Random Visitor Pics

Here's some random fun photos of our crazy summer with all it's various and fun visitors. Ok so the various visitors were all family, which takes away a little from the actual variety, but only a little!

Aunt Becca indulging the kids in some nail painting. Jason wanted to get in on the action too! He had pink toenails for over a month! Maybe I should invest in some nail polish remover?

Even cute little Gracie got in on the action - she didn't sit still very long though, I hear

Here's all the toes! Anyone want to guess which kids are Mark's and which are Rob's? :)

Here's Grandma making biscuits with the kids (yes, I'm one on the 'kids' in this pic - she tries to pretend like I'm kinda grown-up, but we both know it's not true!)

'See girls, this is how you cut the dough...' She's good at explaining things like that. My own story usually goes 'no, you can't help - go bug your dad!'
(Ok, so I usually let the help, but it sure takes longer and sometimes I wish I could say that!)

I'm not sure what's going on here - but it was the only good picture I had of Rob and how are you supposed to tell his kids are the white ones in the above pictures if you don't know what he looks like? I guess I could have just said 'picture Adam Pottaby from 7 Brides' Oh well, enjoy the picture anyways.

Rob had a fun hat he was taking with him to New Zealand. Jason wanted to try it on. Someone pulled out the camera. Here's the result. I thought it was cute!

Dad got relegated to the 'kid table'. It's what happens when you have 8 kids and they grow up and have kids of their own and then come to visit. There's not enough room at the table. The way I see it - it's his own fault. He should have seen this coming and taken preventative measures. I guess it's a good thing he took it sitting down! ;)

Jason had a ton of fun playing with that cute Noah's Ark that G-ma S got for him

Sleeping! Lizzie got to sleep in the same room as her cousins! It mostly worked - and sometimes didn't I hear. I'm just glad someone finally got some use out of the bed!!

Of course a trip to Disneyland was in order. I'm not sure how I managed to only have this one shot from there - but here it is...
Ethan, JB, Shelly and Jason all Walking Right Down The Middle of Main Street

Oh, and I have this 1 1/2 second video too. That's really all I got...

Irvine Zoo

While Rob and Jenny were in town and before there was another baby to deal with, we all decided to go to the Irvine Park. Now, don't get confused. The park isn't actually in Irvine. I think it's actually in Orange. It's named for the man who used to own the land, not for the city it isn't in. It's a tiny bit of a drive (about 15 minutes), but it was well worth it!

Shelly and Jason fell asleep on the way there...

Here's a picture of me one day before my due date. I was rather large...
Apparently my mom-in-law wanted a picture of my backside because she says I didn't look pregnant from the back. I wouldn't know - I never looked (not that I could have seen if I'd tried). I mostly like this picture because it looks like Mark is checking me out. Really, he's just adjusting his glasses after bending down to set up and load the stroller, but I can dream right?
Because I was quite a bit pregnant and I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk very far, we brought my Grammy's wheelchair for me to use (don't worry - she didn't need it. She's been dead for years)
Here's a shot of our great new stroller! It was one of it's maiden voyages and we're in love with it! It's a double seater with a sit-n-stand part in the back. The kids had fun seeing who could sit where.

Inside the park are several different areas to play. There's a zoo, a train ride, pony rides, a lake, bikes to rent, grassy areas to play in, a play ground and more that we didn't have time/energy for.

There was a feeding/petting part of the zoo that the kids enjoyed. Becca had fun helping the nieces feed the goats.
Shelly finally caught on how to do it herself and was even brave enough! Lizzie did it alone too, but I don't have any pictures of it...
Jason kept forgetting to open his hand...
Even Gracie wanted to get in on the action
We happened to be there at the right time and they let us in to help brush the goats!
Rob doing his best to convince Grace that the animals were fun to pet and brush
Uncle Doug showing Shelly how to brush going with the hair, not against.
She wasn't having any fun. Why do you ask?
Jason thought it was quite the project.
Here he his asking his sister and cousin if he's doing it right.
And then he needed to find the right tools - or two of them
And proceed to brush the poor goat with two brushed in two different directions...Jenny and Lizzie seemed to enjoy the action too
Becca looks less enthralled
Elaine, Robert, Katie and I all had more fun watching than joining in. Dad and I seemed to have more fun sitting than standing. Katie seems to enjoy making faces at the camera-man/woman (I have no idea who took this picture)

Jason found a bunny hutch on the way out of the petting part of the zoo.
Next came a ride on the train. Katie and Jason took the front. Dad and Grace are in the seat just behind them. If you look closely through the background you can see where Mark & I ended up (well, just Mark is visible - but we sat next to each other, so assume I'm next to him)
The girls sat just behind us, with Rob and Jenny in the next row and Elaine behind them.
Just pretend they look excited... It's better that way.
Here's Shelly! That arm and piece of shirt you see next to the board isn't really there. Shelly really is that tall and didn't need Aunt Becca to help hold her up. Either that or I'm lying. One of the two - I'll let you decide... :)
We tried to get one a Jason, but he would only show us the back of his head. Not overly exciting. The twerp!

Professional photographers my kids are not...

But that doesn't stop them from having fun...

Just a small sampling of the awesome framing abilities of my kids... They'll be famous soon. Or not.

This one cracks me up every time! [she's surprised that the camera is on video mode...]


Seriously, the kid took about 2 dozen of these. He must have been hitting the button over and over again... I've spared you most of them, but had to show you two just so you could feel my pain

Adventures!

So, we grew a garden again this summer and decided to give corn one more shot. We were so hopeful and even planted a lot in hopes of the fertilizing working and everything. Here's our best ear of corn!

Now, granted, it had been sitting on our counter for a day or three, but it still looks super appetizing, doesn't it? Yea - we didn't think so either... I think we're done with corn.

I just love how cuddled up these two are...

Yea, he's asleep again. How does he do this?!?!

I inherited my mom's old camera when she decided she wanted a new one. Her new one didn't come with lenses, so she took the ones from her old camera and as far as I knew I was the only one with a camera that had lenses that matched. I've had quite a bit of fun playing with the different settings. This one is playing with the aperture. I'll spare you the others. They wouldn't be overly interesting to anyone else anyways.

While Katie was visiting we went to D-land and while we were waiting for something (probably Mark to run to the car as a favor for me) we sat and waited by a fountain. The kids had fun crawling up and down the retaining wall and 'dancing' to the music...

4th of July!

We have some fun traditions for 4th of July - mostly it consists of making homemade ice cream and watching fire works. Often we go watch the neighborhood parade (it's tiny - it consists of a hundred kids on bikes going up one block and then coming back on the other side of the street - but it's kinda cute and nice and short!). I decided to add something new this year. I made red, white and blue pancakes. Well, the white is more of a yellow color, and the red is more pink than red, and the blue looks closer to blue-green, and the colors aren't really obvious except around the edges, and they looked kinda gross to eat - but it's the thought that counts right?

The three colors on the plate - can you see what I mean about the colors looking off and slightly nauseating?

Mark stacked three together and started digging in... he humors me when I'm weird like that and make strange looking food.

Shelly snuggled up next to her daddy watching the 'parade'

Jason getting a great view from Uncle Doug's shoulders - Doug looks slightly less impressed...

He still looks uncomfortable, but slightly more patient - he's a good sport to have both kids on his shoulders! Shelly's more concerned with the sugar they tossed and she's consuming than with Doug's comfort levels.

New Zealanders

We had a tragic event happen in the family. One of our siblings has decided to abandon everything important and attempt - of all things - to provide for his family... He even chose to do this in the strangest way possible - by getting an education. I'm not sure I can support such wanderings from traditional paths. At least he had the brains to do it while going away - far far away - to New Zealand. That, I can support. Everyone I know does that. ... Or not!

Well, at least they decided to visit the Grandparents before they left. Luckily for us - we were there too! [I'm not sure they thought it was so lucky - but we sure had fun getting to see them!]

Lizzie, Jenny, Rob, Grace - we'll miss you!!

Shelly, Lizzie, Jason, Grammy feeding the ducks

Grace, with the food meant for the ducks

Lizzie found a great rock to climb on

Shelly wanted to go pant-less and bare-foot and join her

Shelly and Lizzie has a blast playing/fighting together! ;)

Somehow someone managed to get them all sitting together nicely (and quietly) for at least long enough to take a picture - I'm not sure how much longer than the 'click' it lasted though...

'The Girls'
[pretend that it looks like Shelly is hugging Lizzie, and not trying to strangle her]

Baby News

No, it's not here yet... I did have my ultrasound last week to see if they needed to induce early, but apparently it's not a concern. [the baby is measuring in the 60%] At the Dr's yesterday [it was a different person than I normally see - I get to see an actual Dr every other week (often a different one), and my normal midwife the rest of the time - weird...] I asked about the inducing thing, and [due to mis-communication] we went around in circles for a while. She kept thinking that my next appointment was the day before my due date - but it wasn't. She kept saying that they don't want to let gestational diabetics go past their due date, and I kept saying 'so that means that I'm going to show up for my dr's appt and be induced?' Then she thought that maybe instead of coming in for an appointment she should just schedule me to be induced instead. I've been having mixed feelings about being induced early and apparently the 'no' side of me was winning yesterday morning. She said that most likely I would show up for my next appt, my regular midwife would examine me and see if I needed to head on over to the hospital or wait and schedle an appt for a couple of days later.

Then she told me that if I wanted to 'go over' I would need to do NST's [which I've been doing for a while now] and gave me the impression that I would only be allowed to wait for a day or two before they started putting pressure on me to induce. Apparently they schedule inductions over the weekend... and I can choose between 8am and midnight... [for some reason the idea of being induced over the weekend just seems wrong. I don't like planning on being in a hospital on a Sunday - it's ok if it works out that way, but planning for it on a two day stay seems wrong somehow] Judging by how the Dr was sounding, I'm probably going to end up with a baby no longer in my belly in just over a week. No more waiting allowed for me. Maybe my midwife will see things differently and that info might change... Who knows?!