Mia and Mason are 11 months old!

The many faces of Mia!!

Mia has such a great personality and so may expressions. She is always making us laugh. I just had to share a little of her with you.

This is my all time favorite!!

Paddle boats!!!

On Saturday the weather was great so we went to Jacobson park and rented some paddle boats. I have to say they are a lot harder then they look!!!!! Kev and I got a good work out and the kids loved it.

Last Tuesday was my birthday. Kevin arranged for the kids to go to our friends house and took me to dinner at Malone's. Then he got me and Ice cream cake from Baskin Robins and surprise me with inviting a few friends over for presents and cake. He gave me money for clothes, a new video camera and a WII. I know you are thinking .. why in the world would he give her a WII? But I promise it was a very thoughtful gift. He said he was hoping it would help me keep them entertained this summer and trust me it has been a lifesaver. Not only are they getting their chores done really fast they are doing mine as well since they know I will not let them turn it on until the house is clean. So really I love it and am so grateful for my cute hubby and all he does for me. Thanks for making it a great birthday!

Lexi's hair cut.

The same day we got Mia's ear's pierced we got Lexi's hair cut. Kevin took the other kid for a walk down the mall so I did not have my camera to get pictures but this is the result. If you know Lex then you know her crazy hair. It is always all over the place and never grows. She was a little sad about cutting it because she wants so badly for it to grow long but we told her that maybe this would help and she was OK with it. It looks much better. No matter what her hair looks like she is still soooooo cute. The first thing anyone notices is her eyes anyway and who wouldn't love those eyes.

Fun at the pool with friends!

So one good thing about lexington is that there are 6 or 7 great city pools. They have awesome areas for kids and babies with lots of water toys, slides and zero depth entry. And the best part is they are super cheap!!! So this is how we survive our super hot, humid, southern summers.

Ashley will probably hate me for this but I thought it was such a cute picture of Mason taking a rest on her tummy (or should we say baby Grey!).

Mia

So I finally did it. Two Saturdays ago we took Mia to the mall and had her ears pierced. I don't know why it took me so much longer with her(Lexi was 2 months old). I think it is because she started out so much smaller. Or maybe it is the fact that it is not fun to take six kids to the mall. Yeah, that's probably it!!! But I talked Kev into going with me which is not easy to do if you know how greatly he HATES shopping or anywhere where shopping can be done. His only requirement was that he did not have to go in and see it done. So the chicken stayed out while I had to hold Mia. No one can understand how he can give horses shots all day long but cant watch an ear getting pierced. He said it has nothing to do with the shot but the fact that he doesn't want his little girl thinking he is the one doing it. I told him he should try taking her for her shots sometime and see how he likes that. Its no wonder why us moms loose our children to their daddies!! They always get to be the nice guys. Anyway, She did really good. She cried for second after the first but as soon as they gave her a sucker she stopped. Then on the second she cried again but it was more like she was mad at us for doing it again as if she hadn't made herself clear the first time. Then again it was back to the sucker and dad with open sympathetic arms and all was good again. I think the hardest part for her was after when Mason kept taking her sucker. So we solved that and got him his own. She has not even noticed them since and I think she looks so cute.

Happy Fathers Day!

What a great dad!

Eleven Fathers days and he's still the best thing that ever happened to me. What an amazing dad. I am so grateful that he is the daddy of our precious family and that he is such a great example for all my boys and the great protector of my little girls. He is such a hard worker and does so much for us. We do not tell him enough how much he means to us and how grateful we are for him. So today on Fathers Day we want him to know just how Important he is.

Debbie: Dear Kev, Your are amazing. Thank you for all you do for me and for the kids. Thank you for all your endless patience with me and being everything I could want. Thank you for giving me all our sweet babies. I know it is more than you would have planned and can be overwhelming at times. You never complain and I am so thankful for all the help you give me. You are a great dad and great Husband. Happy fathers day. I love you MORE!!!!

Tyler: Dear dad, if there is anyone who can make a person smile its you. You do great as a dad and even better as a husband to mom. You make her the happiest. I love you.

Cameron: Dear dad, thank you for working this hard all these years to earn all the cool things. I love you so much and I wish you a happy fathers day love,

Cameron

Nathan: Dear dad, Happy fathers day. I wish you a good one. Thank you for taking us to Kings Island. Thanks for buying us this wonderful house. You are great!!! I love you.

Lexi: Happy father day! Dad I love you. You are such a sweet dad. Dad you are such a nice dad. Thank you for taking me jogging with you. Your the bestest family I have ever had in the whole intire world.

Mia and Mason: We love you dad. Thanks for playing with us.

For Our Papa's

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

WE LOVE YOU THE MOST!

I feel so lucky today to have the worlds greatest dad. He is my Hero, my friend, my example and the one I depend on to tell me everything I want to hear and more importantly what I NEED to hear. My poor Kev has a hard act to follow when it comes to my perspective of what a father should be thanks to my own dad. Fortunately, he also has a dad who I now consider the OTHER worlds greatest Dad as his Hero, Mentor and example. We are so blessed to have such great Men as our fathers and thank our Father in Heaven Every day for them. Thanks Dad's for all you do for us. We love you the most.

Finally!!!

Nate FINALLY lost his first tooth. He has been waiting forever since most of his friends have already lost one.....or two or three!!! Kevin was excited because Nate was the first one of his boys that would let him pull out his tooth. He was very brave and said he didn't even know that it was out. He couldn't wait to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. So another one of our boys is growing up way to fast. I wish they would just slow down a little. OK, A LOT !!!Way to go Nate. We love you!

First day of summer celebration!

On Monday morning a lady in our ward had a first day of summer vacation celebration at her house. We all brought a snack to share and the kids got to run crazy in her back yard. My favorite part was the food, letting the kid burn off some very excited energy and the little rest I go in the hammock while my babies took a nap beside me. The kids favorite part was playing with their friends and catching crawdads in the stream. The 4 older kids were no where to be found for pictures but we sure had fun watching Mia and Mason.

This is our good buddy MAC!

We sure love this little guy.

Mac, Lexi, Eliza and Mia

The last day of school!!!!!

Yeah!! Summer is finally here and to celebrate we skipped the last day of school and went to Kings Island. It is a paramount theme park in Cincinnati that has been ranked the best kids area in the nation for 7 years. It also has as huge water park that has some great slides for the kids. We had a blast and were so excited to be done with school. We rode on lots of rides and played at the water park for a while. Kev even won all the kids a stuffed animal. What a great way to end the school year. We wish it could be Silverwood and Bolder Beach with all the cousins but we were thinking about all of them and can't wait to see them agian.