Cars, Shopping, & Chicken

While Cole & Michael were at Boy Scout camp this summer Regan and I decided to take all of our kiddos to Stillwater to see Cars II.  They have the stadium seating and we thought since we have 5 five year olds they would be able to see better.  Of course it doesn't take much to convince us to take a trip even if it is with 7 kids.  (We have been known to do worse - we took 13 to Wichita for the Children's Dinner Theater last summer by ourselves)

We started off at Chick fil a (my kids all time favorite) and then headed to the movies.  We got there early got popcorn and drinks and went to get our seats.  Once we got in the theater we realized we had a huge problem.  We couldn't find seats with more than 2 by each other.   To make a long story short we traded our tickets for the next showing and left the theater.  Trying to convince all 5 little guys that we were coming back was quite an ordeal.

So we had 2 hours to kill - well we will go shopping of course.  Only problem is we have 7 little guys with us.  We divided and conquered.

This was my solution for trying on clothes while having someone else's child with me. 

 It was a game I came up with.

We went back to the theater one hour early.  The line was crazy but we were at the front. 

 The movie was great!  Another crazy day in paradise!

Baggie Ice-Cream, Turtles, Fishing, & Goo

Our friends Regan & Luke Miles brought their triplets (Lane, Riley, & Gage)

 who are the same age as Jesse and Cooper to the lake one night. 

We had such a good time!  We fished, made baggie ice-cream, hunted for turtles,

and attempted to make goo.

We are shaking our ice cream!

(Notice the older boys left the shaking to us. They were too busy fishing)

Yumm... the ice cream was very good. 

The kids had so much fun jumping on a huge tube on the dock.



                             These boys were caught with their DS in the houseboat after ice cream.



Kiddie Amusement Park

The Kiddie Amusement Park in Bartlesville has been one our favorites since Cole was about 1 1/2.  It is a great family night.  We still try to go one or two times a summer.  The rides are all a quarter and the kids love them. My older kids still go and have fun.

 In July the kids and I took off for Tulsa.  We had a big day planned that turned out nothing like we thought.  We had planned a tour of Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery.  I was really disappointed to get a call on the way there and find out they couldn't fit us into their schedule that day.  We almost turned around and came home; instead the kids said they wanted to go to the mall.  First let me tell you that our kids are sheltered a little too much -The boys had never been to a mall until about a year ago.  We went and spent the whole day at the mall.  We had a blast!  Many trips up and down the escalator I must add.

Our original plan was to go to Bartlesville after the tour and see my nieces and nephew and go to the Kiddie Amusement Park.  Kaits friend Courtney also moved to Bartlesville last year so she was going to go with us.  We all went and had a blast!


The kids are all about VW Bugs. They love to slug me and keep track of who is winning.  Some days I cry mercy and beg to them to stop.  Hey you try having six of them slug you in the your right arm while your driving.  I have bruises.  LOL  I must say though that I catch a lot of them before they do.  They thought the slug bug at the park was cool and told me to take a picture.

Jess & Coop riding the cages

Courtney (Kaits Friend), Taryn (my niece), & Kait

Kait & Courtney - Best Friends

I love this picture. I have one of them riding it when they were two. The still love it!

A great day!  I am sure we will have to go again next summer.  I was really disappointed that I didn't get to take my nephew Jayse this summer. It is a must next summer.  I know he will love it as much as our kids do.

Kait Needs Bubble Wrap!

Kait has been busy sporting different casts.  In April, Kait had another bicycle wreak on her way to school.  This is not unusual for Kait.  She seems to be our accident prone child.  You would think it would be on of the boys but Kait likes that title for herself.   Needless to say we ended up at Urgent Care only to find out it was broke.  They put it in a temporary cast until the swelling would go down and we could get into a specialist.

Nana Hughes adding her autograph to the cast.

After a month or so of wearing the cast Kait fell again.  She re-injured her arm.  Back to the Orthopedic Surgeon we go.  Thankfully after they re-x-rayed her arm they decided that it wasn't bad enough to have re-set. It hurt for a while. They told her she had to be very careful not to hurt it again.  Ugh this mama was nervous.  That's VERY hard for Kait!

The best part of a cast is having everyone sign it.  She ran out of room.

Finally getting the cast off!

Kait got her cast off a few days before school was out!  Just in time for summer.  She made it all summer without any other major instances.  At least instances that required cast.  She was at Worlds of Fun with her Dad in July and was getting off of a ride and her foot fell in between a ride.  Needless to say they had to leave after visiting the nurses station.

In August, Kait was running up the stairs and jammed her toe.  She said her 4th toe had crossed over the pinkie toe. It looked gross so off to Urgent Care we go.  This was her 6th x-ray this year!  Crazy! Kait broke her toe and needed to be in a boot for the next 4-6 weeks.  Of course she did this two days after we signed her up and paid for this season of soccer.  Kait's going to have to cheer for her brothers this season .  No soccer for her.  

The newest member of our family - Sophie!

Sept 2010

I always said I thought the kids needed a dog but we didn't need anything else to take care of.  One day I mentioned it to Rob that I thought it would be a good Christmas present.  Rob is NOT a dog lover and is allergic.  So even mentioning this was somewhat funny.  He said okay lets get one.  A few days later he said are we getting one or not.  I was thinking Christmas.  He was actually excited. So we searched and found a dog that doesn't have dander and is good with kids.  And we feel that we have the best dog around!

When we got Sophie my in-laws got her sister Gidget. They love seeing each other and play hard when they do.

love at first sight

Coop loves Sophie and plays with her ALL the time.  She is so good with him.  He carries her around and she has never even growled at him.



Are you looking for me?



Pipes, pipes, everywhere are pipes!

Our kids all LOVE pipes!

A trip for more pipes and connectors

The pipes getting cut to the desired sizes.  You need all sizes of course.

I had no idea that these pipes would become such a huge toy in our house.  They actually ask for pipes for birthday presents.  They make swords, catapults, hook up water hoses and build huge contraptions.  We never seem to have enough and had a problem with the younger kids taking the older kids parts.  We had to color code them.

Mike & Cole excited about the new pipes

We bleed orange in this house!

Coop's Bed

We bleed OSU at our house!  We usually try to squeeze in a few games each year.  Pistol Pete is a Super Hero in our house.  Cooper and Jesse really think he is totally amazing!  So in July of this year we redecorated Cooper and Jesse's room!  They love it.  The older boys want their room done as well.  They wanted OSU but we will have to come up something different.  I guess the Star Wars bedroom is on its way out.

Jesse's bed

Watch out Frontier City here we come!

We were very excited when Aunt Brooke and Uncle Jayson called and had tickets for us to go to Frontier City!  What a treat! 

Jayse, my nephew is almost 2, he is so much fun right now and completely entertained by all of our kids.  He knows all of them by name and loves to call for them when I do.

The kids had a blast we had a full day for sure.  One of the rides we all rode was the River Rapids.  Everyone was doing great having fun and then I saw the cave coming up with the waterfall.  Just as I was trying to figure out how I was going to avoid this and not get wet I was shot with a water gun or two or three!  When I looked up to see who or what had happened I see Jayson laughing so hard.  Just a warning paybacks are not nice so get ready.  I was still wet when I got home that night.

Drenched from riding the River Rapids

Before we left the park Cole and I saw the Geronimo Ride.  It was a lot like flying.  You are tied together and winched up in the air.  I am not sure how high but it was VERY high.  I am not scared of heights but I must say we were getting a little too high with nothing to hang on to.  After you get to the top you have to pull the release and it drops you!  Oh my!   Poor Cole his arm is probably still sore from me squeezing it.  He says his ears still hurt from me screaming.  It is something we will never forget and would do again!

We ended the day or should I say night at IHOP.  Another family favorite!  A great day!  Thanks Uncle Jayson and Aunt Brooke.

The County Fair - A first for our family

Wednesday we ventured out to the Kay County Fair in Blackwell with my parents.  The kids were so excited!  We don't usually go many places on school nights and somehow we have been out two nights his week.  Cooper said he couldn't  believe how much fun things we were doing!.

The little boys were very fasinated with the "real" animals.  They got to pet a few and see the goats get judged.  They were sure they could do it and wanted in on the "competition".

The older kids loved the carnival!  Cole, Kait, Coop, and I are big riders.  Rob, Mike, Sean, & Jess like the arcade.  Papa took turns riding with Cole & Kait.  I think he may be the biggest kid of all. 

Jess and Coop wanted to ride the octopus. I was a little worried it was too much for them.  As you can see in the picture Jess was a little concerned.  I will just put it this way.  Cooper wanted to ride it again and again.  Jesse will NEVER ride anything like that again.

Jess kept telling me he wanted to ride the "steering wheel".  Well we rode the Farris Wheel after our not so great experience of the octopus and he liked it!

The older kids all got stuffed animals and saw many of their friends.  Next year we are hoping to enter a few of the kids artwork and craftwork in the fair.  We had a blast and I am sure we will go again next year!

Grasshoppers, Grasshoppers Everywhere

Grasshoppers seem to sneaking into our lives a lot lately.  Cooper is completely fasinated with grasshoppers right now.  His bug box is full and he is very proud!  I was at the school the other day and went to check on Cooper because he had been up coughing a lot the night before.  He was on the playground and was very proud of his latest catch.  He whispered in my ear that he needed me to do him a big favor.  I must say I love that little guy a lot to help him out in his latest quest.  Somehow, I found myself (who doesn't care for bugs at all) driving home with a grasshopper in my hand.  All I could think of was oh I better get there quick and I can't drop this grasshopper he will know.  He has an exact count of how many he has right now.  The happy ones or the ones that are "sleeping".

On grandparents day Mom visits Jesse & Coopers class and find Cooper has his hand clinched with yet more grasshoppers.  Mom asked him what he had.  She didn't know what to do so she opened her purse and let Coop put them in there until they got home.  Needless to say Mom's purse brought several grasshoppers home for the day.

Several days now Coop has had his fist clinched with another treasured grasshopper when I pick him up.  When I ask him how long he has had it he says recess.  He always says "Mom, I can still write in class with my other hand."

Oh the life with little boys.  I wouldn't trade it for anything!