tahquamenon falls and more

a few weeks ago we went camping way, WAY up north -tahquamenon falls area.
it was ABSOLUTELY beautiful!
here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip...
everyone wants to see the falls...

sweet!

family photo are always pretty after a night of camping with no shower :)

the view from our awesome campsite...

evan & his "owivia"- how cute are these two?

so many kids - this is only 1/2 the group!

our tribute to REM's night swimming :)

and now the opposite of night swimming
{and ALL the kids!}

camp life...

the sand dunes in grand marais -

what an awesome spot!

what you can't tell about his picture is that
we are totally standing next to a cliff...

little did we know that our 70 year old guide
was going to take us down the cliff -
yes, us and all 11 kids!

what you really can't tell from these pictures
is that the cliff had a sharp decent,
then a total drop off,
then another sharp descent.

it was absolutely crazy and yet awesome
all at the same time.

and the kids... they absolutely LOVED it!

this might have been our most fun camping trip ever -

so many kids to play with and so many fun spots to visit.

thanks patons & yenchars for a fun vacation -

we can't wait until next year!!!

make it work

look out fashion world,
there's a new up & coming designer...

from the fabric choice, to the styling it was ALL olivia.

next stop, project runway!

make it work

once upon a time

once upon a time,
a little boy planted a tiny seed at school.

he brought his little plant home, planted it in his yard,and watched it grow and grow all summer.
finally it turned into a beautiful flower.
before the little boy knew it,the flower was so tall...

so very tall...

so very, VERY tall...

that it reached all the way up to the sky!

a good day

today we celebrated hannah's baptism...

we managed a good family photo{that almost didn't happen*}...

and we had some yummy cupcakes!

all in all, a very good day!

*all 4 kids were sitting down ready to dig into their cupcakes
when i realized i wanted a picture :)
it is a miracle that they look happy!
christmas card photo complete - ha ha{just kidding sarah!}

slow down

last night when i was tucking olivia into bed

she showed me what she had been working on in her journal.

there were several paragraphs about her family...

"my brothers are so annoying"

"josie is so sweet"

"i'm the oldest cousin"

she listed all her cousins and made a point to leave LOTS of extra space

for any new cousins that might arrive - ha ha :)

the page she was most proud of, though, was a sketch...

a sketch of how she wanted to organize her college dorm room.

dear olivia -

you are a dreamer & a planner!

i love you for that.

but in the words of the simon & garfunkel,

slow down, you move to fast.

you got to make the morning last.

stay young for just a little bit longer, baby girl :)

introducing...

the newest member of our family!

this guy needs a little tlc {just click on the pic}but he was FREE...our first ever craig's list experience!
while we are all enjoying this new fella,somebody really needs to tell him that we like things nice & quiet in our house.
somehow he hasn't gotten that message yet...

sans pictures

we went camping this past weekend with 2 other families

we had a BLAST!

11 kids - WOW

unfortunately, i forgot my camera :(

so until i get some pictures from my friends,

i'll just share my favorite camping memory...

{warning: if you don't like bodily function talk, STOP READING NOW}

josie has gotten super good at potty training,

her one nemesis, though is #2

especially when we are camping!

last weekend was midly annoying...

she refused to go #2 and constantly asked to go to the bathroom

cuz she knew she needed to go.

only problem was, once we got there she freaked out.

but it wasn't so bad -

it was a super nice state campground with nice bathrooms.

so this weekend...

TOTALLY RUSTIC CAMPGROUND

NO ONE wants to use the vault toliets!

and just like last weekend, she asked to go ALL THE TIME.

i took her most of the time,

but i draw the line at late night potty runs

especially when she's wearing a pull up!

after a few nights of this, she wasn't too pleased with me.

our last morning there, it was raining outside.

josie woke up SUPER early and wanted to use the "bathroom"

{yes, quotes are necessary!}

neither of us wanted to take her,

so i kept telling her to use pull up.

and here's what my sweet 2 year old yelled at me

through very clenched teeth...

I.DO.NOT.WANT.TO.GO.POPPY.IN.MY.DORA.PULLUP!!!!!!!!

ahh, our strong willed child's longest sentence to date -

it makes a parent proud :)

now on to happy camping pictures, soon...

can you guess?

what do you think these cuties were up to?

can you guess?

sleep over fun, of course!
did you guess correctly???

camping cousins

over the weekend we went camping with the whites
and the kids got to hang out with their cousin elle.
we had fun doing some biking,even though josie was a little confused why she had to share her bike trailer again!!

we attempted to take a hike,and found some brand spankin' new fire pits to play onand posed for a group shot.{although not everyone wanted to smile pretty}

and with this kind of attitude...

the hike was rather short lived :)

but don't let that face fool you -
we had a great weekend of hanging out!
{and hanging out lots of beach towels to dry}

and the best part...

little miss josie decided to fully embrace potty training :)

but instead of pictures of state park bathrooms,
how about pictures of a 2 year old and her ice cream face?

gotta love camping!

take me out to the ball game

you can buy them some peanuts & cracker jacks

and even some hotdogs, pizza, fries, pop & a massive bag of popcorn

BUT

you cannot buy a decent group shot with these crazies!

thankfully this behavior was only on display when the camera was out -

they were perfect little angels during the game.

you really don't believe that, do you ?????

ya, me neither!

oops

i promised to post this sooner.

oops!

anyways...

someone finally has a new blog post up :)

obsessions

this time last year, ryan was utterly obsessed with the color green.

now he's obsessed with super heroes -

more specifically... with their true identities.

so here's some random facts that i've learned

the past few weeks thanks to ryan...

batman has had at 3 different robins:

richard drake

jason todd

timothy drake

batman's butler alfred's last name is pennyworth

iron man is actually anthony stark

no one knows bane's real name

wolverine's name is logan howlett

these are just a few of the facts ryan talks about on a daily basis.

i'm thinking it's almost time to make a spreadsheet of characters & names

because i can't keep them straight - ha ha.

and his other obsession...this book

if you're dying to know all the minutia of the batmobile

and batman's utility belt, then this book is for you! ha ha

it just might need to become a christmas gift,

because every time we have to return it to the library he start crying.

definitely 4 years old & definitely obsessed with super heroes :)