this from because I hate to wear a dress! Today I told her that she would be best to wear shorts since I was planning a trip to the park with the kids. A few minutes later I found her curled up in her bed in tears because she just really wanted to wear a skirt. Luckily I found a skirt with shorts attached and we were both happy!

-Kermit cracked me up today. We were at Michaels and he wanted to push Baby Girl in the cart. As we were leaving, there was a lady right in the middle of the doorway who was not paying attention to the fact that nobody could get around her. So Kermit kindly said, "Excuse me." I was relieved that he used his manners and didn't just plow through her!!! So I complimented him in using his manners. Once we got to the car he went to put the cart away and once again said, "Excuse me" because he wanted around me. As we were backing out of our parking spot I had my head turned so I could see behind me and I caught Kermit's eye. So I stuck my tongue out at him. (we are always teasing each other and I thought I was being funny) Kermit said, "Mom, that's not using your manners." I thought to myself, 'dang, he's right!' And then Kermit said in a very reflective tone, "I used my manners once..... NO, I've used them twice!!!" and it sounded like in his whole life he's only used them once... no twice! It made me laugh!!!

-Baby Girl. I can't post random things without mentioning something about her, but I don't have anything huge to mention this time. But I will make note that she likes to strip down naked. She was taking her pants off at the book store a month ago. Last night she was butt naked when Miss Piggy called me to come in and dress her. This was after a few days ago I caught her tearing clothes off to make it to the potty. Too bad she didn't do anything on the potty... I really need to potty train her, I just don't want to! That's what the month of July is going to be for!

-Master Chief. He's my geek. Currently at work he's training a robot. A real robot. Pretty cool, huh! Pretty geeky too!

-Me. I'm up to no good. Housework, laundry, dreaming of my upcoming vacation, teaching the kids piano, housework, laundry, dreaming of my upcoming vacation, weeding the yard, ect. Nothing new here! I am looking very forward to a week of scrapbooking with my mother in law and sisters in law at a condo for a week!!! Miss Piggy will be coming up for a day and a half and she's giddy with excitement! We can't wait.

Monster Jam Truck Show!

We decided that it would be fun to take the older two kiddos out for a date with mom and dad without Baby Girl. So we hired our favorite babysitters and off we went! We stopped at Subway for dinner to begin with because that is one of Kermit and Miss Piggy's favorite places to eat. After that we were off! The questions were coming left and right, "How big are these trucks?" "Can they run over our car?" "Could they run over our house?" "Is the truck bigger than dad?" It was so exciting! We arrived, found our seats and the fun began!Kermit liked all of them. He sat there just taken by the whole thing and of course being a boy and destroying the Grave Digger hat we bought him. But I think he really liked El Toro Loco, the winner of the night!Mama's favorite was Captain America. He wasn't afraid to play a little and have some fun, take some risks!Miss Piggy's favorite was Monster Mutt. His ears would flap in the air and he had a cute tail!Master Chiefs favorite was Jurassic Attack. It was so much fun to go out and have a little big kid fun. We all missed Baby Girl though!

Introducing.... Bandit!!!

I never thought we'd see this day, lol! I never wanted an inside dog since we just got brand new carpet!!! I never wanted to have to clean up after a puppy while I had kids to clean up after! But yet I've always wanted a puppy!

Miss Piggy is terrified of dogs. So when a neighbor stopped us last week and asked us if we wanted a puppy, my first response was "No!" But then I mentioned it to Master Chief and he thought it would help Miss Piggy and he thought that every boy needed a dog. So, we went and took a look at him. I instantly liked him! We brought the kids over and they fell in love... even Miss Piggy did!

So we are now the proud owners of a 4 month of Shih Tzo named Bandit, who is already house broke!!! We took him to get his hair cut, bought him a traveling box, a collar, leash, dog bowl and doggie treats. I guess it's official, we are a dog family now!

The best part, Miss Piggy isn't afraid anymore! Kermit thinks it is so cool to have a dog! And Baby Girl thinks he is her own personal play toy!!! Secretly, I think Master Chief is loving having a dog and I'm pretty happy about it too!

A New Year!!!

Please forgive our lack of posts. We've been so busy we didn't even send out Christmas cards this year. We have new family pictures, taken in May and we've not even printed them since we've had to do our own editing on them and that's been a 'learn as we go' type method! So very soon we'll have them all up, but here is a taste..And since we are updating... I've changed my hair color... and the only reason I mention this is because I have gotten more comments about my hair this time around then ever before when I've colored it red. I'm not sure what this means, lol! What else... Christmas!!! Christmas 2010 was an experience to say the least. Master Chief had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What a bummer! Luckily a guy at work who had Christmas Day off, offered to come in and work until 8am, so Master Chief could be home in the morning with the kids. That was great and we were so excited to be able to share the mornings activities with Daddy. However, all good plans don't always work out the way we expect them to! We got the kids up at 6am, thinking the kids would be dying to get up and come out to see what Santa brought them. Instead they were sleepy eyed, half dead, very tired children. They've been dying to fly on an airplane, so we arranged to have them fly to Mama's parents house so that Kermit could go see the Harlem Globetrotters and so Miss Piggy could go to the American Girl Doll store. Baby Girl gets to come along for the ride to eat all of Gram Gram's chocolate! Seeing that this gift is awesome and exciting, we expected them to jump for joy, scream in excitement and go crazy!!! Mama got the video going on her phone so she could capture this fabulous moment and the reaction was about as exciting as a dead fish. Both kids were so tired, they didn't understand what they were doing, and their words were, "oh". Wait!!! Where were my screams of excitement? My squeals of joy? They were just not awake.

After all the presents were unwrapped, it was time for Master Chief to go to work and it was time for Mama to clean up all the mess, assemble all the toys and make breakfast. However, the kids and I worked together, we played with toys and we had a great day! I offered them a nap, and they quickly refused, finally excited to play with their toys!

2011 was rung in with 2 delighted kids that got to stay up late to see the new year in! Master Chief had to sleep since he was once again going to work the holiday and Mama had a nasty cold! It was so fun to see the older kids so excited to see the fireworks and festivities.

This year will be an exciting year. Master Chief's little brother comes home from his mission for our church in February and Mama's little brother will be leaving for his mission sometime after his 19th birthday in June.

This year, if Kermit has his way, he'll be learning to drive. Miss Piggy will become a kindergarten teacher, specializing in art and Baby Girl will be taking care of babies all day. Master Chief will be conquering all things Halo, and Mama will be hiring a maid! We can all dream, right!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family. Stay tuned for a blog giveaway soon!!!

Our Vacation in Picture... Many Pictures!

We traveled to Mama's house for our vacation this year. Her little brother was graduating from High School, receiving his Eagle award and his Duty to God. We drove long enough that we were able to get a hotel each way and swim, which of course made the kids excited!

On our first day there, we took the plunge and got both of the girls' ears pierced!!! They both did really good and we are happy with the outcome! Miss Piggy also got her hair cut. This pic also shows a lovely rash that came with us due to immunizations on Baby Girl!We visited a local zoo. It is hands down the best zoo we've ever been to. Gram-Gram took them on the carousel! The pics of Kermit and Miss Piggy didn't turn out.The kids got to pet a baby wallaby.The kids rode in style... convertible style!We attended the Children's Museum and everyone had a ball! Baby Girl had her own huge play area and loved every minute of it!Kermit had some fun assembling a tractor with his uncle made out of recycled goods.The kids had an art studio with aprons and all!There was a fun dance studio with costumes.A bubble lab where they put on scientist clothing and went to work.There was a grocery story where you could either buy food or be a cashier along with a restaurant they got to cook at!A vet clinic where some poor kitty cat of Mama's had a bazillion shots!It was so much fun!!! We of course went skydiving as well... but you've already seen those awesome pics and my video!!! Mama wants to go again!