Trip to the Aquarium

Today I got up the courage to take the boys to the Aquarium alone. I guess I can't be afraid to do things for the meer fact of having to do it with 4 kids. They will miss out on a lot. We had a lot of fun and boys were great. They really enjoyed seeing all the fish and other sea creatures they have. They learned about Sweet Pea & Scooter, the ray sharks. These sharks are close to becoming extinct and they are trying to bread them at the Aquarium. Here are some pictures from our day!

Zoo Trip

Keith and I took the boys and James (my nephew) to the zoo. They all had a really good time. I think their favorite part was brushing and feeding the goats. They got to pet a baby alligator. Although we didn't get to see everything we had fun. Hopefully I'll be able to take James & Ryan one more time before he heads home.

Camping 2009

Over 4th of July weekend we decided to take the kids camping. The plan was to stay for 2 nights at Kincade. We planned not thinking about looking at the weather report for the weekend. We woke up Friday morning and realized it was suppose to rain Saturday!! Since we already had reservations we still went ahead with our plans. We got down there and set up camp. I kept thinking back to when we were kids and we would take family trips to the lake to go swimming. Now they have a pool to swim in since there are so many boats in the lake. Madison and Ryan had their own tent and Keith and I had ours with Sean & Aaron. They had a fun time helping us set up tents. Then enjoyed playing in them. I thought for sure that one of them would fall before the sun went down. Keith took Madison and Ryan fishing while I stayed at camping getting the small boys down for a nap. We made smores that night. Ryan and Madison loved it, but Sean did not like being sticky so he just ate the graham crackers. The next day we got up and made breakfast. It looked like it was going to rain. A lot of the campers around us had already started packing up. After we ate and cleaned up we decided to go ahead and go home. We packed everything and cleaned up the camp area. Just as we were putting the last bit of stuff into the cars it started raining. It was a good thing we decided to go because it rained the rest of the day. Sitting in tents with 4 kids would not have been fun! We'll be taking them camping again in a couple of weeks. This time we'll check the weather report before we reserve the campsite.

Congratulations Keith!!

Keith is now officially a CPA. We got word earlier this week that all exams have been passed and he is certified. I'm so proud of him and all the hard work he does for the family. It was a long and tough road with hours upon hours of studying and we are glad that's finally over!

Congrats Keith, We love you!!

Aaron's Finally Crawling

We have been working with Aaron to actually crawl vs. doing the "army crawl" and he did it today!!

Madison's 8th Birthday

I can't believe how fast the last 8 years have gone!! Thinking back to the first moment I held her, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined I would end up with such a wonderful daughter. Keith and I are so lucky to have her and cherish every moment. She has so many great talents and she is a great big sister. We look forward to see what the next 8-80 years bring. With a feisty girl like her, I'm sure we are in for the ride of our lives.

This year Madison wanted to have a slumber birthday party. So to keep things under control we kept it at inviting 4 girls. The party was the Saturday before her birthday. They had a great time making flip flops, bracelets, painting nails and playing dress up.

The day of her birthday Lesley and the kids came over and we had lunch at a park. The kids then cut and hung a sign for Madison. Later that night Keith's family came over to celebrate. She got a new bike (her other one was too small and her knee's would hit the handle bars), new clothes and of course every beauty queen needs her make up.

For some reason I can't get pictures to download, so video clips will do for now. Here is one of her blowing out her candles and another of her trying out her new bike.

Madison's Dance Recital 2009

Madison had her end of the year recital this weekend. She did a fantastic job and I can't believe how much she has learned in the past year. She is an amazing dancer and we are so proud of how much she has learned. She really enjoys taking dance and the studio she goes to has wonderful teacher who are patient with the kids.

Here are some clips that we have from her dances.

Ballet-Song: Love me Tender. Ryan was sitting in my lap and seemed to have ants in his pants so it's a little bit of a bumpy ride :)

Tap-Song: Uptown Girl

Jazz-Song: Humuhamumukukua's -It's a Hula Song from High School Musical.

Hip Hop-Song: Can't touch this. The memory on my camera ran out, but you can still see a bit of the hip hop that she has learned. This is the dance they won trophies for at their competition.